Mark Bradford's Bible Blog

The Triumphal Entry

²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰“Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ”

³²Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

Since we just celebrated Holy Week recently, this event is fresh in our minds. On Palm Sunday 2 1/2 weeks ago, I blogged on Mark’s and John’s versions of the Triumphal entry. You can see that post here. After reading Luke’s version of it, it seems I’ve had some misconceptions about this key event in the life of Jesus, which I’ll talk about.

In past blogs, I’ve supposed that Jesus prearranged for a colt to be available for him. But I read another idea about it today that intrigues me and seems quite likely in Dr. Ralph Wilson’s lesson on this passage on JesusWalk.com. He imagines that a supporter in one of the villages near Jerusalem had made a standing offer to Jesus, basically saying, “If there’s anything you need, let me know.” So Jesus took this opportunity to take him up on his offer. That could be why the disciples only had to say, “The Lord needs it”, and the owner let them take the donkey. He was making good on his offer. If it had been prearranged, the owner would not have questioned the disciples about it. When we offer our lives to God, and tell him we’ll do whatever he asks of us, do we follow through on it when God asks us for something specific?

Riding on a donkey is significant for Jesus. A donkey is the mount of a man of peace. A king coming to rule would ride on a war-horse, which Jesus will do when he returns to reign (Revelation 19:11-16). This also fulfills the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, which Matthew and John both quote in their version of this event. In my post on Palm Sunday, I said that I thought the fact that Jesus rode a colt that had never been ridden was evidence of his divinity, because horses and donkeys need to be broken before they can be ridden. That could be, but it also has significance in that a colt that had not been ridden was one that was set apart for holy use, in the same way that a sacrificial animal had to be one that had never been used as a working animal (Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3). With this one act, Jesus is declaring that he is Messiah, King, Prince of Peace, and Lord.

³⁵They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

I’ve always had this picture in my head of the Triumphal Entry, probably from a combination of movies and sermons. But my mental picture appears to have been wrong all this time. I have always had the idea that Jesus waited outside the gates of Jerusalem and sent the two disciples into the city to find the colt. Then, I thought, he rode into Jerusalem, where crowds lined the streets shouting “Hosanna!” But in verse 30, Jesus tells the disciples to go into a nearby village to find the colt, not into the city. Then, in verses 35-37, Luke seems to indicate that all of this happened while they were still outside of the city proper. In fact, later in this chapter, when Jesus weeps over Jerusalem, he is still outside the city. In John 12:12-13, John says that pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for Passover went out to meet him. So the spreading of the cloaks, the waving of palm branches, and the shouts of “Hosanna!” all seem to have happened before Jesus actually entered Jerusalem.

In my blog on the healing of Bartimaeus, I imagined that the crowd that followed Jesus began calling Jesus “Son of David” because Bartimaeus started them doing it, and that this phrase and chorus of praises at the Triumphal Entry actually started at Bartimaeus’ healing at the gates of Jericho (18:43). A big crowd was following Jesus at that point, and pilgrims going to Jerusalem for Passover joined them. It now seems obvious to me that this crowd was the crowd at the Triumphal Entry. In verse 37, Luke says the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen. It wasn’t that Jesus rode into Jerusalem, and the people of Jerusalem ran to greet him. It was the crowd of disciples who had followed him all this way who shouted the Hosannas, laid down their cloaks, and waved the palm branches. They had followed Jesus, some for days, some for weeks, some for months or even years. They had witnessed many miracles, including the healing of Bartimaeus and the repentance of Zacchaeus just a few days before. They were the ones calling Jesus “Son of David” and quoting Messianic prophecy from Psalm 118.

²⁵ O LORD, save us; (literally, “Hosanna”)
O LORD, grant us success.

²⁶ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you. ^[a]

²⁷ The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up ^[b] to the horns of the altar. (Psalm 118:25-27, NIV)

This also supports my assertion that the crowd at the Triumphal Entry was a completely different crowd from the one that shouted for his crucifixion at Jesus’ trial. The crowd at the Triumphal Entry was a crowd of Jesus’ disciples. The crowd at his trial were supporters of Barrabbas who were there to demand his release.

