Who Is This?
“And when He was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?” Matthew 21:10
Today is the day that is set aside to commemorate what is known as Palm Sunday and the beginning of Passion Week, the final days of Jesus’ ministry on earth before His crucifixion. Jesus and His twelve disciples had arrived at Bethphage at the Mt. of Olives. He instructed two of His disciples to go into a nearby village where they would find a donkey and her colt available to bring back for Jesus to ride on into Jerusalem. The donkey was the mode of transportation for the common man and also a symbol of peace. It was also the means of transportation for kings. The choice of a lowly donkey symbolized Jesus’ humility and also illustrated His kingship and future position as Judge because judges rode on white donkeys and judges’ sons rode on colts (Judges 5:10, 12:14). (Solomon rode his father David’s mule at his own inauguration as king over Israel (I Kings 1:33). Jesus’ entrance on a donkey was prophesied in Zachariah 9:9.
When the disciples returned with the two donkeys, they spread some of their clothes over the donkey’s back to make it more comfortable for Jesus. The common people were greatly excited to know that the One whom they had witnessed as He had healed folks and who had given them hope was on His way into Jerusalem. Some of them truly believed Him to be the long awaited Messiah, some came to see if what they had heard about Him was true, and others were curious and just wanted to see what the commotion was all about. Some of His admirers threw their garments in the path of Jesus and others cut down palm branches and threw them on the path. I can picture them likely using some of the palm branches to fan Jesus in order to generate a cool breeze as He passed by. Jesus was creating quite a stir among the citizens of Jerusalem. I can only imagine what the religious leaders were thinking about as they witnessed the throngs of people straining to get a glimpse of this One who had turned the areas around Galilee and Jerusalem upside down. They were extremely worried because of His popularity among the common folks (John 12:19).
There were actually some Jews there that had no knowledge at all of Jesus and thus asked, “Who is this?” People shouted out that He was the Son of David (Matthew 21:9). Others called Him the King of Israel (John 12:13), and still others identified Jesus as the Prophet of Nazareth of Galilee (Matthew 21:11). Some did recognize Him as coming from the LORD, but no one called Him the Son of God, His rightful title. For now Jesus was a Hero to much of the crowd, but as the Passion Week unfolds, will the crowds remain loyal or will they have a change of heart as events occur that are nothing like the people expected? More next time.