Holy Sunday: A Triumphal Entry; A King’s Tears
Luke 19:28–44
Thank you for joining us for Day 1 of Tables, Tears, and Triumph, a devotional through Holy Week.
Imagine you were walking with the apostle John. We believe his perspective would have looked something like this:
We were leaving Bethany and heading back to Jerusalem. We’ve been to Jerusalem a few times with Jesus before, but this trip felt different.
For one, Jesus made an odd request. Just before we reached Jerusalem, Jesus asked two of us to go into a nearby village and find a young donkey tied up that had never been ridden. They found the donkey, placed their cloaks on it to make a saddle, and Jesus rode it into Jerusalem. But he always walked everywhere—why ride a donkey now? We all wondered, but nobody asked.
By the time we reached Jerusalem, we forgot we had questions about the donkey because we were shocked by all the people who had lined the streets to welcome Jesus into the city. It was overwhelming!
Some laid down their cloaks in front of Jesus, and others laid palm branches cut from nearby trees. They were all excited, shouting things like:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
It felt like hope was rising for the first time in a long time. Peter, Matthew, the others, and I exchanged glances, all thinking the same thing—was this the moment Jesus would finally be crowned king? After three years of traveling across Israel, preaching the good news of his kingdom, was this finally the moment he would take the throne as King of Israel? Would Rome’s rule over us finally end?
The crowd seemed to think so, and we certainly hoped so. Oddly, Jesus didn’t seem to share everyone’s excitement. At one point, he even wept. Again, we didn’t know why, and we didn’t ask. But like I said, this trip to Jerusalem felt different.
Commentary:
This trip to Jerusalem certainly was different because it would be the final time Jesus would enter the city before his crucifixion. Often referred to as the triumphal entry, but not for the reasons those who lined the streets anticipated. Jesus was not on his way to a throne but a cross. His coronation as king would not entail lavish ceremonies but rather death between two thieves. He would not conquer Rome. He would, however, conquer a far greater foe—death itself.
The people who lined the streets shouted, “Hosanna,” a Hebrew word that means “save (us), we pray,” taken from Psalm 118:25. It can be a shout of praise or a petition. Presumably, at this moment, it was both. And while the crowd did not fully understand what Jesus came to do, they acknowledged him as a king, the messiah that promised to come from the line of David.
But he would ultimately prove to them and the world that he was a different kind of king. Jesus rode in on the colt to fulfill the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, “See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” this was not the typical way kings made triumphal entries. They usually rode in as conquerors on horses. A colt symbolized peace and spoke to the kind of king Jesus came to be.
Lowly
Humble
Loving
A king who came to save his people by laying his life down for them. This was unlike anything the disciples or the people of Israel had expected from their king, but unbeknownst to them at the time, this was exactly the kind of king they needed.
For reflection:
Like the disciples, have you ever expected Jesus to act a certain way, only to be surprised by him? What did you learn from that experience?
