We saw 10 chapters ago in Luke 9:51 that Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem. Every teaching has become more open about who he is and more urgent about how things are going to be for the disciples. He has been preparing his disciples for what they couldn’t possibly fathom. 

So where are we now? Jesus just passed through Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. He stopped and had dinner at Zacheaus’ house and then through the parable of the ten minas, taught about the King who was going to be gone for awhile and to be faithful while you wait for him. He also said that the King would be largely rejected. 

We learned a couple of weeks ago that Jericho is the lowest city on Earth; more than 800 ft below sea level. So “Going up” to Jerusalem was very literal. Jerusalem was on a hill 2,500 ft above sea level, but also there was an honorific tone to the language that always referred to Jerusalem/God’s holy city as “up” and everywhere else as down. 

It is 14 miles of uphill walk from Jericho to Bethany and then another approximately 2 miles into Jerusalem. So the hard part of the journey is over. There is just two miles left. 

There is no other point in Jesus ministry where we see him riding on anything. He walks every where. This distance he was traveling from Bethany and Bethphage to Jerusalem was less than two miles. He had been traveling for the last three years on foot all over the country. It is estimated that Jesus walked at a minimum, 3,000 miles in his earthly ministry. Some estimate upwards of 15,000 miles as he traversed back and forth across the country. No one can convince me that he hopped on a donkey at this point because it was a long, hard journey and he was tired. The choice to ride a colt into Jerusalem was to fulfill prophecy and to make a very clear declaration about who he was. He was making a claim to Messiahship loud and clear in just this act. 

Side note: “The Lord has need of it.” She commentators think that this was the code phrase set up in advance by Jesus to borrow a colt. I don’t think so. That makes it seem like Jesus did a trick to impress his disciples. It is possible that the owner of the donkey and her colt was a disciple. Lazarus had been raised from the dead in Bethany. The whole town would have known about this and known exactly who it was that raised him. They may have been at the tomb when it happened. There is a strong chance that the owners recognized the disciples as Jesus’ followers and so knew exactly who they meant when they said, “the Lord has need of it.”

Jesus sends his disciples to Bethany meaning ‘obedience’ and Bethphage meaning ‘house of jaws’ (see Deut 18:3 jawbones were given to priests as their portion in the sacrificial system) which was a place given to priests to get a colt that has never been ridden on before. 

Matthew tells us that Jesus said to bring the donkey and her colt. Matthew and John tell us that this was to fulfill the prophecy about God coming to save Israel in Zech 9:9

Zech 9:9

      Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! 

   Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! 

         Behold, your king is coming to you; 

   righteous and having salvation is he, 

         humble and mounted on a donkey, 

   on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

The symbolism of riding on a donkey is huge by itself, but Jesus doesn’t just ride in on a donkey declaring peace. He rides in on the colt that has never been ridden on before. This doesn’t mean that we should only drive new cars. Diane Chen in the New Testament in Living Color says that kings often rode horses that had never been ridden before so Jesus choice of steed was a claim to kingship. It was also a claim to deity. In the OT we see that things used in worship of God were things consecrated, made sacred by never being used for other purposes. They were holy because they were set aside for God only. The fact that the colt had never been ridden isn’t about Jesus being high maintenance and wanting only the best. It was about designating this moment, this ride of announcement as a holy moment. He was acting in obedience to the Father by going into Jerusalem to be killed. He was coming from the town of priests as our great high priest.

The symbolism of all of this is HUGE! Jesus is the King who comes in peace. He is coming in obedience as our great high priest and this is a holy moment of delivering the pure and spotless sacrifice to the temple using a consecrated colt. 

“Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.” (Gen 49:11) The “wine” and “blood of grapes” suggest the imminent outpouring of Jesus’ blood.” -Justin Martyr

What were people seeing as they watched Jesus ride into Jerusalem?

Rome saw no threat. They had been hearing rumors. They had seen crowds. They were keeping an eye on things wondering if a revolt would spring up. But here comes this humble, plain clothed man riding on a colt, a symbol of peace, with no pride on his face or posture. He exuded humility and meekness. They probably began to think that this holy man would help calm the people rather than stir them up. If he were leading a revolt he would have come on a war horse. Kings who wanted to show that they came in peace rode on a donkey. It was also common for religious teachers 

The religious leaders saw a threat. Crowds were hanging on Jesus’ every word and Jesus was upending the authority and hold that the religious leaders had over the people. He has called them children of Satan and hypocrites. He was challenging everything they believed and taught about God and how to relate with Him. 

The crowd saw what they wanted to see. 

The crowds saw the fulfillment of prophecy, but misunderstood what how it was being fulfilled. 

The disciples bring the colt and throw their cloaks on its back as a saddle and others begin spreading their cloaks on the road in front of the donkey. 2 Kings 9 Elijah sends his servant to anoint Jehu king of Israel. Jehu is God’s plan to free Israel from the evil rule of Ahab and Jezebel who had killed nearly all of the prophets of God and had led the people away from God. It had become Jewish tradition from his time forward to lay coats out in the path of a ruler as a sign of greeting. Cloaks on ground Equivalent of modern day red carpet. Matthew tells us that palm branches were also being laid out and waved in the air. We see this practice all the way back in Leviticus as a way to celebrate the Festival of Booths recognizing God’s care and provision while Israel wandered in the desert. Palms were given to athletic victors and they were waved in celebration when Simon Maccabees liberated the citadel during the Maccabean Revolt. “On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the one hundred and seventy-first year, the Jews entered the citadel with shouts of praise, the waving of palm branches, the playing of harps and cymbals and lyres, and the singing of hymns and canticles, because a great enemy of Israel had been crushed” (1 Maccabees 13:51). 

