The Triumphal Entry
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PALM SUNDAY
All four Gospels record this story, and tell the story differently, to emphasize different theological points. Matthew is emphasizing Jesus’ royalty throughout his entire Gospel (remember King Herod wanting to kill the new King that’s been born?) Jesus is the King that we are to follow, not Herod, not Caesar....King Jesus. And Matthew tells us about Jesus’ entrance as a King!
Matthew 21:1-5
1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.
3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”
Verse 5 is a reference to Zechariah 9:9ff. We’ve talked many times about the crowds probably expecting Jesus to start a military revolution here and overthrow Rome with military might. That’s not what Jesus is up to at all! Zechariah’s prophecy goes on to talk about YHWH taking away the war horses and chariots to “PROCLAIM PEACE TO THE NATIONS.” Keep that “to the nations” idea in your head. It’s significant here!
Matthew 21:6-11
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
The colt of a donkey was a clear sign of kingship in the Old Testament, and signaled peace! Horses were war instruments...they were used for nothing else in this time.
Historical Context: conquering kings would ride through their empire, often on horseback, and people would come out and show praises and cheer for the new king. The people would cheer this new King in hopes of receiving mercy. If we welcome and accept the new king, he’ll have mercy and be kind to us. If he is rejected, often the King would destroy the city.
If Jesus wants to claim he is a king of war, he’d find a horse. Instead Jesus enters the city on a peaceful animal, and is sending a clear sign who he is. Jesus is King! Jesus isn’t interested in political power, he’s interested in peace and mercy.
And that’s the point that we often overlook on Palm Sunday. Jesus wants peace and mercy...not peace in the way we might think, because Jesus is about to disrupt the peace in the very next verse. What Jesus is after is peace between people one to another....we might refer to this as justice, and peace between people and God, mercy...grace.
We’ve talked frequently about how God wanted JUSTICE for the disadvantaged. He’s always looking after the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan...the disadvantaged and rejected fo society. God commands his people to look after the least of these. Instead they often excluded and profited off of them.
Matthew intentionally places Jesus entering Jerusalem as a peaceful conquering King who is going to symbolically destroy the system that rejects him, and in so doing he will bring PEACE, JUSTICE, MERCY to those who need it most!
Matthew 21:12-13
12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
13 “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”
Jesus quotes two Old Testament passages here that are significant! The first, “a house of prayer” comes from Isaiah 56. In context, Isaiah 56 is about the disadvantaged, specifically the eunuchs and foreigners (gentiles.) Jesus would have been clearing the “temple courts” in the court of the Gentiles. This whole passage is God saying I will let the foreigner and the eunuch worship in my house of prayer! GOD IS SAYING THEY ARE MY CHILDREN!!!
The second quote is Jeremiah 7 which is Jeremiah condemning the temple leaders because they do not act JUSTLY, they oppress the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow! They shed innocent blood! THEY HAVE TURNED GOD’S HOUSE INTO A DEN OF ROBBERS, and because of this GOD IS GOING TO DESTROY THE TEMPLE! God is telling his people, if you won’t look after the least of these, don’t even bother worshipping me!
Jesus has just symbolically done the same, and watch what he does next!
Matthew 21:14
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
The disadvantaged, the very ones who would not be allowed into the temple...the blind, the lame...THEY COME TO JESUS, HE HEALS THEM, AND NOW THEY CAN ENTER INTO THE TEMPLE! Jesus is there to remove the barriers between the people and God. JESUS IS TAKING THE MARGINALIZED, THE REJECTED, THE EXCLUDED AND INLCUDING THEM! HE’S BRINGING THE OUTSIDERS IN! And this infuriates the religious leaders!
Matthew 21:15-16
15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
16 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “ ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’?”
They are outraged by what Jesus is doing, and the praise it is eliciting. They get what Jesus is doing, and they don’t like it! He’s clearly claiming to be the Messiah, to be in charge...THE KING! And notice what the kids are saying...They’re singing praise from Psalm 118, claiming Jesus is Messiah...the Son of David, THE KING.
When the chief priests question Jesus on this, he quotes Psalm 8:2. In Psalm 8, it is YHWH who brings forth the praise from children, and Jesus is saying that’s what is happening now. Now who are the children praising? JESUS. And who is it that brings forth such praise? YHWH. What is Jesus saying about himself here?
A REJECTION OF JESUS IS A REJECTION OF YHWH. AND REJECTION OF YHWH AND HIS WAYS BRINGS CONDEMNATION AND DESTRUCTION!
Jesus has come to bring peace, to right wrongs, to remove barriers between God and ALL PEOPLE. And some are not going to like that. Not everyone is going to like THE KING, but it doesn’t change the fact that Jesus is KING!
IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL Throughout this week we are going to see a clash of two kingdoms...the kingdom of the world, the way things are done, versus the Kingdom of Heaven where King Jesus is telling us how it really ought to be. At the end of that week the religious leaders would have King Jesus crucified and laid in a tomb. They thought they had dethroned the King and would be able to do whatever they wanted. But Easter is coming and Jesus is still KING.
Now let’s look at what this means for us today. Throughout this week we are going to see a clash of two kingdoms...the kingdom of the world, the way things are done, versus the Kingdom of Heaven where King Jesus is telling us how it really ought to be. Throughout this week the leaders of this world will do their best to make sure King Jesus is crucified and dead in a tomb. And they think that by putting him down his followers will go along with whatever they want. They think they can dethrone the King. But Easter is coming and Jesus is still KING.
PRAY
Righteous God, you brought your son Jesus into Jerusalem to show people the radical grace of your love. Show us this grace, and give us eyes to see your goodness. Help us see the least of these, and remove the barriers between them and a relationship with you! We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
King Jesus is still King Jesus and expects us to treat the “least of these” the way he wants. He’s King. He can command that!
But if we think we can just reject Jesus, just ignore him, not give him control of our lives, then we will be just like the chief priests...we will stand condemned and face destruction!
WILL YOU LET JESUS BE YOUR KING?