The entire mission of Jesus Christ here on earth culminates in the place that the Jews considered the center of the universe, Jerusalem. And as Jesus entered the holy city, he did some things that seem very intentional. Mark wrote, “When they were nearing Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany on Mount Olives, he sent off two of the disciples with instructions: ‘Go to the village across from you. As soon as you enter, you’ll find a colt tethered, one that has never yet been ridden. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks, “What are you doing?” say, “The Master needs him, and will return him right away.”’ They went and found a colt tied to a door at the street corner and untied it. Some of those standing there said, ‘What are you doing untying that colt?’ The disciples replied exactly as Jesus had instructed them, and the people let them alone. They brought the colt to Jesus, spread their coats on it, and he mounted.” [Mark 11:1-7, MSC] Of course, on the surface, this is pretty cool. I mean, it certainly shows his authority.But more than that, it also reflected this prophecy from Zechariah: “Shout and cheer, Daughter Zion! Raise the roof, Daughter Jerusalem! Your king is coming! a good king who makes all things right, a humble king riding a donkey, a mere colt of a donkey. I’ve had it with war—no more chariots in Ephraim, no more war horses in Jerusalem, no more swords and spears, bows and arrows. He will offer peace to the nations, a peaceful rule worldwide, from the four winds to the seven seas.” [Zechariah 9:9-10, MSC] You see, when Jesus mounted that donkey, he was fulfilling expectations that Jews had carried around for centuries. Their long wait was almost over. The new king, the Messiah, the Christ was about to be revealed in the only way he could, something that Mark described when he wrote, “The people gave him a wonderful welcome, some throwing their coats on the street, others spreading out rushes they had cut in the fields. Running ahead and following after, they were calling out, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in God’s name! Blessed the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in highest heaven!’” [Mark 11:8-10] And Luke added the following: “‘Some Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, get your disciples under control!’ But he said, ‘If they kept quiet, the stones would do it for them, shouting praise.’” [Luke 19:39-40, MSC] You see, even though they didn’t really understand the nature of his kingship, the king was coming, something that the crowd expressed with enthusiasm in the song, “Hosanna.”
Of course, like I said, they didn’t really understand the nature of his kingdom. In fact, like many of us, they assumed that he would make life easier for this followers, you know, that he would shake up the world that they knew. And no group hoped that more than the Zealots, a movement of politicized Jews who looked for liberation from Roman rule. They assumed this would happen with the coming of the Christ. And according the list given by Luke, one of the apostles was Simon, called the Zealot. And like all folks who still look to Christ for the kind of theocracy they desire, these zealots greeted Jesus with all kinds of enthusiasm, as shown in the song, “Simon Zealotes.”
Now, I think you could call his entry into Jerusalem the secular high point of Jesus’s career. He seemed to embody all the hopes and dreams that people had held for a long time. But as we’ll soon find out, Jesus didn’t come to fulfill hopes and dreams. Instead, he came to die so that we could live. And because of that, not only was he about to lose the crowd that shouted hosanna, those closest to him would betray him, deny him or simply run away.
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