Bethany and Bethphage are almost at the crest of the hill next to Jerusalem just before the mount of olives. As you crest the hill at the mount of olives you get a breathtaking view of the city of Jerusalem which is on the next hill just a little lower. You have one last lush, deep valley to go through to get to the city. This would be the easy part of the trip. The enjoyable, breathtaking part. Pilgrims to the holy city broke into song at the joy of seeing their destination and going to celebrate their God. Psalm 118 was a pilgrim song, a song of ascent for walking up to the gates of Jerusalem. During Passover, Messianic fever ran high.

All of the Gospel writers record that the people sang a line from Psalm 118 in their praise of Jesus as he rode along.

Luke 19:38 “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Psalm 118 is a very Messianic Psalm (not just looking back at it now, but even then they sang it knowing it was talking about the Messiah they were waiting for.

 118:19-29 

   19    Open to me the gates of righteousness, 

   that I may enter through them 

   and give thanks to the LORD. 

      20    This is the gate of the LORD; 

   the righteous shall enter through it. 

      21    I thank you that you have answered me 

   and have become my salvation. 

      22    The stone that the builders rejected 

   has become the cornerstone. 

Jesus says this of himself in Luke 20:17

      23    This is the LORD’s doing; 

   it is marvelous in our eyes. 

      24    This is the day that the LORD has made; 

   let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

      25    Save us, we pray, O LORD! 

   O LORD, we pray, give us success! 

Hosanna means “save us” and it became a word that was just said to praise God. That’s why we read “Hosanna in the highest.” They weren’t meaning save us in the highest. They were essentially saying praise God in the highest with the latent understanding that God will save. 

      26    Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! 

This was a way of referring to the coming Messiah. The disciples were singing this about Jesus as he rode up to Jerusalem, but adjusted the phrase to “blessed is the the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

We bless you from the house of the LORD. 

      27    The LORD is God, 

   and he has made his light to shine upon us. 

         Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, 

   up to the horns of the altar! 

Speaking of Jesus- the light of the world and the sacrifice that would pay the price for our sin.

      28    You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; 

   you are my God; I will extol you. 

      29    Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 

   for his steadfast love endures forever! 

  We bless you from the house of the LORD. 

And without realizing it, the second line of their song “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest” was echoing what the angles sang at the announcement of Jesus’ birth. 

   Luke 2:14    “Glory to God in the highest, 

   and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” 

“At Jesus’ birth there is peace on earth. As he enters Jerusalem for his passion and resurrection, there is peace in heaven. Earth and heaven are joined together in peace through the incarnation and atonement of Christ.” -Cyril of Alexandria

The crowds saw the promised one sent by God; His answer to redeem Israel from oppression. They misunderstood what the promise was about, however. God’s promise was never about a physical king or empire. It was so much bigger and more permanent. 

The crowd turns on Jesus just a few days later probably because he didn’t over throw Tiberius and Rome so in their minds he was a fraud. 

“One thing is clear. He certainly does not seek the praise of the people. He had no interest in popularity. He did not yearn for a high rating in the local polls. He was not a politician charming his constituency. He was a savior seeking to challenge people to accept him in faith.” 

-Alfred McBride The Human Face of Jesus

Leading into this moment Jesus just gave a warning. An admonition to not give up. To keep waiting even when the wait is long. The disciples were going to need to cling onto this teaching because nothing was going to be what they thought. 

The disciples saw God’s promise. They had some of the same ideas as the crowds about who the Messiah should be in their heads, but they kept trusting even when things got confusing and Jesus didn’t live up to their expectations. Jesus told John the Baptist in Luke 7:28 when John was struggling because Jesus wasn’t being the Messiah John expected Jesus to be, “Blessed are those who are not offended by me.” The ones who don’t fall away when things are different than expected, when the teachings are hard, when persecution comes because of their faith, these will receive the prize they are looking for: God himself.

One more super cool thing that God lined up in the layer upon layer of symbolism and meaning about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem: In the temple a Psalm was read every day like how we open our services with the reading of a Psalm. Over time a rhythm formed where each day of the week had a specific Psalm that was read. On Sundays Psalm 24 was always read. Listen to what was being read in the temple as Jesus is riding in on the donkey with palm branches waving and people singing his praises:

Psalm 24

   1    The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, 

   the world and those who dwell therein, 

      2    for he has founded it upon the seas 

   and established it upon the rivers. 

      3    Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? 

   And who shall stand in his holy place? 

      4    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, 

   who does not lift up his soul to what is false 

   and does not swear deceitfully. 

      5    He will receive blessing from the LORD 

   and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

      6    Such is the generation of those who seek him, 

   who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah 

      7    Lift up your heads, O gates! 

   And be lifted up, O ancient doors, 

   that the King of glory may come in. 

      8    Who is this King of glory? 

   The LORD, strong and mighty, 

   the LORD, mighty in battle! 

      9    Lift up your heads, O gates! 

   And lift them up, O ancient doors, 

   that the King of glory may come in. 

      10    Who is this King of glory? 

   The LORD of hosts, 

   he is the King of glory! Selah