Tell the daughter of Zion, "Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey"

Triumphal Entry ("Palm-Bearing"). Mosaic, 12th century.  Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily

 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

"Tell the daughter of Zion,
'Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.' "

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'
Hosanna in the highest!"

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"   So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

- Matthew 21:1-11

On Saturday we read that as Jesus and the disciples went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him.  And behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  Then the multitude warned them that they should be quiet; but they cried out all the more, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!"  So Jesus stood still and called them, and said, "What do you want Me to do for you?"  They said to Him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."  So Jesus had compassion and touched their eyes.  And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' " So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  My study bible explains that Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (which is the event described in today's reading) is celebrated by the Church on Palm Sunday.  By Christ's time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah.  It was hoped that such a king or Messiah would deliver Israel from Roman control, and re-establish the kingdom of David -- a permanent kingdom free of all foreign control.  But Christ shows Himself to be something completely different from such expectations, and One who does not come in the guise of a worldly king with an earthly empire.  He deliberately chooses to ride not on a horse nor a chariot (symbols of worldly power and empire) but rather on a donkey, a sign of humility and peace (Zechariah 9:9).  Such an entrance by Christ into the Holy City declares and establishes the Kingdom of God.  It is also, my study bible adds, 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).  My study bible also remarks upon the fact that Matthew's Gospel reports a colt as well as a donkey.  The patristic Fathers see the two animals as representing the faithful Jews and the Gentiles who are brought together in Christ's Kingdom.

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"  And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"   So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."   The people spread their clothes before Jesus as paying reverence to a King.  There is a spiritual interpretation of this gesture, as our need to lay down our flesh, even our lives, before Christ, and for Christ's purposes.  The people's cry comes from Psalm 118:25-26, verses associated with messianic expectation.   At the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), also known as the Feast of the Coming Kingdom,  it these were recited daily for six days, and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"

Expectations can be tricky things.  In the case of Jesus, it doesn't matter that He has been preaching about a Kingdom that doesn't work according to worldly values.  He has taught a wealthy man with many possessions to sell them and give them to the poor (in this reading).  He has repeatedly taught His own disciples that they must not think of the use of power according to a worldly understanding, but instead must have the highest regard and care for the "little ones" among them (meaning the humble, and giving the example of a little child as an image of those with the least standing and power among them).  He has also taught, on at least two different occasions, that responsibility of leadership bears the weight of casting off from ourselves the flaws that would lead us to abuse;  for men, this includes lust that leads to covetousness and easy divorce on just any grounds.  In short, Jesus has preached about personal sacrifice for the sake of something bigger and greater, a cause of what is ultimately the love that God has to show and teach us, a Kingdom that is not of this world.  He has healed the sick and afflicted, even on occasion raised from the dead.  He has cast out demons, and traveled across the sea to heal those so afflicted they couldn't be kept among the civilized, and lived among the dead in the tombs and the apostate into whose swine the demons were sent (in this reading).  When He sent His disciples on their first mission, He taught them that they were being sent out as sheep in the midst of wolves, strictly instructed to pursue no ostentation in their behavior, their clothing, even the resources they carried with them.   He has dined with notorious sinners, and taken even tax collectors and other truly outcast for His disciples.  In short, all the ways in which Jesus has led this movement, His ministry, have been the opposite of the behavior of worldly kings, and particularly of those contemporary leaders we read about in the Gospels (such as Herod Antipas).  But He has also (twice) fed the multitudes in the wilderness, and healed the blind and the deaf and the maimed.  In short, He has fulfilled what was prophesied about the Messiah, and the people believe He will restore a great worldly kingdom and the fortunes of Israel -- and the disappointment of those expectations will be manipulated into a stumbling block and spiritual crisis by the leadership who use their own power in worldly ways.  Let us also include that prophesies regarding the Messiah bear out the message that rather than a worldly kind of King, He would be a Suffering Servant, and, as today's reading indicates, "lowly."   Perhaps there are two very important things we can take away from this scene of the Triumphal Entry, pertinent not only to the story of Jesus Christ in the world, but also to His message for all of us.  The first is that we cannot, no matter what we do, control the expectations and desires of those around ourselves.  We can do our best to be as authentic (especially to a spiritual calling) as Jesus is, but if all sorts of unreasonable expectations were placed upon Him, one can just imagine the worldly understanding that accompanies our imperfect presentations of ourselves.  And the second is just this, as previewed at the Transfiguration for Christ's three closest disciples, that whatever crisis or spiritual or personal tragedy and misunderstanding we may endure in our own lives, Christ has a plan, God has a plan for us.  Even the worst of circumstances may be placed in the hands of God, trusted to our prayers and intercessions of the saints, given over to Christ for His help -- and for God's justice rather than ours.  When we practice forgiveness -- so central to all our prayers and the very prayer given by Christ -- we are turning over our worldly circumstances and behaviors and all sorts of imperfect experience to God, for God's working, God's justice, God's time.  It doesn't matter what is done in this scene and what is to come, there is nothing that God doesn't overcome and use ultimately for God's purposes, even our free will choices in which we fail to come up to scratch and in circumstances where all we can see is merely selfish and destructive.  This is the place we are at, the message of the Gospels, the power of the Cross.  When we disappoint the expectations of others, no matter how unreasonable they may be or how loving we are, we can expect the resentment and hostility -- and perhaps even the manipulation -- that Jesus does.  But there is one secret, hidden thing in all of this -- even though it is "hidden in plain sight" as the expression goes.  It is God's power at work in and through us, that mysterious thing at work in our lives, His very Presence, and the power of our prayers and our faith.  Let us turn to the place that Jesus does and put our hands to the task He asks of us.