Triumphal Entry (2)

Arrival

(NRSV)

The Coming Ruler of God’s People

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9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you;

Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!

Lo, your king comes to you;

triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

More than five hundred years before Jesu makes this entry into Jerusalem. More than two thousand years later and we are still telling the story , and at times it is being received well, other times, perhaps not so well.

humble and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Matthew tells the story of Jesus giving orders to his disciples as to what to do. (NRSV)

2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”

A king marching to war would choose a horse; but the lowly donkey (and the especially lowly colt) was the eminently right choice for a king on a mission of peace.

Chamblin, J. K. (1995). Matthew. In Evangelical Commentary on the Bible (Vol. 3, p. 747). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Israel is rejecting this king. How is it possible? It is the truth. Just a short time before Jesus and his disciples are gathered and he tells them that he will go to Bethany to see to Lazarus, and the disciples warn him against going because the Jews are seeking to stone him to death. Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem. Matthew does a little play on words here. Matthew leaves out the words from Zechariah “Rejoice Greatly” he also calls them daughter of Zion instead of “O daughter of Jerusalem” what could this mean? Matthew is trying to drive home the idea that the Jews, who have been waiting on the Messiah, have now rejected their King.

Those who love the Lord obey his commandments. (NRSV)

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. One thing I find interesting and I hope you do as well, is that a very large crowd gathered, spread their cloaks on the ground, and others cut branches, all of them spreading them on the road. As we go through this life, it can be very easy to get discouraged, to start thinking that no one cares about the gospel. Don’t loose heart. The Bible has been written and these things will be fulfilled. Just as the donkey was found, right where Jesus said it will be, and it was given to the disciples when they asked for it.

One day his believers will stand there just like these people did and they will praise the Great Hosanna. In verse 10, it says that the whole city was in turmoil, asking “who is this” Trust me this was not the crowd laying cloaks and palm branches on the road. The people standing there wondering who this was might very well have been the people that Jesus was talking about in John, (NRSV)

Jesus Foretells His Death

21 Again he said to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 Then the Jews said, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” 25 They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all? 26 I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.”