This morning’s daily readings included Mark’s telling of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and it got me thinking again about how those same crowds who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as the long-awaited king so quickly turned against him and called for his crucifixion only a few days later.
There is a deep irony in the story, because the people were rightly proclaiming Jesus to be the long-awaited king were also wrongly harboring hopes that he would be a king to their liking, a king who would behave in the ways they expected him to behave, who exercised his power in ways that suited their own aspirations and goals. They interpreted the message of the kingdom as a ticket to getting what they wanted, as a new power available to them for attaining the desires of the flesh.