Our Lord's Triumphal Entry

by Tom Wacaster

In the closing days of our Lord’s earthly ministry, more specifically the beginning of what is commonly referred to as ‘The Passion Week,’ the Lord increasingly foretold of His arrest, trial, and inevitable death and resurrection.  I was studying Mark’s account of our Lord’s triumphal entry and gleaned some wonderful lessons from God’s word.  The precise passage to which I refer is Mark 11:1-10, which reads thus:  “And when they draw nigh unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go your way into the village that is over against you: and straightway as ye enter into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat; loose him, and bring him.  And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye, The Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him back hither.  And they went away, and found a colt tied at the door without in the open street; and they loose him.  And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, loosing the colt?  And they said unto them even as Jesus had said: and they let them go.  And they bring the colt unto Jesus, and cast on him their garments; and he sat upon him.  And many spread their garments upon the way; and others branches, which they had cut from the fields.  And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:  Blessed is the kingdom that cometh, the kingdom of our father David: Hosanna in the highest” (Mark 11:1-10, ASV).

It was Sunday morning of the ‘Passion Week.’  The Lord was about to make His last entrance into the city of Jerusalem.  He was fully aware of the hostility that awaited Him, particularly among those who were of the elite religious hierarchy.   Our Lord never lost sight of His mission, and His ultimate death upon the cross for the sins of mankind.  Keep that in mind every time you study the events of the ‘Passion Week.’   Jesus could easily have fled from those who sought His life.   Even up to, and through the last night with His disciples, there was ample time for Him to escape the fate that awaited Him.  But He did not flee; instead He set His face steadfastly toward the city, and to His sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Bethphage and Bethany were twin cities that lay just beyond the Mount of Olives almost due east of Jerusalem.  The names of the cities mean “the place of figs” and “the place of dates” respectively.  Little did the inhabitants of those cities realize the role they would play during the last days of our Lord.  What would happen on this particular day would be a dramatic demonstration of what the Lord had been teaching for more than three years.  Out of these two cities, and in accord with the words of Zechariah:  “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, even upon a colt the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9:9).  What Israel had failed to grasp by the Lord’s teachings would now be presented to them in dramatic fashion.  Precisely as Zechariah prophesied, the Lord would come riding into Jerusalem on a “colt the foal of an ass.”   There are some significant lessons that we can glean from the record of our Lord’s triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. 

First, what transpired within a relatively short period of time was precisely as the Lord had predicted.   No human could have possibly predicted, with such accuracy, some of the little details that unfolded on that Sunday morning.  “Ye shall find a colt.”  But it was not just any colt; it would be one “whereon no man ever yet sat.”  Animals which had never been used before were admissible for sacred purposes.  In Numbers 19:2 we read of the sacrifice of "the heifer on which never came a yoke."    The colt was “tied,”  precisely as the Lord predicted.  When the disciples attempted to take the colt, they would be confronted by the owner; again according to the Lord’s instructions.   The Lord’s detailed predictions give proof to His ability to behold things that were out of His sight.  Of course He had demonstrated this ability on at least two other occasions.  The first was when He told Nathanael, “When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1:48).  That was enough to convince Nathanael and that Israelite “in whom is no guile” proclaimed, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John 2:49).   The second was the miraculous catch of the fish with the shekel in its mouth, where the Lord told Peter, “Go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a shekel: that take and give unto them for me and thee” (Matt. 17:27).   Such detailed predictions, all of which came to pass even as the Lord said, are abundant proof of our Lord’s deity.

Second, the manner and occasion of our Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem on that particular day is significant.  For more than three years the Lord had gone about on foot, traveling the width and breadth of Palestine in this way, all in an attempt to teach the people that He was, indeed, the King of Israel, the Messiah and heir to the throne of David.  He did not lead an army, He did not pick up arms, and He did not incite a riot or open rebellion.  He was not surrounded by pomp and circumstance.  He was not bearing a sword or any such instrument of bloodshed.  Instead, there were palm branches and garments spread along His path—evidence of devotion and respect. He did not ride into Jerusalem on a white stallion, a symbol of earthly power and prestige.   Instead, He came riding on an ass’s colt in order that He might show that His kingdom was of another kind; that it was spiritual, not earthly.  On this occasion, He assumed a  humble demeanor, His only belonging being the clothes He wore.  Yet in it all there was great dignity; even royalty.  The ass of the East was considered a superior animal.  Judges and princes often rode upon white asses, and their sons upon asses colts.  As one author noted: “He came in gentleness, not that he might be feared on account of his power, but that he might be loved on account of his goodness.”

Third, we learn that our Lord never placed importance upon physical things; in fact, He deprived Himself of all those things that are typically associated with success.  Mark tells us that the disciples, when asked about who it was that was requesting the colt, were to tell the owner, “The Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him back” (verse 3).  The Lord only borrowed the colt.  In a previous article some time back I pointed out that our Lord never owned any property, never built a house, never laid by in store, never had a passbook savings account, never organized a "garage sale," and never placed an ounce of importance on what one might possess in this life.  When His life was finished and His course completed, the only thing He could call His own was stripped from His sinless body and gambled away at the foot of the cross by the Roman soldiers while their Master and Creator hung on the cross close by.   He depended upon others to be used as tools in the Father's hand to minister to His need.  From the cradle to the grave, never did a man live in such poverty, deprive himself of the things of this world, or depend upon others for his physical well being, as did Jesus of Nazareth.  Though He may have borrowed those things He needed from time to time, those who were gracious to "loan" unto Him what they possessed soon learned that their "investment" returned mighty dividends that could not be measured in monetary value.   The poet’s words still ring crystal clear:

They borrowed a bed to lay his head
When Christ the Lord came down;
They borrowed the ass in the mountain pass
For him to ride to town;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!

He borrowed the bread when the crowd He fed
On the grassy mountainside;
He borrowed the dish of broken fish
With which he was satisfied;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!

He borrowed the ship in which to sit
To teach the multitude;
He borrowed a nest in which to rest -
He had never a home so rude;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!

He borrowed a room on his way to the tomb
The Passover Lamb to eat;
They borrowed a cave for him a grave;
They borrowed a winding sheet;
But the crown that he wore and the cross that he bore
Were his own - the cross was his own!

Our Lord’s triumphal entry is rich in its content, and striking in its implications.   May we learn to appreciate it more with every passing year.