That was a very, very long Gospel reading. But, it’s an important one and it helps us to begin the most important week in our entire year: Holy Week. It’s the week that begins with Jesus entering into the City of Jerusalem in a giant parade, when people waved palm branches high up into the air because they were so happy to see him, but ends with him all alone and being punished for saying that he was the Son of God. Fortunately for all of us, that was not the end of the week… or the end of the story. Much more is coming and that is, of course, what happens Next Sunday which is Easter Sunday.

When Jesus came into town, they were hoping for a king, a big and mighty king, riding in on a powerful horse with an entire army. Instead, he came in sitting on a little donkey and with a small group of very ordinary people, his followers.

That is because Jesus came to give them what they needed, not what they wanted.

Have you ever wanted something really, really badly… but then when you got it, it wasn’t what you had expected? That happened to me and my younger brother one Christmas when we asked for little toy robots that climbed on a plastic track you could set up in your house. My mom told us that she didn’t think it was a good idea to get that toy because it looked very hard to set up and she doubted that it would work all that well. That didn’t convince us, though – we still wanted it and so imagine how glad we were to see it under our tree on Christmas morning. We were so happy!

But then, we tried to put it together according to the directions and it was impossible. My mom had to help us and it took most of the day. Eventually, we got it working but no matter what we tried, those little robots would not stay on the track for more than 10 seconds, they kept falling off. By that night, it was all taken apart and put back into the box where it stayed until we eventually threw it out a few years later. My brother and I really, really wanted that toy but my mother knew better. She knew it was not what we really needed.

My mom knew. And Jesus knew that what the people needed was not a great and mighty king who could kick the nasty Romans out of the city. What did they really need? They needed what Jesus – and only Jesus – could give them: hope, forgiveness for their mistakes, peace in their hearts, and true joy. 

At first, many of those people, including some of the ones at the parade who were waving palms in the air when he came into town, became angry and confused. No matter what Jesus said, they still wanted him to be the big king – the same way that my brother and I wanted those little toy robots. 

One of the important lessons we can learn from this is that in our lives, we sometimes may want something that is not what we need. Jesus and his Father always know what we need most of all. So, when we get frustrated and angry in our lives, we can ask God to help us to understand. Because God wants for us exactly what Jesus wanted for the people in that city: hope, forgiveness, peace, and joy.