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"

 

 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 

 

Yesterday we read that as Jesus and the disciples went out of Jericho, on their way toward Jerusalem, 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.'"  The event described in today's reading is known as Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  It is celebrated in the Church on Palm Sunday, so-called because of the description of the people taking palm branches to welcome Him to the Holy City, as people would welcome a king returning to his kingdom (John 12:13).  In this case, it is a welcoming of the Messiah, as a son of David the king.  My study Bible explains that by this time, Jewish nationalism had led to the expectation of a political Messiah to deliver them from Roman control and to reestablish David's kingdom.  But in humility, Jesus shows in His appearance at this occasion that He has not come to establish an earthly kingdom.  He does not ride on a horse nor in a chariot as a conquering king of the world.  Rather, He enters on a donkey, which is a sign of humility and peace, as indicated in the quotation from Zechariah 9:9.  My study Bible says that this entrance into the Holy City is a declaration of the establishment of the Kingdom of God.  It says it's 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).  Additionally of note is that St. Matthew reports a colt in addition to a donkey.  In patristic commentary, my study Bible says, these two animals are seen as representing the faithful Jews and Gentiles who are brought together in the Kingdom.  At Vespers of Palm Sunday, the Orthodox sing, "Your riding on a foal prefigured how the untamed and uninstructed Gentiles would pass from belief to faith."

 

 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.  The people who spread their clothes before Jesus did so as paying reverence to a King.  My study Bible explains that this is spiritually interpreted as our need to lay down our flesh -- even our very lives -- for Christ.  

 

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 cry of the multitudes comes from Psalm 118:25-26, verses associated with messianic expectation.  This was recited daily for six days during the Feast of Tabernacles (also known as the Feast of the Coming Kingdom), and seven times on the seventh day as branches were waved.  Hosanna means, "Save, we pray!"

 

 Jesus is greeted as a returning king, come home to His city, His kingdom after a long absence.  In this manner, the multitudes greet Him and welcome Him as Messiah, Son of David (see yesterday's reading, above), who comes to them in the name of the Lord.  But, as my study Bible explains, this celebration will be short-lived, on its very worldly terms.  This is because the expectation is wrong, even if His messianic status as King and Son of David is correct.  Jesus is returning to establish a Kingdom that is not one in the sense of a worldly conqueror, but in the sense of the spiritual reality He is bringing to re-establish and take control of a world given over to the evil one, the "ruler of this world" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the "prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:1-3).  This is the way Christ's Incarnation is framed for us, and symbolized in the return and welcome of the King into the Holy City.  This is the prophesied King who is "lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey."  He is the One who comes as a weak human being, the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53, the "man of sorrows" who will be "numbered with the transgressors."  All of this reality is about to be brought to bear upon Christ, and in the Holy City of Jerusalem in the week that follows.  It will be an agglomeration of many factors, including the religious leaders' fear that Christ will eclipse them and be embraced as a king by all and set to rule over the temple, by the fears of Herod of Galilee and his soon-to-be friendship with Pontius Pilate, the Roman need for peace and control at all cost, and the threat of the religious leaders and the ruling Council who will stir the people against Christ.  But, as always with Scripture, there is so much more to this story than meets the eye, and we cannot understand what is happening here without accepting the spiritual truth and reality that is behind it.  Christ has come to draw us all toward God, to defeat the devil and death, to enable all of us to follow Him, and to establish His heavenly Kingdom even here in this world.  But all of this eclipses time, as it invites in all of us to participate in this journey and the establishment of this Kingdom.  We are all welcomed into the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 1:18; 6:12), to participate in Christ's life, death, and Resurrection so that we may in turn ascend with Him, even as He bears glorified human flesh in His Ascension.  All of this meets in this central place of this event in Jerusalem.  While it is true that Jesus is a King, and this is His Holy City, there is so much at the same time that is not true but will seemingly prevail.  And this is a key, in the sight of some of the great theologians of the Church, that the enemy of Christ who seeks to defeat Him will also be fooled by the malice he stirs, the desire to kill Christ, and in this sense tricked by his own devices into his defeat through the Cross.  This is the great mystery of our faith, and of what is called spiritual warfare:  that when we meet the evil among us, around us, even within us -- with faith -- so we wage the good fight and enter into the labors of others before us (John 4:38), following our Lord.  Let us bear His Cross and our own, as He has taught (Matthew 10:38).  For with God all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).