"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!" Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'"  So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.  But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?"  And they said, "The Lord has need of him."  Then they brought him to Jesus.  And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.  And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.  Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:

"'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!'

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."  But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

- Luke 19:28-40

Yesterday we read that Jesus spoke another parable, because He was near Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God would appear immediately.  "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.  So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, 'Do business till I come.'  But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man to reign over us.'  And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.  Then came the first, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned ten minas.'  And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'  And the second came, saying, 'Master, your mina has earned five minas.'  Likewise he said to him, 'You also be over five cities.'  Then another came, saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.  For I feared you, because you are an austere man.  You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.'  And he said to him, 'Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant.  You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.  Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?'  And he said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.'  ("But they said to him, 'Master, he has ten minas.')  For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  But bring here those enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, and slay them before me.'"

When He had said this, He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.  And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat.  Loose it and bring it here.  And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.'"  So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them.  But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?"  And they said, "The Lord has need of him."  Then they brought him to Jesus.  And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him.  And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road.  Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem as the expected Messiah.  It's important to understand the popular notions about the Messiah in this setting of the entrance into Jerusalem.  He was expected to deliver or liberate Israel from Roman control, and to reestablish David's kingdom.   Jewish nationalism played a great role in these expectations, and clearly was part of the contemporary political lives of the people, given that Barabbas, a rebel, will play a role at Jesus' Crucifixion (23:13-23).  But Jesus does not come onto this scene in a political mode at all.  This is called the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which the Church celebrates on Palm Sunday.  But Jesus is not riding on a horse or a chariot, as a great political liberator or deliverer would do.  He does not have an army with Him.  Rather, He deliberately selects the colt of a donkey upon which to ride into Jerusalem, which is a sign of humility and peace (Zechariah 9:9).  My study bible says that this entrance into the Holy City declares the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  It is also a promise of Christ's final entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem with all believers and of His accepting the New Jerusalem as His pure Bride (Revelation 21:2).  The people spread their clothes before Jesus as paying reverence to a King, even an assumption of identity which the King will establish.   Spiritually, this has been interpreted as our own need to lay down our flesh, even our lives, for Christ.

Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, saying:  "'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"   The disciples cry out a verse from Psalm 118:26, associated with messianic expectation.  This was recited daily for six days during the Feast of Tabernacles (the Feast of the Coming Kingdom, or Sukkot), and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  The Messiah was expected to descend from the Mount of Olives, coming from the east, like the sun.

And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples."  But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."  Jesus gives us a sense of overwhelming impulse, and also of all of creation responding with joy in recognition of the Christ (Psalm 65:11-13).

Jesus is welcomed into Jerusalem with the highest expectations of the people.  They consider Him to be a political Messiah, and in the popular understanding and hope among the people this meant liberation from the Romans, and the establishment once again of the kingdom of David.  The title "Son of David" which we've heard in a recent reading, shouted at Christ as He headed toward Jericho on His way to Jerusalem, reflects this understanding about Him.  In yesterday's reading, we were told that among those who followed Him there was the expectation that the manifestation of the Kingdom was imminent, and would happen immediately.  One can simply imagine the chaos and fear when, less than one week later, Jesus will have been crucified.  But in another sense, this Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem is also a manifestation of what is absolutely true:  Christ enters into Jerusalem in a kind of icon of the wedding of the Son with His heavenly spiritual Bride, the Church, the community of the heavenly Jerusalem.  This is not a separate reality that exists somewhere far off and absolute, but one which exists in the here and now and is intersected within our lives and the life of the world, whether we can see it in the flesh or not.  It is the spiritual reality of this moment which is ever-present, with us, and yet always remains coming toward us.  In the phrase, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" is a kind of truth of the spiritual reality that unites heaven and earth.  Christ is the Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to come (Revelation 1:8).  With the Resurrection, the world is entered into the "end time" -- the telos, in Greek, this time of becoming and increasing fullness, toward the manifestation of the fullness of the return of the One who is always coming (Revelation 22:12).  We live in the "time of the end" -- in which we live our lives in awareness of His return in fullness, which He has taught us to do.  The very stones which would cry out represent creation fully aware of the presence and manifestation of Creator, all of the cosmos welcoming the Lord.  This paradoxical scene, of Christ welcomed as political messiah and earthly king, is illustrative for us of the times in which we live, in which human worldly expectation is so often frustrated, defeated, entirely mistaken about the true things of God and surprised by God's work in the world -- but on the other hand, the truth is present for those who may discern through faith, and hidden to those who cannot.  Let us remember His entrance into Jerusalem and understand it as an eternal truth, present with us, although "not with observation" as He has said (17:20-21).  It is with us, within us, among us -- and all of creation responds to He who has come for the life of the world (6:51).