This passage that we know as Jesus triumphant entry is also well known to all Christians because it is the focus of Palm Sunday the week before Easter. It is an annual tradition of the church to make this an emphasis at the beginning of holy week. Almost every Sunday School child has carried a palm branch to reenact this story. It is the beginning of the focus on Jesus last week on earth with the attention shifting to the cross and the resurrection.
It is ironic if you think about it to call this entry triumphant. As far as preparation, pageantry, and splendor it would not even stand up to the local parade. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. As far as opposing a political threat Jesus riding in on a lowly donkey didn’t even raise an eyebrow. Yet what was happening was enormous. The King of Glory was revealing his identity, which is the Messiah the Son of David.
He is the King of Glory and he was riding on a lowly donkey. Graham Kendrick has written a beautiful song capturing the irony of this, Meekness and Majesty. In this song he writes, “meekness and majesty, Oh what a mystery, bow down before him for this is our king”
We will never be able to change the name of Jesus entering Jerusalem from what it is called, the triumphant entry. If we could give this a better name it would be “The Meek and Majestic Entry.” This captures the twofold aspect of the royal procession.
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” 4 And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. 7 And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. 8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. (Mark 11:1-11)
God Bless the King.
Jesus has disclosed himself as Messiah. The Roman authorities paid little attention to Jesus riding in on a donkey, but in the scheme of all eternity it was a most significant event. Up until now Jesus had vailed his identity as Messiah.
When the demons saw him, they fell down and cried out, “You are the Son of God,” but he gave strict orders not to tell who he was. (Mark 3:11) At the feeding of the multitudes the crowds tried to make Jesus’ king by force, but he slipped away. (John 6:15) At the great confession when Peter said to Jesus, You are the Christ, Jesus responded blessed are you, don’t tell anyone. (Mark 8:29-30)
Now Jesus is unrestrained as the crowds proclaim his true identity. They make a path of garments and branches. The scene is reminiscent of 2 Kings 9:13 when King Jehu was anointed at the direction of Elisha to destroy Ahab and Jezebel. The people grabbed garments and spread them out on steps and blew a trumpet and Shouted Jehu is King.
When I visited Israel, I noticed the local people are usually polite to the tourists, but not for me in one case. There were two men passing me on the streets of Jerusalem, one of them walking and the other riding a donkey. The man walking said, hey you Christians, look there is your Jesus riding on a donkey.
It wasn’t Jesus, it was some disrespectful person. When Jesus comes again it won’t be lowly and riding on a donkey it will be in full glory. Even that one who spoke that mockery will be forced to bend the knee and confess Jesus as Lord.
Now Jesus is about to endure five days of intensive mockery that will last from Sunday until his crucifixion on Friday.
Now the people were saying:
Hosanna (it means save now)
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming Kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!
In the minds of the Jewish leaders, they were expecting a Messiah coming in glory, like I am expecting his second coming. Their response, see Luke’s Gospel, was Jesus rebuke your disciples.
Jesus is now in the open. In a public way he is letting everyone know that he is Messiah, Savior, the 2nd King David. His hour has come, and it must be proclaimed. Luke’s account says if they didn’t shout Hosanna the Rocks would cry out.
Just picture Jesus riding the donkey and the crowds yelling Hosanna! You can imagine that Jesus was stirred by deep emotions. You may be surprised at what emotions Jesus had. You might be thinking like the emotions of an athlete engaging the crowds to a state of frenzy in the moment of victory. No, Luke’s account says Jesus had tears streaming down his face weeping over the city of Jerusalem. Meekness and Majesty, Oh what a mystery.
Jesus Triumphant Entry fulfills prophecy.
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. (Zechariah 9:9)
Even the prophecy predicted the coming Messiah as a servant not coming in power and authority. Meekness and Majesty even in the prophecy. The crowds were quoting scripture.
Save us, we pray, O LORD!
O LORD, we pray, give us success!
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!
We bless you from the house of the LORD. (Psalm 118:25-26)
Jeremiah acted out his messages. Now Jesus is acting out the prophecy.
Response to the king.
There were two unnamed disciples who acted out of obedience. Notice how the details of this triumphant entry were carried out.
Jesus sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” (Mark 11:2-3)
Jesus sent two disciples and required them to step out in faith.
And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. 5 And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. (Mark 11:4-6)
There is a required action and trust on the part of Jesus disciples. All throughout scripture God calls his disciples to step out in faith. Abraham is to sacrifice Isaac. There is Joshua and the walls of Jericho. There is Moses standing before the Red Sea. There is Elijah facing the prophets of Baal.
We exercise our faith like we exercise a muscle. The more we step out in faith the stronger our faith becomes. Don’t be surprised if God is asking you to trust him more now then before. You are growing spiritually and trusting God signifies are spiritual maturity. In all this as disciples of Jesus we must remain humble.
In India the traveling evangelist Sadhu Sundar Singh was receiving much attention and large crowds from his preaching. Someone scolded him, "You are getting so much honor, distracting from Jesus." Sadhu Sundar Singh’s reply was: "No. The donkey went into Jerusalem, and they put garments on the ground before him. He was not proud. He knew it was not done to honor him, but for Jesus, who was sitting on his back. When people honor me, I know it is not me, but for the Lord, who I serve. He receives the honor."
Don’t be surprised if God is asking you to trust him more now than ever before in your life. You are growing spiritually. The beginning of the discipleship course “Masterlife” asks this question. “If Jesus told you to go get a pickup truck parked at Main and Broad Street, what would you do? Especially if you had to answer the owner’s question with, “The Lord has need of it.”
Jesus is king. He is calling you to respond in obedience. Step out in faith. Trust in Christ in areas you never dreamed of before. The more you trust and obey the more exciting life becomes. The Christian life is a great adventure.
The Response from the crowds.
The crowds are shallow. This may not surprise you, but the one who shouts the most, Halleluiah, might not be the one with the most spiritual depth. The crowds see Lazarus raised from the dead and blind Bartimaeus sight returned and they are immediately exuberant. They worship and they lay down their garments at this triumphant entry. They went ahead of him shouting the equivalent of, Amen, Halleluiah, Praise the Lord.
The crowds are exuberant and jubilant, but they are shallow. It was a superficial short-lived experience. The Hosana shouting began to fade when Jesus took a wrong turn according to their understanding. He took the fork in the road, not that led to the palace to become king, but to the temple.
Already with that turn the political expectations were being smothered. This was not the triumph they could get excited about. The meekness and majesty of Jesus was beyond them. This was their time to abandon the mission.
And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. (Mark 11:11)
It is interesting that when Jesus went to clear the temple the next day. He drove out those buying and selling in the temple courts. He overturned the tables of the moneychangers. The only ones shouting Hosanna were the children. The adults apparently gave up after the previous evening disappointment.
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matthew 21:13-16)
Previously when the crowds left Jesus because of his hard teaching he asked his disciples, will you not leave me also? (John 6:67)
Too many Christians are like the crowds. Their voice rings out in praise in the moment of excitement, and it quickly fades again in times of testing. Jesus is looking for those who will step out in faith. He wants you to obey when the command to obey is not easy.
Be ready to shout Hosanna at the real triumphant entry. This was the meek and majestic entry, and the real triumphant entry is yet to come.
Jesus said, For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:39)
When Jesus comes again, he won’t be riding a donkey in meekness. When Jesus comes again, he will be riding a white horse in triumph. (Revelation 19:11)
Our obedience now will prepare us for that great and glorious day. The day when Jesus comes again in triumph.
