24 The Humble Coronation of Christ (21:1-11)
And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to 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 there and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat. And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes going before Him, and those who followed after were crying 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 entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the multitudes were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” (21:1-11)
Most people today have little first-hand knowledge of a genuine monarchy. Those who hold the title of king or queen in modern societies are often rulers in name only, having little if any governmental power or responsibility. An elaborate coronation is often the only notice they will ever have of any consequence. But until modern times the coronation of a monarch involved the display of great splendor and pageantry. The king would be dressed in the most expensive robes and jewels and would be driven through his capital city in an ornate carriage drawn by stately horses. Accompanying him would be his courtiers and foreign dignitaries, and following that would be a large retinue of the nation’s finest soldiers. In many countries high-ranking religious leaders would also participate.
At the climax of the events, the king would be presented with a scepter or would stand on a sacred stone or participate in some other ritual signifying the transfer of power and authority into his hands. Musicians would play and sing, and the crowds would break into spontaneous choruses of praise to their sovereign. Every part of the ceremony was designed to highlight the majesty, glory, power, and dignity of the king.
At her coronation in 1838, Queen Victoria of England wore a crown encrusted with giant rubies and sapphires surrounding a 309-carat diamond. Her scepter was capped with an even larger diamond, cut from the Star of Africa and weighing 516 1/2 carats.
Matthew 21:1-11 portrays the most significant coronation the world has yet seen, but it was a coronation in marked contrast to the kind just described. It was a true coronation of a true King. He was affirmed as King and was, in a sense, inaugurated into His kingship. But there was no pomp, no splendor, and a nondescript sort of pageantry.
Traditionally, this coronation has been called Jesus’ triumphal entry. It was his last major public appearance before His crucifixion and was an extremely important event in His divine ministry on earth, an event that is frequently dramatized but seldom studied carefully or understood for its true significance.
THE END OF THE PILGRIMAGE
And when they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, (21:1a)
After healing the two blind men in Jericho and leading Zaccheus to Himself, the Lord made His final journey to Jerusalem. As He approached Jerusalem, He also approached the end of His three years of ministry, which had been preceded by thirty years of obscurity. He was about to reach the final goal set before Him by His heavenly Father. As the multitudes followed along with Him to celebrate the Passover, little did they know they were accompanying the Passover Lamb Himself.
During a census taken about ten years after this time, the number of sacrificial lambs slaughtered at the Passover was determined to be some 260,000. Because one lamb was allowed to be offered for up to ten people, the worshipers in Jerusalem that week could have numbered over 2,000,000. It is not likely that the number then would have been much higher than during this last Passover that Jesus celebrated, indicating that the city was teeming with people.
But before He and the Twelve entered Jerusalem they stopped at the little hamlet of Bethphage. Except for its being closely associated with the Mount of Olives and Bethany (see Mark 11:1; Luke 19:29), nothing else is known of the town, there being no other biblical, historical, or archaeological evidence of its existence.
John tells us that Jesus visited Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany “six days before the Passover” (John 12:1-3), making it probably Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. As He faced the coming week of pain and death, He sought out the comfort and companionship of those three beloved friends.
But even in that brief time of respite, the stabs of hell continued to afflict Him. While Mary anointed His feet with costly perfume and wiped them with her hair, the traitor Judas, who was also a thief, made a hypocritical objection to that beautiful act by feigning concern for the poor. No doubt with deep anguish of heart for Judas’s hardened unbelief, Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have Me” (John 12:3-8).
Probably on the next day, which would have been the first day of the week, or Sunday, a great number of Jews came to Bethany to see Jesus and also to “see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead” (John 12:9). And because Lazarus was a living testimony of Jesus’ supernatural power, and therefore a dramatic witness against their rejection of Jesus’ messiahship and a threat to their authority, “the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus to death also” (v. 10).
It was therefore probably on Monday, the next day after the crowd visited Him in Bethany (John 12:12), that Jesus came to Bethphage and prepared to enter Jerusalem through the East Gate of the city. According to this chronology, the triumphal entry was on Monday rather than “Palm Sunday,” as Christian tradition has long maintained.
This chronology also eliminates the problem of what is often referred to as “silent Wednesday,” so called because the gospel accounts would have no record of Jesus’ activities on Wednesday if the triumphal entry had been on Sunday. In what was by far the most momentous week of Jesus’ ministry, such a gap is difficult to explain.
