Cloak Sunday? I must have made a mistake, it is supposed to be Palm Sunday. But take a closer look.
“Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.” (Matthew 21:8 ESV)
“And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.” (Mark 11:8 ESV)
“And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road.” (Luke 19:36 ESV)
The emphasis of three of the four Gospels is on the cloaks and not the branches. The emphasis on the branches really appears in John.
“So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”” (John 12:13 ESV)
I believe that the triumphal entry included both cloaks and branches but in the original setting, the cloaks were far more important. So why does John emphasize the palm branches? If you read through John, branches are a major theme all the way through. It was natural for John to focus on the branches.
So why are cloaks more important? Any one get a branch and once it was trampled and destroyed, it made no difference. But most of the people at the entry were poor people. They did not have closets full of cloaks. When they threw their cloaks on the path, it was a real sacrifice. The cloaks could be ripped up or they could be lost in the sea of cloaks.
This leaves the question to us, what is our worship? Do we give the palm branches that we do not miss or do we give the cloaks that we value dearly?
- Easter
- Lent
- Palm Sunday
- Triumphal Entry