The Triumphal Entry

Introduction

Illustration: Our society doesn’t really do parades very often anymore, does it? Once a year we do Christmas parades and that’s about it. Even that sort of lost its magic for me for a while until I had kids. Now seeing them light up as they watch the parade is priceless.

There’s a part of me that when I read the account of the Triumphal Entry is sort of jealous of the kind of society that does things like this. Big, public celebrations full of joy and energy — the kind of moment that grabs everyone’s attention. It’s the sort of thing you can’t really imagine happening any more. It’s also a sort of a stand out moment in John’s gospel. Think about the context that surrounds it. Jesus has just been in hiding because people are conspiring to kill Him, and in fact have already attempted to kill Him before. He’s about to be put on trial and crucified. Yet here in the middle we have basically a parade in miniature. Throngs of people in Jerusalem for the festival breaking out in shouts and pleas for salvation to this miracle worker from Galilee. Let’s take a look at what happened in John’s gospel.

John 12:12–19 CSB

The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord —the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt. His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him. Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify. This is also why the crowd met him, because they heard he had done this sign. Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!”

Can you imagine what a strange moment this was for the disciples? The sort of emotional rollercoasters these 12 guys went on following Jesus around. In any case, we’ve been going through John’s gospel slowly, taking a close look to see what lessons God has for us in these scriptures. So today we will do this same thing exploring this moment in the ministry of Jesus that we so often refer to as “the Triumphal Entry.”

So what does this moment have to teach us? I believe that if we read closely we can see that Jesus will save the people like they are asking for, but not necessarily the way they expect Him to. We also see that the King that they’ve been looking for isn’t the conqueror they hoped He’d be, but a humble prince of peace. Finally we will see that Jesus’ ministry only really makes sense in light of the cross, and because of the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

How Jesus Saves

Illustration: There was once a man of great faith drowning at sea. Wading in the water as his strength began to fail he prayed that God would rescue him. As he was praying a cruise ship pulled up and asked, “sir, are you okay? Do you need help?” And he answered “it’s okay, God will save me.” A few moments later a huge boat hauling shipping containers stopped by and offered to rescue him. Once more he said to them, “it’s okay, God will save me.” A few more minutes pass by and a helicarrier comes near the man. The soldiers on board rush to the decks to throw down rope to pull him in, but the man assures them as well “it’s okay, God will save me.” Then after the helicarrier pulls away the man’s strength finally fails and he drowns. He comes to heaven and approaches the gates, confusion clear on his face. Jesus comes to meet Him and says, “welcome home, brother.” The man smiles but says “Jesus, there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why didn’t you save me when I was drowning.” And Jesus replies, “it’s not my fault, I sent three ships.”

I love that joke because it says something I think about how our expectations can blind us to what God is doing. Sometimes we get certain ideas about how God is going to act. Whether it be because of our previous experiences, or from what we’ve been taught by other people, we can sometimes make the mistake of thinking we have God all figured out. We know exactly what He’s going to do in every situation we find ourselves in.

The Bible however tells us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and God’s ways are not our ways. In other words, don’t try to predict what God is going to do because we can’t fully understand Him. His ways are mysterious not because He’s chaotic but because He is beyond our understanding and understands things beyond us. This extends even to how God will save His people.

You see the Israelites had a lot of ideas about how God was going to rescue them. You see even from the beginning the people of Israel knew from Scripture that God was hatching a great rescue plan for His people. When Moses gave them God’s law it included blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. They were living under the curse of the law for their failure to keep it, but through the prophets God told them that their rescuer was coming. His chosen one, otherwise known as the Messiah. The anointed one. God was going to rescue His people Israel.

But how was He going to rescue them? Well the Rabbis leading up to the first century seemed at least pretty confident on what God’s plan was. So then everyone became pretty confident of what God’s plan was once the Rabbis started teaching it to everyone. God was going to send a strong warrior to march into Jerusalem and expell all those who were oppressing them.

They expected God to do again what He had done through Judas “the Hammer.” This is what Jewish people are celebrating when the Celebrate Hannukah. There was this awful man named Antiochus Epiphanes who hated the Jews and ruled them with an iron fist, desecrating the temple by sacrificing a pig (an unclean animal according to Jewish law) on the altar and forcing the priests to drink its blood. Judas was the one who rose up against these tyrants, successfully expelling them from the city so that the temple could be cleansed and restored. He was a national hero, whose victory was celebrated by a parade with palm leaves, leading to the use of palm leaves as a symbol on Jewish currency for years to come.

