John 12:12-19 The Triumphal Entry
“The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, Sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
Therefore, the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason, the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him!”
The Pharisees are incensed and muttering among themselves! “Can you believe it? Not only has this ridiculous carpenter from Galilee raised a man from the dead after his body has started rotting, but now he’s riding into Jerusalem on an untrained donkey’s colt! The nerve of this man! Who does this guy think he is? Does he think he can convince people he’s fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy just because he’s doing this? Certainly, Zechariah prophesied, “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.” So what? If anybody will know when the Messiah comes, we are the ones who will know!”
So, while the common people are hailing Jesus as Messiah and King, the religious leaders are already plotting his demise. But what can these men do? The crowds are supporting Jesus. Unless the religious leaders can convince the Romans that Jesus is a credible threat, they are helpless.
Jesus’ own disciples really don’t understand what is going on either. When Jesus asked the disciples to untie that donkey’s colt and bring it, they were aghast. Everyone knows that an unbroken colt will buck as soon as someone tries to sit on it. When the colt proves docile and behaves beautifully, the disciples look at one another and shrug their shoulders. Jesus makes his own rules, and the disciples can only go along with him. And it’s invigorating to march into Jerusalem while people are waving palm branches and spreading their cloaks on the ground for the donkey to walk on. The disciples are really encouraged. Surely, surely, surely, all this adulation will lead to something good. All these gloomy predictions Jesus has been making about his death must be the product of an overactive imagination.
Impressed by the fervor of the crowds, the disciples want to believe that everything is going to be fine; in fact, everything is going to be great! Jesus is entering Jerusalem to fulfill Scripture, and very soon he should be calling down legions of angels to wipe out the Romans and to bring in a heavenly kingdom….shouldn’t he?
Let’s leave the disciples for a minute and consider the donkey. Donkeys aren’t very bright. Once the crowd begins to cheer and wave palm branches, the donkey starts strutting. By the time people are throwing cloaks on the ground, the donkey is practically dancing down the street. The donkey might be thinking, “Wow! This is great! All these people coming out just to greet ME!” Every time the crowd shouts “Hosanna!” the donkey gets a bit prouder.
Sadly, the disciples are wrong and so is the donkey. Impressed by the enthusiasm of the crowds, the disciples can’t imagine that in five days the crowds will be screaming for Jesus’ blood. As Jesus’ close associates, the disciples are certain that they have gotten in on the beginnings of God’s new kingdom, a kingdom in which they should certainly occupy seats of importance.
The donkey may very well recognize Jesus as the Son of God, for animals are frequently much closer to God than people are. But the donkey assumes that people are there to see him, not realizing all the excitement is about Jesus.
Jesus is the only one who really understands what’s going on. As Jesus rides down the street, the Holy Spirit is whispering to his heart, “Remember the rest of the prophecies. Don’t get too impressed. Crowds can turn to mobs in the blink of an eye.”
What can we learn from these verses? Rather than believing Jesus, the disciples are jumping to their own conclusions, conclusions that will prove to be completely false by the end of the week. Many times, we assume that we know what God wants to do in a given situation, only to find that we have completely misread things. When we assume rather than asking God for wisdom, we will always think wrongly. Unless we listen to the Holy Spirit, we can head in ungodly directions and make bad decisions. If we listen to gossip and believe it, we can take actions that will have terrible consequences.
Sometimes we might behave like the donkey. Although we are only carrying the good news of the Gospel, we might begin giving ourselves airs and thinking that we are far more important than we actually are. The message of God’s redeeming love is important; we are not. It’s sobering to remember that when God wanted to speak to the pagan prophet Balaam, He spoke through Balaam’s donkey. When we first came to the mission field, veteran missionaries told us that God was not nearly so concerned with our ABILITY as He was with our AVAILABILITY.
May God help us, so that we always remember that we are only conduits of His love and grace. May the humility that clothed Jesus on that first Palm Sunday also be ours!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, keep us humble and close to You. Help us to listen to You and to nobody else. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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