Additional support for a Monday triumphal entry is found in the Mosaic requirement that sacrificial lambs for Passover were to be selected on the tenth day of the first month (originally called Abib but after the Exile called Nisan) and kept in the household until sacrificed on the fourteenth (Ex. 12:2-6).
In the year Jesus was crucified (whether taken as A.D. 30 or 33), the tenth of Nisan was the Monday of Passover week. If Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphally on Monday, He was received into the hearts of the Jewish people as a nation much as a family received the sacrificial lamb into the home. In so doing our Lord would have fulfilled the Passover symbolism even in that small detail, being received by His people on the tenth of Nisan. Continuing that perfect fulfillment, He was then crucified on Friday the fourteenth of Nisan, as the true Passover Lamb sacrificed for the sins of the world.
THE EXACTNESS OF PROPHECY
then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them, and bring them to Me. And if anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold your King is coming to you, gentle, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” And the disciples went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid on them their garments, on which He sat. (21:1b-7)
From this text and many others it is clear that Jesus was always in control of the events that affected His life. He initiated His own coronation when He sent two disciples to procure the mount on which He would ride into Jerusalem. He thereby set into motion a series of climactic events that culminated in the voluntary, gracious sacrifice of Himself on the cross that had been divinely planned from eternity past. From beginning to end the gospels completely belie the contention of many liberal interpreters that Jesus was carried away by the enthusiasm of the mob and became caught up in a tragic web of religious and political intrigue that caught Him by surprise. He was not a well-meaning moral teacher who went too far in rankling the Jewish leaders and was helplessly swept away to an untimely execution.
The two disciples were told to go into the village opposite them, where they would immediately . . . find a donkey tied . . . and a colt with her. Although the village was nearby, the two animals obviously were out of sight, or Jesus would simply have pointed to them. The mother donkey was brought along no doubt in order to induce her offspring to cooperate. The young colt would not easily have left its mother and would have been even more difficult to handle than donkeys normally are.
Only in His omniscience could Jesus have known that the donkey and her colt would at that moment have been where they were, waiting to be found by the two disciples. Jesus also knew the disciples would be questioned about taking the animals. He therefore further instructed them, “If anyone says something to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”
Mark reports that “some of the bystanders,” who Luke says were the owners, did indeed ask, ‘“What are you doing, untying the colt?’ And they spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission” (Mark 11:5-6; Luke 19:33). Because the owners readily gave permission for use of the animals when told the Lord had need of them, it seems likely they were believers in Jesus. We also learn from those other two gospels that the colt had never been ridden (Mark 11:2; Luke 19:30). It was a gesture of respect and honor to offer such an animal to someone, as if to say, “This animal has been reserved especially for you.”
Now this took place that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, Matthew explains. Jesus’ entire life and ministry were marked by two overriding purposes, to do His heavenly Father’s will (Matt. 26:39, 42; John 4:34; 5:30) and to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s first coming (Matt. 5:17; Luke 13:33; 24:25-27; Acts 3:21).
The daughter of Zion refers to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, which was sometimes referred to as Zion, because Mount Zion is the city’s highest and most prominent hill. The prophecy quoted in verse 5 is from the prophet Zechariah, who 500 years earlier had predicted that the people of Jerusalem would hail the Messiah as their King as He was coming into the city and that He would be gentle, or humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden (see Zech. 9:9).
It seems incongruous and totally inappropriate that any king, much less the King of kings, should make His triumphal entry mounted on a donkey rather than a beautiful white stallion or in a regal chariot. But that is what God’s prophet predicted and that is what God’s Son did, because that was the divine plan. He was not at that time intended to come in earthly splendor or to reign in earthly power. He did not come in wealth but in poverty; He did not come in grandeur but in meekness; and He did not come to slay Israel’s enemies but to save all mankind. The incarnation was the time of His humiliation, not the time of His glorification.
Because He was a King like no other king, His coronation was like no other coronation. By the standards and purposes of the earth’s kings, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was anything but triumphant; but by the standards and purposes of God, it was exactly as it was meant to be. Jesus’ entry on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden was not a put down by His rejecters. It was the sovereign choice of God the Father and of God the Son, who Himself willingly came to earth as the Servant Savior, to take upon Himself the sin of the world. Nothing could have been more appropriate than that the Bearer of the world’s sin burden would enter God’s holy city of Zion riding on a lowly beast of burden.