Sound familiar? A public celebration with palm branches — just like we see here in John.

John 12:12–13 CSB

The next day, when the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord —the King of Israel!”

Many of you have probably already heard this before, but the word Hosanna means “save us!” So when Jesus comes to town the people start laying down palm branches and shouting for Him to save them. This is dramatic, and a clear declaration of their hopes for what Jesus could do. He had made His power and wisdom known for three years now. If anyone could save them, surely it was this man? They were practically begging Him to walk into town and cast out all of the Gentiles and restore the Kingdom of Israel.

This is something of an ironic scene, if you think about it. They demand to be saved and call Jesus the King of Israel, and they are right on both counts, but terribly wrong about how it will be accomplished. They want a conquering king to come and restore the status quo their ancestors enjoyed. A Jewish King on the throne ruling an independent earthly Kingdom. Jesus didn’t come for that. Jesus came to conquer death and the devil, and to establish once and for all the Kingdom of God over the earth.

So Jesus is our savior and our King, but not in the way that people thought He would be. I think there’s a pretty profound lesson in there for us. In hindsight I think most people understand the sort of salvation that Jesus brought now, it’s pretty clear He wasn’t setting up the earthly Kingdom of Israel. Yet we have our own expectations about Jesus, don’t we? We have thoughts about the sort of things we expect Jesus to do.

What if Jesus wants to do something new? What if He wants to take this church somewhere we’ve never been before? What if He wants to move in Fredericton in a way that seems strange to us? What if He wants to use the people we don’t respect? What if Jesus wants to shatter our expectations of what His plan might be for our lives and ministries.

My friends we need to be ready for Jesus to save and to establish His Kingdom in ways we might not expect or even like very much. Our God is a person with a Will, not an abstract theological construct that always acts just as we would expect. So then as Jesus followers we need to follow Him where He’s going, not where we expect Him to go.

The Humble King of Peace

Illustration: You may have noticed I dress up for church, I also dress up for work days. I think my outfit has an effect on my psychology. So I dress for work to get in a work mindset. And so that I appear professional for others when I’m functioning in professional contexts.

All the time we’re sending messages to other people about who we are by what we wear and how we carry ourselves. It’s not a question of if we do this but if we do this intentionally. Some don’t care at all what messages they are sending to other people. Some care too much about what messages they are sending to other people. Some send a message by trying very hard not to send a message. It’s complicated. But the point is this, you can say a lot without words if you’re intentional about it.

Jesus was very intentional about the messages that He sent to people. Whether it be through His many stirring words, or through His undeniably powerful actions, and sometimes just in the way He carries Himself. In the case of the triumphal entry, He sent a lot of messages without words. You’ll notice that Jesus doesn’t say a word in this passage. He silently enters the city, but says a lot despite his verbal silence.

Remember the last point, about what the crowd expected of Him? They wanted a conquering king to come throw off the yoke of the Romans and restore the Kingdom of Israel. This is His moment to confirm or deny their hopes. So what does He do? Let’s read on in verses 14 and 15:

John 12:14–15 CSB

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written: Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.

This action communicates two powerful truths. The first and most obvious from the text is that Jesus is the prophecied Messiah. Their hopes are not misplaced even if they are misguided. Jesus is the one that God has sent to save His people. That’s not the only thing that Jesus is saying here though. It’s not just that it fulfills prophecy, but it’s how this prophecy is fulfilled that matters also.

Remember, Jesus set this moment up from before time existed. He could have entered the city in any way He pleased and have the prophecy say that in advance. The prophecy could have read “your king is coming on a white stallion” or “your king is coming on a golden chariot,” or anything God wanted it to say. Instead the prophecy said He would arrive on a donkey’s colt. Why?

Well here’s a fun fact for you, it actually wasn’t out of the question for Kings to enter cities riding on donkeys. Some act like the fact that Jesus was riding on a donkey was supposed to be an act of humility because the donkey was a lowly animal and Kings didn’t ride them. This actually isn’t true. Sometimes Kings did ride donkeys into the city. In fact there was a custom in this culture that the kind of animal the King rode into the city communicated something. For instance riding in on a horse was communicating either that the King had been victorious in battle or that He was coming to dominate or conquer the city. So what did a donkey mean?