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

As this display went on, some of the Pharisees became alarmed that the crowd was proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, and that Jesus was allowing this. We know that Jesus had some supporters who were Pharisees, like Nicodemus. It could be that the Pharisees who raised this objection were part of the crowd that was following Jesus to Jerusalem. There always seemed to be Pharisees around Jesus, and while it’s easy to get the impression from the gospels that they were all against him, that’s not necessarily true. This objection could simply have come out of concern for the safety of Jesus and the crowd. If Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey with a big crowd proclaiming him as the Messiah, there is bound to be trouble.

The popular idea of the meaning of verse 40 is that Jesus is telling the Pharisees that if his disciples stop praising him the stones will praise him instead. We’ve all sung songs and heard sermons to that effect. But that may not be what Jesus was saying at all. Instead, this could well be a reference to Habakkuk 2:9-11.

⁹ “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain
to set his nest on high,
to escape the clutches of ruin!

¹⁰ You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

¹¹ The stones of the wall will cry out,
and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

What Jesus may have actually been saying in his reply to the Pharisees is that if his followers did not praise him, the stones would cry out in accusation against the Pharisees for the way they had built their realm by unjust gain. So much of this whole event was composed of fulfillment of and references to prophecy, I think it’s entirely likely that Jesus was referring to prophecy here as well. Are we part of the celebration with Jesus’ disciples, or do we raise objections to the way worship is done because of discomfort that stems from seeking our own agendas?

Mark Bible Jesus, Luke, Pharisees, Triumphal Entry

⁹Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him. (John 12:9-11, NIV)

I know it seems odd to start a post with the word “meanwhile”, but I start it here for a reason. John combines the story of Mary anointing Jesus with the Triumphal Entry. According to John, this happened right before Jesus entered Jerusalem. Mark places it later in the week, just before the Last Supper. Lazarus, Mary, and Martha were all related and lived in the same house. It appears from John’s gospel that Jesus and his disciples stayed with them in Bethany for the Passover. Of course, Jesus had recently raised Lazarus from the dead, so crowds were coming to see Lazarus because of what they had heard. Maybe the crowd coming to see Lazarus was larger than usual this time because Jesus was there as well. But whereas people were drawn to see Lazarus because of what Jesus had done for him, the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus for the same reason! What were they going to do, kill everyone Jesus had healed? As they were about to see, the religious leaders were in a no-win situation.

The Triumphal Entry

¹As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ ”  ⁴They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. (Mark 11:1-6, NIV)

The time had come for Jesus to enter Jerusalem as the Messiah. Everything about this event fulfilled prophecy. On purpose, I believe. Up until now, Jesus did not want to be called the Messiah publicly because if he had allowed that, he would have been arrested prematurely. Now that the time for his arrest had come, he entered Jerusalem, not incognito or keeping a low profile, but in the most public way possible. According to Zechariah 9:9, the Messiah was to enter Jerusalem riding a young colt, the foal of a donkey. It appears that Jesus prearranged for just such a colt to be available for him to ride into the city. That’s how the disciples were able to take the colt by simply saying what Jesus told them to say. We’ll have more success in life if we’ll say what Jesus tells us to say.

Mark makes a point of telling us that this was a colt that had never been ridden before. Have you ever tried to ride a horse that has never had anyone sit on their back? I’m no cowboy, but I’m pretty sure horses and donkeys need to be broken in order to be ridden. They won’t let just anyone ride on their back the first time they try. I may be reading more into this than is really there, but this simple thing, to me, shows an aspect of the Lordship of Jesus, the fact that he could simply get on this young colt’s back and not be thrown off. I believe that if Jesus were here in the flesh, he could walk among a pride of lions in the wild, and they not only would not harm him, they would be rubbing against him with affection and purring like a house cat. The lions would know him and love him. I believe this unbroken colt let Jesus ride him because he recognized him for who he was and trusted him. Do we have that kind of simple trust in Jesus, that we’ll let him do what he wants with us just because we know and love him?

⁷When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!^[a]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]
10“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest!” (Mark 11:7-10, NIV)

The crowd also seemed to be aware of the prophecy they were fulfilling, and played their part. They were quoting scripture. They knew that “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” is from Psalm 118:26, and that it refers to the Messiah. They were recognizing his kingship. If you click on footnote ^[a] you’ll see the word “Hosanna” means “save”. By shouting “Hosanna”, some are probably saying, “Save us from the Romans”. But all of their actions, from laying down palm branches and their coats to pave his way to shouting praises that each of them knew were intended to address the Messiah, show that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, entering Jerusalem to save them.

