It’s Palm Sunday, and Luke’s version of the story (found at Luke 19:28-40) has no palms and no “hosanna!” either. But it does have lots of allusions to Hebrew Bible texts, all of which point at the Messiah as a humble person of peace. So it may be “palmless” Sunday but Jesus is the personification of God’s peace and glory – worthy of our praise.

This story takes us to the threshold of Holy Week, where we anticipate the action of the rest of the week. Walk along behind Jesus as he and his band of “performance artist” disciples offer an alternative to the violence and coercion of empire.