A donkey meant that a king was approaching the city in peace. So then by riding a donkey Jesus was basically telling the crowds who were hoping He was there to conquer that He was in fact there in peace. He didn’t come with a sword but to pick up a cross. And the humility of the symbol I think is still there as well, as alluded to in the original prophecy John is quoting,

Zechariah 9:9 CSB

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So the question is my fellow disciples of Jesus, do we come in peace like our King does? Remember that the journey of following Christ is being like Him. So when we face opposition to the values of Scripture, how do we respond? With anger and argument? With violence? Or with peace?

We should be like our prince of peace. We should be known as the strangely peaceful ones who don’t come to blows over disagreements like other people do. We should have reputations as peacemakers. After all, our Father is a peacemaker. Matthew 5:9

Matthew 5:9 CSB

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

Understanding Jesus

Illustration: I remember when i was young I loved those “Magic Eye” puzzles. Those pictures that looked like just a random pattern until you stared at it just the right way, and then a picture was revealed.

They were fascinating because you couldn’t see anything for a while, but then once you saw it, it all made sense. After that it was even a lot easier to see it again if you wanted to. Now that your eyes know what to look for. There are other things in life that are similar. Facts you learn that give you a new perspective that helps you to understand things you couldn’t before. A lot of Bible study I think is like that. You learn some important thing about God’s nature and suddenly it unlocks some things in the Bible for you, you know what I mean?

As far as the disciples were concerned, the Triumphal Entry was like staring at a Magic Eye Puzzle. They were watching Jesus, and I’m sure they were even very excited about what was happening, but John (who was there) reports this is the reaction of the disciples:

John 12:16 CSB

His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

They saw it, but they didn’t get it. Why is it that Jesus actively avoided crowds so that they wouldn’t make Him king, but now he’s marching into the city hailed by people calling Him king and asking for salvation? Why did He mount an unused donkey of all things? All they saw was seemingly meaningless patterns in front of their eyes.

This all changed after the cross. This is what John is referring to when He says “when Jesus was glorified.” Because the paradox of the cross is that while it was designed as the most humiliating and painful death the Romans could imagine, for Jesus it was the moment of His “lifting up,” or exaltation, where He won the victory over sin and death forever.

So then on the other side of the cross the disciples looked back on this moment and saw it for what it was. Jesus’ triumphant parade, coming before the victory rather than after it as is traditional. Yet why shouldn’t Jesus celebrate the victory before it happened, since being God His victory was guaranteed?

We’ve lived all of our lives after the cross, so we have a leg up on the disciples when it comes to understanding moments like this in Scripture. Yet it wasn’t just the cross that enlightened the disciples, was it? John also talks about moments the disciples didn’t understand until after they received the Holy Spirit, which Jesus is going to promise them soon in John 14:25-26

John 14:25–26 CSB

“I have spoken these things to you while I remain with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

This same Holy Spirit is alive and working in us today, and is the same one who will teach us what we need to know about the Scripture and truth. I think the gospel itself can be easy to miss, and the truths that are there for us in the Bible as well. But Jesus didn’t leave His disciples alone. He promised us the Holy Spirit would come after He left, and He delivered on that promise.

So then as disciples of Jesus we should expect to receive the Holy Spirit. He is the one who will guide us in truth. This means that we should not rely too much on our own understanding when it comes to understanding God’s word and will for our lives. We should be constantly praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit, so that we can truly understand like these disciples eventually did. Without the Holy Spirit, would they have ever realized the signficance of Jesus’ words and deeds? Surely not. Yet with the Holy Spirit we too can come to know God truly.

Conclusion

So we can see that although this passage is very short, it packs a lot into just a few verses. John actually leaves out a number of details that the other gospels include, but in doing so narrows his focus onto what He considers most important. So then we can see from this passage the truth that Jesus saves us not by force like He was expected to, but by giving His life for us all. And that just like these people we sometimes miss what God’s doing because of our preconceived notions about what God will do. We see that Jesus rode a donkey to show that He is a peaceful King, and that we as His followers should also be peacemakers. We don’t wield a sword in the name of the Kingdom, but take up our cross like He did. And we also see finally that in order to fully understand the gospel we need the help of the Holy Spirit, just like the apostles did.

So as we leave this church today and go about the rest of our week, let us remember this moment when Jesus marched into Jerusalem to claim His throne by way of the cross. Though the crowds didn’t fully understand it, let us see it for what it is. Let us see Jesus as now victorious after His death and resurrection, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And let us take up our crosses daily and follow after Him.

Let us pray.