¹⁶At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” (John 12:16-19, NIV)

Ever notice how often the disciples who wrote these books talk about how little they understood at the time? It just shows they were regular people like us. They too, looked back and thought, “How could I have been so stupid?” The Pharisees could see the writing on the wall. They could see that their plot to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus was not going to work, but they also knew that if they didn’t do something fast, this Jesus movement would get out of control.

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. (Mark 11:11)

Malachi 3:1-3 describes how the Messiah will come to the Temple, but questions whether the Temple will be able to endure his coming. Of course, we know that less than a generation after this, the Temple was destroyed. After Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went directly to the Temple. Verse 11 says he looked around at everything, as if surveying the situation. He knew that he was going to cleanse the Temple, and it seems to me he was either looking the Temple over first as a means of fulfilling prophecy, or he came to the Temple first intending to cleanse the Temple then, but decided to wait because it was too late in the day. Maybe the money changers had gone home for the day, so Jesus decided to come back when they were there. Whichever it was, Jesus was fulfilling prophecy each step of the way now. This would be the last week of his natural life, and he made the most of it.

Mark Bible Jesus, John, Mark, Triumphal Entry

The Triumphal Entry

¹As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, ²saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’ ”  ⁴They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, ⁵some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.

The time had come for Jesus to enter Jerusalem as the Messiah. Everything about this event fulfilled prophecy, on purpose, I believe. Up until now, Jesus did not want to be called the Messiah publicly because if he had allowed that, he would have been arrested prematurely. Now that the time for his arrest had come, he entered Jerusalem, not incognito or keeping a low profile, but in the most public way possible. According to Zechariah 9:9, the Messiah was to enter Jerusalem riding a young colt, the foal of a donkey. It appears that Jesus prearranged for just such a colt to be available for him to ride into the city. That’s how the disciples were able to take the colt by simply saying what Jesus told them to say. We’ll have more success in life if we’ll say what Jesus tells us to say.

Mark makes a point of telling us that this was a colt that had never been ridden before. Have you ever tried to ride a horse that has never had anyone sit on their back? I’m no cowboy, but I’m pretty sure horses and donkeys need to be broken in order to be ridden. They won’t let just anyone ride on their back the first time they try. I may be reading more into this than is really there, but this simple thing, to me, shows an aspect of the Lordship of Jesus, the fact that he could simply get on this young colt’s back and not be thrown off. I believe that if Jesus were here in the flesh, he could walk among a pride of lions in the wild, and they not only would not harm him, they would be rubbing against him with affection and purring like a house cat. The lions would know him and love him. I believe this unbroken colt let Jesus ride him because he recognized him for who he was and trusted him. Do we have that kind of simple trust in Jesus, that we’ll let him do what he wants with us just because we know and love him?

⁷When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. ⁹Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!^[a]”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]
10“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”

The crowd also seemed to be aware of the prophecy they were fulfilling, and played their part. They were quoting scripture. They knew that “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” is from Psalm 118:26, and that it refers to the Messiah. They were recognizing his kingship. If you click on footnote ^[a] you’ll see the word “Hosanna” means “save”. By shouting “Hosanna”, some are probably saying, “Save us from the Romans”. But all of their actions, from laying down palm branches and their coats to pave his way to shouting praises that each of them knew were intended to address the Messiah, show that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, entering Jerusalem to save them.

¹¹Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Malachi 3:1-3 describes how the Messiah will come to the Temple, but questions whether the Temple will be able to endure his coming. After Jesus entered Jerusalem, he went directly to the Temple. Verse 11 says he looked around at everything, as if surveying the situation. He knew that he was going to cleanse the Temple, and it seems to me he was either looking the Temple over first as a means of fulfilling prophecy, or he came to the Temple first intending to cleanse the Temple then, but decided to wait because it was too late in the day. Maybe the money changers had gone home for the day, so Jesus decided to come back when they were there. Whichever it was, Jesus was fulfilling prophecy each step of the way now. This would be the last week of his natural life, and he made the most of it.

Mark Bible Bible, Jesus, Mark, Triumphal Entry