"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred..." Or as the New Revised Standard Version has it, "When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil..."

TURMOIL. Great word. It has a feeling about it. Something is bubbling up and about to boil over. There is tension. There is danger. The Greek word is seio and means to rock to and fro or to agitate, to quake or shake. And contrary to the parade and party atmosphere that we often associate with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, this is the more descriptive. The Holy City was a heated cauldron about to boil over. Governor Pilate was preoccupied with the political intrigues of faraway Rome. The puppet King Herod was viewed as a clown. The people were restive, ready for someone to lead a revolution.

Into these see…