THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY
This week we will take a break from our study of Psalms to study Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. This is Palm Sunday, which commemorates that event and begins our focus on Easter Week. Today’s text is Matthew 21:1-17.
The context here is that Jesus was going to Jerusalem from Jericho and wanted to get there by the time for Passover. He had already told his disciples he would be crucified and would rise again, though they did not really understand it. (Matthew 20:17-19)
But before Jesus goes to the cross, he has things he wants to do to declare who he is. The first of these is his entry into Jerusalem.
The Triumphal Entry
21:1-11
Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village of Bethpage to obtain a donkey and her colt. Bethpage was a little village on the Mount of Olives close to Bethany, according to the church historian Eusebius. The Mount of Olives is east of the of Jerusalem. To get to Jerusalem on the road from Bethpage or Bethany, you would go down the mountain to the Kidron Valley, then back up to the eastern gate of the city.
Why would Jesus need the colt of a donkey? Matthew tells us. It was to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah recorded for us in Zechariah 9:9. The Jews considered this a Messianic prophecy. The prophecy was that the king, who would be the Messiah, would come to them mounted on the colt of a donkey.
The Jews were well versed in the Old Testament scripture. It was read every week in the synagogue and explained by scribes and rabbis. Jesus knew they would recognize the prophesy and he set out to make the statement that he fulfilled the prophesy. That statement was: I am the promised king and messiah.
The donkey also was a humble beast. So, Jesus made a humble entry as Zechariah prophesied. Normally a king of this time would ride a white horse or arrive in a chariot pulled by white horses. But Jesus made the humble entry on a humble donkey. It was a statement also of the kind of Messiah he was: a humble savior.
Now, at Passover, there were huge crowds of people. Jews came from all over to celebrate Passover. The city would be full. Lots of people would camp outside the city because there were no more places to stay. And the crowds outside the city, likely containing some people who had experienced Jesus’ miracles and teaching, understood the symbolism and reacted to it accordingly.
First, the disciples put their cloaks on it for him to sit on. This befits a king who would not ride bareback on a donkey. The disciples were showing respect to Jesus and recognizing him as the messiah.
Then the crowds spread their cloaks on the road so that the donkey itself would not step on the ground. This has royal significance also. 2 Kings 9 records the events that occurred when Elisha the prophet anointed young Jehu as king. The people put their cloaks on the steps of the temple as Jehu walked to meet the prophet. So, these people knew what to do to prepare the way for a king, knowing the example from the Old Testament.
As Jesus rode past, the people in the crowd began to shout “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”. “Hosanna” was a term of praise or blessing.
They directed this praise to the “Son of David”. This term goes back to God’s covenant with David, to establish his throne and kingdom forever. You can read about that in 2 Samuel 7.
It was also considered Messianic, because any king of Israel would have to be from the line of David. That is why some who called out to Jesus for healing addressed him as “Son of David”. Again, the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as king and messiah. Jesus was showing them that the promised one had come and that the kingdom would be restored. (But, it would not be restored in the way most of the Jews thought it would.)
Finally, they shouted “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. The significance of that shout is that it comes from Psalm 118:26, which was also considered messianic. The crowd praised Jesus as the one sent from God to save Israel.
Matthew tells us that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with a shouting crowed. stirred up the whole city. (10) Many had not heard Jesus and asked who he was. The crowd identified him as the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee named Jesus. (11) Some take this is a denial of belief that Jesus was the messiah and king. But, the reaction of the crowd tells us otherwise. They treated him as royalty. This was just a way to tell someone who this royal person was.
Cleansing the Temple
21:12-17
Once in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple. In doing so, he fulfilled Malachi 3:1, which says “and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.”
Jesus saw the Court of the Gentiles filled with money changers and those who sold pigeons. The money changers would, for a fee, change Roman money for Jewish money, which was the only money that could be used to pay the Temple tax. It was a franchise normally owned and run by the High Priest. It made him a lot of money.
Those who sold pigeons were providing a service in one sense. Pigeons could be offered as sacrifices by the poor who could not afford a bull or a lamb. It would have been difficult to carry a pigeon to Jerusalem from some town far off, so you could buy one there and, no doubt, at an increased price.
But the biggest problem for Jesus was the location. The vendors were set up in the court of the gentiles. It was the only place gentiles could go in the temple to worship and pray, and they were prevented from going there by the presence of the vendors.
So Jesus drove the vendors out to return the courts to their original and intended purpose. Isaiah 56:6-8 tells us what the purpose was. It says that the Lord will bring foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to the temple and make them joyful in his house of prayer. And so Jesus cited these verses, saying “my house shall be called a house of prayer”. He then added words from Jeremiah 7:11 where Jeremiah quotes the Lord as saying”has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?”.
It was always the intention of the Lord to bring Gentiles to knowledge and worship of him. The Jews were to show the way. But, in their pride, the excluded Gentiles and hated them. Jesus restored the temple to the place where Gentiles could come and join themselves to the Lord until the time the Temple was no longer necessary.
