This weekend, Christians worldwide will celebrate Palm Sunday, the first of many milestones of Holy Week, the period leading up to Easter and Jesus’ resurrection.

This is the Sunday that celebrates Jesus’ triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem, where he would participate in the Jewish festival of Passover.

Interestingly, Jesus, the son of God nonetheless, chooses not to march into the holy city atop a mighty war horse, but rather a lowly donkey, which was prophesied in Zechariah 9:9.

And the adoring crowds gathered to see their messiah, waving palm branches and shouting, “Hosana!” which means “please save us” in biblical Hebrew.

Friends, this scene should serve as a modern day cautionary tale to us regarding our human penchant to exhort and idolize the powerful.

We often overlook the importance of Palm Sunday because of the cute imagery of Jesus astride a donkey while his fans fawn over him. But Palm Sunday offers a far more vital message than this.

We need to take note of all the symbolism that permeates this biblical tale.

First, much to his disciples’ confusion, Jesus willingly chooses to enter Jerusalem atop a donkey, which would have been a symbol of peace to those in the holy city in the first century. In other words, even though he was God’s own chosen one, he did not come to conquer and to start war, but rather he came to bring peace.

This kind of behavior doesn’t compute in our 21st century minds when we think of the powerful.

Second, Jesus’ entrance celebrates his commitment to humility, service and a focus on the needs of others.

Try to square that with the actions of the powerful in today’s society. Can’t, can we?

Finally, the long-suffering Jewish people believed –dare I say, hoped? — their savior would come in the form of a military leader who would overthrow the mighty Roman Empire. Instead, Jesus came as a humble leader, spreading the good news about God’s love, forgiveness, hope and salvation.

Jesus willingly chose this somewhat comedic entrance to Jerusalem to defy the peoples’ expectations of earthly leadership, which Jesus knew to be corrupt, and to demonstrate a new way of life.

Friends, Palm Sunday should remind us all that God’s kingdom takes every single earthly value, turns it upside down, shakes it out and makes something better of it.

Jesus could have chosen to enter into Jerusalem in a manner that put the entire Roman Empire on notice. He could have made a statement that he was there to reclaim the holy city in the name of his father. He could have brought with him conquest and war and violence.

And he didn’t. Rather Jesus made a bold statement about power and authority we should heed these 2,000 years later. Amen.

Devlyn Brooks is the CEO of Churches United in Moorhead, Minn., and an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America serving Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.