A large crowd swelled around him as Jesus and his disciples made their way toward the city gate. They watched as he turned to the man nearest him and began to speak. Perhaps those in the front caught a word or two, but without explanation, two disciples cut away from the group and fled into the city gate. Jesus had stopped and was looking around with glistening eyes at the sheer numbers of people around him. He could see love and adoration on the faces of many, and a mixture of hatred and envy on the faces of some. He looked up to heaven and smiled.
It didn’t take long before the two men who had been sent on errand returned. They came each leading a donkey. One, a mother and the other, her foal. “We told him, ‘the Lord has need of it,” just like you said. He let us take them!”
Their surprise was always so amusing to him. He smiled and nodded, then began to mount the foal. The sea of humanity surged around him, positioning themselves in front of him now, and casting their cloaks on the ground. A knot formed in his throat. Oh, how his heart loved these people. These reckless, fickle men and women who were throwing their cloaks down in a show of respect and honor. If only they knew how treacherous their hearts were.
He watched as they cut the branches off the palm trees that lined the road, and began to wave them, as they would a noble king or dignitary. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!” Their shouts of exaltation bounded off the rocks around them and created a cacophony of praise that stirred the very heart of God. It was praise as praise should always be. Jubilant. Exuberant. Immaculate.
A stir moved through the crowd as angry men pushed forward to be near him. “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” Their faces were punctuated with vitriol and spite. Jesus’s face remained serene. “I tell you, if they are silent the rocks would cry out!” He turned from their stunned faces and looked each person in the eyes one by one as he passed. Each heart was pierced by his gaze, nearly bursting with the recognition of who he was. Jesus was the Son of David! The long-awaited Messiah! The liberator of Israel!
The further down the Mount of Olives the procession crept, the more noticeable the change in him. His head began to droop. Tears rolled down his cheeks. Finally, his voice pierced the air:
“Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”
♰ ♰ ♰
Let’s begin with the fact that theologians can’t quite agree on anything. There’s debate regarding just about everything in scripture, and I am not about to suggest I know the real way things went down that week. That would be preposterous. But I did take all gospel accounts into consideration to craft this narrative, and stayed true to the dialogue presented in scripture as well. I wanted to be as faithful as I could and avoid conjecture in recounting the events, but also take into consideration the cultural significance of certain aspects, as well as the nature of humanity.
“The triumphal entry into Jerusalem” is what they call it. The moment Jesus came into the city to be recognized as King by the laymen, a heretic by the Pharisees and a nuisance by the nobles. Before the end of the week, very few would be singing his praises. This entry was the swelling of a tide that would quickly turn against him. It reminds me more of a net being gathered after a bird flies into it.
The fact that Jesus rode into the city on a foal is very significant. Firstly, because it fulfilled prophecy. Zechariah 9:9 being the most direct. Secondly, some scholars suggest kings had been riding horses since the reign of Solomon, since Solomon is credited with bringing horses to Jerusalem. In fact, Solomon is said to be the last king to ride into Jerusalem (the City of David), on a donkey. Both were called “The Son of David”, and both were in fact sons of David. So much is happening here to fulfill God’s promises. Not just his promise to his people, but his promise to David!
Riding a donkey instead of a horse was Jesus’s way of showing humility. It was his way of identifying himself with the poor people around him. He did not sit above them. He rode a young donkey, and was at their level the whole way into the city. Jesus wanted people to see that he was one of them. Fully man. Of course, they would soon see he was also fully God, but it is important for us to recognize Jesus’s humanity. He is the perfect high priest for us today because he took on our flesh, experienced our humanity and lives to daily intercede for us.
Thirdly, the fact that it was a foal is important because the burden that little beast carried that day was perhaps his first burden. At least, that’s what many suggest. Jesus chose a young donkey that no one had ever ridden before. His first passenger was the King of kings! What a sweet labor he had been chosen for.
Finally, the donkey was a symbol of peace, which was lost on many in the procession. The disciples even mistook this moment as Jesus’s finally revealing himself as the savior of the Israelites. They weren’t wrong about that, but they were wrong about the means with which he would do so. They expected a man to go to war with the Romans, and so end their oppression and set up a new Jewish king. Many believe he rode on a donkey to indicate that peace was his mission, rather than war.
As he sat down on the back of the colt, the crowd around him threw their cloaks on the ground to honor him. Such things were done for great dignitaries and kings in those days. They began to wave palm branches and worship him, calling out that he was the Son of David. Jesus’s response to the Pharisees suggests this was ejaculatory praise. They really couldn’t help themselves. “Spring up, oh Well, within my soul!”. Their souls recognized their Creator, in humble garb on a little beast of burden, and were overcome with praise. Lord, make our praise like this!
Of course, not everyone was joyfully beholding their savior. Some were watching with sneers and jealous remarks. The Pharisees were filled with envy. In their minds, Jesus was stealing the devotion of the people. They felt it belonged to them, which exposed the fact that they were not humble servants of God at all. They were managers of the temple who forgot the Owner’s instructions. They wanted to silence the crowd, which betrayed their evil hearts. They did not want Jesus to receive the honor due him. They did not want God to be magnified, or glorified. They hadn’t allowed it in the temple, they wouldn’t allow it in the people’s hearts, and they were determined it wouldn’t happen in the streets if they could help it. But it seems no one could help it. Jesus was going to be praised, one way or another.
I wonder if anyone standing near enough to hear him understood what he cried out as he reached the city. I feel like hindsight is really the only way to understand it. It seems that perhaps, in that moment, it was shrouded in mystery and lost in the hype of Jesus’s arrival. Only time would tell exactly what he meant when he said to Jerusalem, “you did not know the time of your visitation.” I can’t imagine the horror those people must have felt after, being carried along on the winds of public opinion and enraged outcries, they crucified an innocent man.
Today, let’s focus on the joy of this occasion. For a moment, Jesus was worshipped as the Messiah and Son of David. He fulfilled multiple prophecies as he headed into Jerusalem for his last week with his friends and family. He experienced both adoration and vehemence. He set his face toward the city with resolute determination. This was a triumphal entry, indeed!
*depictions of this scene are from Matthew 21, Luke 19 and John 12.
The Barn 