After Jesus drove out the merchants, an interesting thing happened. The blind and lame began to flood into the temple seeking healing. (14) You can imagine how the Jewish leaders felt about this. They saw the blind and lame as sinners that should be avoided. But not Jesus.
I think the blind and lame came in response to Scripture. They heard that the Messianic King had come and was in the temple. And they knew that Isaiah 35, which spoke of the coming of the Lord, said “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mud sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5-6) And so they came to be healed.
In the midst of all the wonderful chaos, the children who had come to the temple began to shout “Hosanna to the Son of David”. (15) They were praising Jesus as the Messianic King, coming in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.
The scribes and chief priests saw all this. Matthew calls them the “wonderful things” Jesus did. Sadly, instead of joining in the praise of Jesus and joy at the coming of the Messiah, they were indignant. (15) Their business had been ruined, their beautiful temple soiled by the poor sick people. And to top it all off, children were walking around shouting praises.
In addition to having to put up with these dirty and sick people and children, the leaders were indignant at the very thought of what was being portrayed by all this. Surely, the messiah would come to them, the religious leaders, and not the these who were poor, dirty, sick and uneducated.
They huffed to Jesus “do you hear what they are saying?” as if Jesus should stop all this because it was not true. Instead he did the opposite. He again went to Scripture to say “out of the mouth of babes you have prepared praise”. This again was from Psalm 8, this time from verse 2.
If you read on in Matthew, you will see the indignant leaders progress to murderous rage. They did not see Jesus through the eyes of faith and welcome him as the crowds did. Instead, they saw him through the eyes of jealousy, seeing him as a threat to their leadership, power, and wealth.
Jesus did these things to show the Jews he was the promised king and messiah. God inspired the gospel writers to write the account so that we would know it, too. Sadly, many believers do not know their Old Testament well enough to see what these things mean. Fortunately, Matthew was inspired to show us many of them so we could all know.
If you read this passage, and those that follow, through the eyes of faith, you will see the Savior who came in love to bring salvation from sin to us. He did not come to bring the Jews salvation from the Romans, which was what many of them wanted.
Many of them, when they realized he was not the messiah they expected, joined the religious leaders in the process that lead to his crucifixion.
It is important for us to know the real Jesus. We only know who he is and what he is like from what the Bible says about him. This week is a good time to focus on him as we approach Easter, when we will celebrate his resurrection.
We are in a difficult time right now. It is natural to be stressed and depressed. But hope comes to us when we focus on Christ and look forward to the blessings he has for us.
This week we will take a break from our study of Psalms to study Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. This is Palm Sunday, which commemorates that event and begins our focus on Easter Week. Today’s text is Matthew 21:1-17.
The context here is that Jesus was going to Jerusalem from Jericho and wanted to get there by the time for Passover. He had already told his disciples he would be crucified and would rise again, though they did not really understand it. (Matthew 20:17-19)
But before Jesus goes to the cross, he has things he wants to do to declare who he is. The first of these is his entry into Jerusalem.
The Triumphal Entry
21:1-11
Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village of Bethpage to obtain a donkey and her colt. Bethpage was a little village on the Mount of Olives close to Bethany, according to the church historian Eusebius. The Mount of Olives is east of the of Jerusalem. To get to Jerusalem on the road from Bethpage or Bethany, you would go down the mountain to the Kidron Valley, then back up to the eastern gate of the city.
Why would Jesus need the colt of a donkey? Matthew tells us. It was to fulfill the prophecy of Zechariah recorded for us in Zechariah 9:9. The Jews considered this a Messianic prophecy. The prophecy was that the king, who would be the Messiah, would come to them mounted on the colt of a donkey.
The Jews were well versed in the Old Testament scripture. It was read every week in the synagogue and explained by scribes and rabbis. Jesus knew they would recognize the prophesy and he set out to make the statement that he fulfilled the prophesy. That statement was: I am the promised king and messiah.
The donkey also was a humble beast. So, Jesus made a humble entry as Zechariah prophesied. Normally a king of this time would ride a white horse or arrive in a chariot pulled by white horses. But Jesus made the humble entry on a humble donkey. It was a statement also of the kind of Messiah he was: a humble savior.
Now, at Passover, there were huge crowds of people. Jews came from all over to celebrate Passover. The city would be full. Lots of people would camp outside the city because there were no more places to stay. And the crowds outside the city, likely containing some people who had experienced Jesus’ miracles and teaching, understood the symbolism and reacted to it accordingly.
First, the disciples put their cloaks on it for him to sit on. This befits a king who would not ride bareback on a donkey. The disciples were showing respect to Jesus and recognizing him as the messiah.
Then the crowds spread their cloaks on the road so that the donkey itself would not step on the ground. This has royal significance also. 2 Kings 9 records the events that occurred when Elisha the prophet anointed young Jehu as king. The people put their cloaks on the steps of the temple as Jehu walked to meet the prophet. So, these people knew what to do to prepare the way for a king, knowing the example from the Old Testament.
As Jesus rode past, the people in the crowd began to shout “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”. “Hosanna” was a term of praise or blessing.