Although Matthew was speaking specifically of Zechariah’s prophecy concerning Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, it is significant that the triumphal entry also fulfilled another prophecy. Through Daniel, the Lord predicted that the time from Artaxerxes’s decree ordering the rebuilding of the Temple until the coming of the Messiah would be “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks” (Dan. 9:25; cf. Neh. 2:6), that is, 69 weeks total. The literal translation is “seven sevens and sixty-two sevens,” seven being a common designation for a week. In the context of the passage, the idea is 69 weeks of years, or 69 times 7 years, which comes to 483. Two different systems of reckoning have endeavored to determine the chronology of the 483 years after Artaxerxes’s decree. They are Sir Robert Anderson’s The Coming Prince and Harold Hoehner’s Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ.
None of the disciples, including the two sent for the donkey, understood the Lord’s purpose in this or in the other great events of the coming week. “These things His disciples did not understand at the first,” John said; “but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him” (John 12:16). But the two obediently went and did just as Jesus had directed them, and brought the donkey and the colt. Because they had no blankets to pad the animals’ backs and were not sure which one He would ride, they laid on both of them their garments, on which He sat. Jesus chose the colt, the smallest and lowliest of the two, and mounted it with the help of the disciples (Luke 19:35).
THE EPITOME OF PRAISE
And most of the multitude spread their garments in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road. And the multitudes going before Him, and those who followed after were crying out, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest!” (21:8-9)
As Jesus began to ride into the city on Monday, most of the multitude spread their garments in the road. It was an ancient custom (see 2 Kings 9:13) for citizens to throw their garments in the road for their monarch to ride over, symbolizing their respect for him and their submission to his authority. It was as if to say, “We place ourselves at your feet, even to walk over if necessary.”
While those people were putting their clothes in Jesus’ path, others were cutting branches from the trees, and spreading them in the road. From John 12:13 we learn that the branches were from palm trees, symbolic of salvation and joy and picturing the magnificent tribute that the “great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” one day will present “before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches . . . in their hands” (Rev 7:9). There was great excitement and ecstasy as the multitude proclaimed praise to the Messiah, to the Rabbi from Galilee who taught with such authority and who had healed their diseases and even raised the dead.
The Lord was now completely surrounded by a mass of humanity, perhaps several hundred thousand people, some of whom were going before Him and some who followed after Him. Fickle as they would prove to be, the people now disregarded the warning of “the chief priests and Pharisees [who] had given orders that if anyone knew where [Jesus] was, he should report it, that they might seize Him” (John 11:57). The expectations that the Messiah would bring deliverance were so great that the crowd became totally caught up in what, from a human perspective, was a frenzy of mob hysteria. Yet completely in accord with God’s plan, they unwittingly fulfilled prophecy, just as Caiaphas unwittingly fulfilled prophecy when, a few days earlier, he had arrogantly declared to fellow members of the Sanhedrin: “You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” As John went on to explain, Caiaphas did not say that “on his own initiative; but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation” (John 11:49-51).
Seemingly with one voice, the whole multitude was crying out, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!” The Hebrew word hosanna is an exclamatory pleas meaning “save now.” But the crowd on that day was not interested in Jesus’ saving their souls but only in His saving their nation. Like the Twelve, they had long wondered why, if Jesus were truly the Messiah, He had not used His supernatural powers against the Romans. Now at last, they thought, He will manifest Himself as Conqueror. They were about to celebrate Passover, which commemorated the Lord’s miraculous deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage. What better occasion could there be for the Lord’s Anointed, the Messiah, to make the ultimate and final deliverance of His people from tyranny?
The people wanted a conquering, reigning Messiah who would come in great military power to throw off the brutal yoke of Rome and establish a kingdom of justice and righteousness where God’s chosen people would have special favor. But Jesus did not come to conquer Rome but to conquer sin and death. He did not come to make war with Rome but to make peace with God for men.
Although the shouts of the multitude were entirely appropriate and were, in fact, fulfillment of prophecy, the people had no idea of the true significance of what they were doing, much less of what Jesus would soon do on the cross in their behalf. They neither understood the Lord nor themselves. He intentionally did not enter Jerusalem with a powerful retinue of soldiers who would fight for Him to the death. He entered instead with a ragtag multitude of ordinary people, most of whom despite their loud proclamation of His greatness, would soon turn against Him, and none of whom would stand by Him
The multitude acknowledged Jesus as the Son of David, which was the most common messianic title. They were crying out for Messiah’s deliverance, pleading, in effect, “Save us now, great Messiah! Save us now!” They were quoting from a popular praise psalm from the Hallel (Psalms 113-118), in particular Psalm 118, which was also a psalm of deliverance, sometimes called the conqueror’s psalm. Almost two centuries earlier, the Jews had hailed Simon Maccabees with the same psalm after he delivered the Acra from Syrian domination.
