A Very Grand Entrance

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.”      “And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest”.  Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:9

Today marks the day that we celebrate what is known as “Palm Sunday”, the day in which Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to fulfill His Father’s plan for the redemption of mankind.  Palm Sunday is also the beginning of what is known as the Holy Week or Passion Week, the most significant week in all of history thus far.  I say “thus far” because there is another very significant time in the future when Jesus will return to rid the world of evil and restore His Father’s original plan for a righteous and peaceful relationship with His creation.

Have you ever been excited about something that was about to happen or about something that you were going to receive?  You just couldn’t wait for that day, but then when the event occurred or the gift was received, it was not at all what you expected?  The people of Jerusalem were extremely excited when they saw Jesus riding into town on a donkey.  They threw their outer garments down on the ground and placed tree branches, most likely the branches of palm trees, in the path of Jesus to honor Him.  They were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David”.  The Hebrew word for hosanna is “hoshiahna” which means “save now”.  However, the people were not calling on the Lord to save them from their sins.  Rather, they expected Jesus to come as a Conqueror at that time to rid Jerusalem and Judah of Roman occupation.  This is just speculation, but I suppose that some of them were a little surprised to see Jesus riding on a donkey instead of a huge white stallion.  Travel by donkey was not only a symbol of the common man, it was also a symbol of peace, while horses were symbolic of war.  For Jesus to ride a donkey was symbolic of His humility and meekness on His way to the cross.  For those who might have been disappointed at Jesus’ choice of transportation, just wait.  Next time He comes, He will be the Conqueror on that grand white stallion (Revelation 19:11).

Not everyone in the crowd that day were looking for Jesus to free them from the rule of the Roman government.  Because God has His remnant in every generation, there must have been some there who were praising Jesus who really did believe that Jesus was the Messiah sent from God.  Some of the more devout Jews who were familiar with the prophecies in scripture had been looking for the Savior to come throughout all the generations since Abraham.  We know from scripture that many of the Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and others had looked for the promised Redeemer sent from God to save His people from their sins.  There had to be some dedicated and loyal believers in God in each successive generation in order to keep the promise alive among the faithful.  From the time of Malachi, the last Old Testament prophet until the time of John the Baptist, God was silent.  But there were some, even if only a few of God’s people, who kept the hope alive during that time.  And then John the Baptist came out of the wilderness to introduce Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God.  Some folks were joyous to know that the promise of a Savior had finally been revealed while others were skeptical.

The skeptics asked, “Who is this?’ when they saw Jesus entering Jerusalem.  Many of those in the crowd answered, “This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee” which indicated that many of them saw Jesus as a prophet and not God’s Son.  Even so, they still had hopes that He would remove the Romans from Israel and set up an earthly kingdom.  But what would happen in that case?  Everything would go smoothly for a while, but with no remedy for the sins of the people, nothing would really change.  It might be like it was in ancient Israel when the people tired of following the law and became idolatrous.  Without a sinless sacrifice for sin, the people’s hearts would not change.  Jesus’ mission to shed His blood for the remission of the sins of folks would satisfy a much greater need than eliminating the Romans.

For now, though, there was much excitement and joy to see Jesus as He rode into Jerusalem.  He knew His mission, but even His disciples were not clear about what was to take place soon even though He had told them several times.  There was much to accomplish in these few days before the climax of the mission would take place.  What a difference a few days would make.