They directed this praise to the “Son of David”. This term goes back to God’s covenant with David, to establish his throne and kingdom forever. You can read about that in 2 Samuel 7.
It was also considered Messianic, because any king of Israel would have to be from the line of David. That is why some who called out to Jesus for healing addressed him as “Son of David”. Again, the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as king and messiah. Jesus was showing them that the promised one had come and that the kingdom would be restored. (But, it would not be restored in the way most of the Jews thought it would.)
Finally, they shouted “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. The significance of that shout is that it comes from Psalm 118:26, which was also considered messianic. The crowd praised Jesus as the one sent from God to save Israel.
Matthew tells us that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem with a shouting crowed. stirred up the whole city. (10) Many had not heard Jesus and asked who he was. The crowd identified him as the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee named Jesus. (11) Some take this is a denial of belief that Jesus was the messiah and king. But, the reaction of the crowd tells us otherwise. They treated him as royalty. This was just a way to tell someone who this royal person was.
Cleansing the Temple
21:12-17
Once in Jerusalem, Jesus went to the Temple. In doing so, he fulfilled Malachi 3:1, which says “and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.”
Jesus saw the Court of the Gentiles filled with money changers and those who sold pigeons. The money changers would, for a fee, change Roman money for Jewish money, which was the only money that could be used to pay the Temple tax. It was a franchise normally owned and run by the High Priest. It made him a lot of money.
Those who sold pigeons were providing a service in one sense. Pigeons could be offered as sacrifices by the poor who could not afford a bull or a lamb. It would have been difficult to carry a pigeon to Jerusalem from some town far off, so you could buy one there and, no doubt, at an increased price.
But the biggest problem for Jesus was the location. The vendors were set up in the court of the gentiles. It was the only place gentiles could go in the temple to worship and pray, and they were prevented from going there by the presence of the vendors.
So Jesus drove the vendors out to return the courts to their original and intended purpose. Isaiah 56:6-8 tells us what the purpose was. It says that the Lord will bring foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to the temple and make them joyful in his house of prayer. And so Jesus cited these verses, saying “my house shall be called a house of prayer”. He then added words from Jeremiah 7:11 where Jeremiah quotes the Lord as saying”has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?”.
It was always the intention of the Lord to bring Gentiles to knowledge and worship of him. The Jews were to show the way. But, in their pride, the excluded Gentiles and hated them. Jesus restored the temple to the place where Gentiles could come and join themselves to the Lord until the time the Temple was no longer necessary.
After Jesus drove out the merchants, an interesting thing happened. The blind and lame began to flood into the temple seeking healing. (14) You can imagine how the Jewish leaders felt about this. They saw the blind and lame as sinners that should be avoided. But not Jesus.
I think the blind and lame came in response to Scripture. They heard that the Messianic King had come and was in the temple. And they knew that Isaiah 35, which spoke of the coming of the Lord, said “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mud sing for joy.” (Isaiah 35:5-6) And so they came to be healed.
In the midst of all the wonderful chaos, the children who had come to the temple began to shout “Hosanna to the Son of David”. (15) They were praising Jesus as the Messianic King, coming in fulfillment of the Old Testament Scriptures.
The scribes and chief priests saw all this. Matthew calls them the “wonderful things” Jesus did. Sadly, instead of joining in the praise of Jesus and joy at the coming of the Messiah, they were indignant. (15) Their business had been ruined, their beautiful temple soiled by the poor sick people. And to top it all off, children were walking around shouting praises.
In addition to having to put up with these dirty and sick people and children, the leaders were indignant at the very thought of what was being portrayed by all this. Surely, the messiah would come to them, the religious leaders, and not the these who were poor, dirty, sick and uneducated.
They huffed to Jesus “do you hear what they are saying?” as if Jesus should stop all this because it was not true. Instead he did the opposite. He again went to Scripture to say “out of the mouth of babes you have prepared praise”. This again was from Psalm 8, this time from verse 2.
If you read on in Matthew, you will see the indignant leaders progress to murderous rage. They did not see Jesus through the eyes of faith and welcome him as the crowds did. Instead, they saw him through the eyes of jealousy, seeing him as a threat to their leadership, power, and wealth.
Jesus did these things to show the Jews he was the promised king and messiah. God inspired the gospel writers to write the account so that we would know it, too. Sadly, many believers do not know their Old Testament well enough to see what these things mean. Fortunately, Matthew was inspired to show us many of them so we could all know.
If you read this passage, and those that follow, through the eyes of faith, you will see the Savior who came in love to bring salvation from sin to us. He did not come to bring the Jews salvation from the Romans, which was what many of them wanted.
Many of them, when they realized he was not the messiah they expected, joined the religious leaders in the process that lead to his crucifixion.
It is important for us to know the real Jesus. We only know who he is and what he is like from what the Bible says about him. This week is a good time to focus on him as we approach Easter, when we will celebrate his resurrection.
We are in a difficult time right now. It is natural to be stressed and depressed. But hope comes to us when we focus on Christ and look forward to the blessings he has for us.
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