Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”
And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
Comment: Jesus has just a week left before He will experience a horrible death on the Cross and rise triumphantly to Life! He and His followers are nearing Jerusalem where all things will be ‘brought to a head’, apparently by the Jewish leaders but very much under the watchful and managing hand of the Almighty God! Who is the most important King who has ever walked the earth? I will gladly and joyously acclaim ‘Jesus!’. I’m sure that not every human will agree but as one of my teachers used to say ‘One man and God makes a majority, and it doesn’t need the man!’ God’s appointed King, Jesus, is about to enter Jerusalem and take His place in what is one of the pivotal times of all history – past, present and future! You would expect Him to ride in on a prancing stallion – He chooses a donkey. You’d expect everybody who is a somebody to be there to cheer Him on His way. We are told in other records of this event that there are a few leaders but they are grumbling and trying to make this a non-event. But the common people are very insightful – they see in Jesus, God’s Messiah, the promised One who will come again and finally establish David’s throne for ever! ‘Hosanna’ they cry in adoration and I think expectation, as they give to Jesus a ‘Royal Entrance’ to His capital! The entering King, who entered this world in a humble stable, having entered the capital Jerusalem, the city founded by David, disappears, not into a big official chamber to worldly acclaim, but into a humble dwelling in a nearby village. We’ll wait and see what tomorrow brings!
Writing about the birth of Jesus, stating who this Man, riding on a donkey in the above story, really is – John 1:3 & 4: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light (?meaning, understanding) of men.
Prayer: Thank You, thank You, Jesus. Hosanna! Alleluia!
As I read it! 