The multitudes knew who Jesus was, but they did not understand or truly believe what they knew. They were right in their belief that He was the Messiah, the Son of David, and that He had come in the name of the Lord. But they were wrong in their belief about the sort of Deliverer He was. They knew He was a king, but they did not understand the nature of His kingship or His kingdom. They did not realize any more than Pilate that the kingdom He came then to bring was not of this world (John 18:36). That is why, when it dawned on them a few days later that Jesus had not come to deliver them from the Romans, they turned against Him. When they clamored before Pilate for the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus (John 18:40), they shouted, in effect, the words Jesus had predicted in the parable of the nobleman: “We do not want this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14).
The people wanted Jesus on their own terms, and they would not bow to a King who was not of their liking, even though He were the Son of God. They wanted Jesus to destroy Rome but not their cherished sins or their hypocritical, superficial religion. But He would not deliver them on their terms, and they would not be delivered on His. He was not a Messiah who came to offer a panacea of external peace in the world but to offer the infinitely greater blessing of internal peace with God.
Many people today are open to a Jesus who they think will give them wealth, health, success, happiness, and the other worldly things they want. Like the multitude at the triumphal entry, they will loudly acclaim Jesus as long as they believe He will satisfy their selfish desires. But like the same multitude a few days later, they will reject and denounce Him when He does not deliver as expected. When His Word confronts them with their sin and their need of a Savior, they curse Him and turn away.
The Romans were godless and cruel oppressors, and the Lord would not allow them to survive indefinitely. But they were not His people’s greatest enemy. Their greatest enemy was sin, and from that they refused to be delivered. God would allow the holy Temple of His chosen people to be destroyed long before He allowed their pagan oppressors to be destroyed. He would, in fact, allow those very pagans to destroy the holy Temple.
On the day after His triumphal entry into Jerusalem Jesus “entered the temple and cast out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer;” but you are making it a robbers’ den’” (Matt. 21:12-13). That cleansing of the Temple was purely symbolic and had little lasting effect. The mercenary moneychangers and sacrifice sellers were doubtlessly back in business the next day. But less than forty years later, in A.D. 70, the Romans would utterly destroy the Temple, after which, just as Jesus foretold, not one stone of it was left upon another that was not torn down (Matt. 24:2). Not until modern times, nearly two thousand years later, could even its ruins be identified.
As far as the true intent of the people was concerned, Jesus’ coronation was a hollow, empty pretense. The words of the multitude were right, but their hearts were not. In any case, He had not come at that time to be crowned but to be crucified.
He will be crowned one day in a way that is perfectly befitting. The times of rejection will be over, and at His name “every knee [will] bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and . . . every tongue [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). The first time He came, He came to provide men’s salvation. But when He comes again, He will come to display His sovereignty. His great and ultimate coronation is described by John:
And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped. (Rev.5::8-14)
THE ELEMENT OF PERPLEXITY
And when He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the multitudes were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” (21:10-11)
Matthew’s account of Jesus’ entry closes with an element of perplexity. After the great shouts of acclamation had somewhat subsided and Jesus had entered Jerusalem, the residents of the city began asking, “Who is this?” The best response the multitude of celebrants could give was, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Obviously most of them had paid little attention to what they had been shouting so vociferously. They had barely finished proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of David, who came in the name of the Lord. But they did not comprehend what they said, and when the mass emotions subsided, they were hard put to say who Jesus really was, other than a prophet who came from Nazareth in Galilee. They no longer called Him the Son of David or praised Him as the great Deliverer. He was now no more than a prophet.
The people knew but they would not believe, and because they would not believe they ceased to know. Like their forefathers to whom Isaiah preached, they heard but did not perceive and saw but did not understand, because their hearts were insensitive (Isa.6:9-10). They heard Jesus’ message, they attested to His miracles, and they even acknowledged His divinity, but they rejected His saviorhood and His lordship. They were totally earthbound, materialistic, and self-satisfied. They were interested only in the kingdoms of this world, not the kingdom of heaven. They would have accepted Jesus as an earthly king, but they would not have Him as their heavenly King.