JC & the Law: a triumphant re-entry … (12/10/18)
We find our next episode of importance – Jesus’ “triumphant entry” into Jerusalem – near the end of the Gospel of Matthew‘s recounting of his ministry (see Matthew 21:1-11 – also Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, & John 12:12-19)1. In this story, Jesus and his disciples – having left Jericho behind2 – were nearing the great city of Jerusalem when Jesus had them pause outside of Bethphage, a small town located at the eastern base of the Mount of Olives. Shortly thereafter Jesus sent two of his disciples into the town to procure a donkey and its young colt3 and bring them back to him. The two disciples did as they were told and brought back the two animals, whereupon Jesus sat upon them both and rode them to Jerusalem. As he and his disciples (along with those who had followed them from Bethany – see John 12:17) went along, a “large crowd” of people spread their cloaks and “branches from the trees” (probably palm fronds, see John 12:13) on the ground before him while others announced his arrival, shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9 – see also Mark 11:9-10, Luke 19:37-38, & John 12:12-13). Such was the spectacle that the city was “in turmoil” as he entered, with many asking “Who is this man?” and with many in the crowd answering, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.” (see Matthew 21:10-11)
And yet residing underneath the superficial facts of this incident rests a meaning far more profound than its traditionally supposed messianic implications. And this meaning is born in and sustained by the probability that Jesus intentionally staged the entire event4 … Consider the following evidence in support of this claim:
*First, consider this parade’s timing – just a few days before Passover, the most celebrated Jewish holy-day of the year; a time when all would be primed for revelry and far more acutely aware of the tensions mounting between the Roman authorities and the representatives of the Jewish Law – the very Law that Jesus’ ministry was intending to transcend.5 This fact is further substantiated by what takes place immediately after “the triumphal entry”, where Jesus goes into the Temple itself and directly overthrows the money-changers’ tables; tables necessary for fluid continuance of the Law-mandated animal sacrifices that the Old Testament still demanded – and that Jesus so loathed.
*Second, consider the entry’s setting – with Jesus traveling directly to “the Sheep’s Gate” (the northeasterly portal into Jerusalem, mentioned in Nehemiah 3, through which the Passover lambs were even then being brought into the city before their imminent sacrifice in the Temple6) by coming over the Mount of Olives; a hill with well-known messianic implications – having been written about by Ezekiel (“Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And there, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east” ~ Ezekiel 43:1-2) and prophesied about by Zechariah (“And on that day His feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives” ~ Zechariah 14:4).
*Third, consider the manner in which his followers conducted themselves – waving palm branches and singing hymns (in this case Psalm 118:25-26); a manner highly reminiscent of the celebration of the Jewish liberation recounted in 1 Maccabees 13:51 (“And they entered [Jerusalem] with praise and palm branches … and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel”), though it is well worth noting that even though the crowds add the title “King of Israel” to their rendition of Psalm 118, those nearest to Jesus continually reminded them during the procession that he was a “prophet” (Matthew 21:11) – a great teacher of a new Way (John 14:6); not the longed-for Davidian Messiah who would forcefully liberate the Jews from their Roman oppressors. This fact was not only reinforced by the humble words Jesus spoke throughout his ministry, but also by the way he chose to enter Jerusalem in this his final visit – namely, on the back of a donkey; quite clearly reminding all that he had come not as a warlord who would bring justice with force & violence, but rather as a ruler of peace (like Solomon – see 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 & 1 Kings 1:32-38) who would bring harmony via Forgiveness & Love (thereby transcending all man-made laws – those religious as well as those political – and effectively replacing them with a Law of God that was finally full-filled – see Matthew 5:17-18)
1While this is indeed one of the rare facets of Jesus’ ministry that is relayed by all four canonical Gospels, there are some significant differences among the four accountings. Mark (in all likelihood the first Gospel written and thus in all likelihood the Gospel most in alignment with what many call “the Word of God”) mentions “leafy branches from the fields” – not the palm fronds mentioned indirectly by Matthew, directly by John, and not at all by Luke. In addition, unlike the other three tellings, Mark makes no mention of Zechariah 9:9‘s “prophecy” related to the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Also, unlike Matthew, the other three Gospels mention only a donkey being ridden, not a donkey and a colt, and the Synoptic Gospels all have said donkey being retrieved by Jesus’ disciples, not found and “borrowed” by Jesus himself (as told in John). Finally, whereas Matthew has Jesus immediately heading into the Temple after his “triumphal entry” (to raise a ruckus with the money-changers there), Mark has him retreating back to Bethany (and spending the night there before returning to enter the Temple the next morning), Luke has him first pausing to lament the imminent suffering that will come to Jerusalem’s inhabitants, and John has Jesus first telling his disciples about his imminent crucifixion and then hiding out from his would be attackers until the Last Supper.
2Interestingly, this tale has Jesus and his cohorts traveling along the same road mentioned in his Parable of The Good Samaritan (as shared in Luke 10:29-37).
3While true to Matthew‘s telling of the tale, in all probability only one animal was retrieved (as is indeed the case in all three of the other Gospel accounts). After all, it will forever remain unclear how anyone – even a divinely inspired Messiah – could ever manage to ride both a donkey and a much smaller colt simultaneously. Of course, this conundrum is explained easily enough as a probable mis-relaying of the Old Testament passage it intentionally recalls – that being Zechariah 9:9, which prophetically tells of a king who would arrive “humbly, riding on a donkey; even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” This explanation gains even more credence when the reader realizes that the author of Matthew took other liberties with Zechariah 9:9 as well – attaching a portion of Isaiah 62:11 as its new introduction (“Tell the daughter of Zion”) and completely omitting the phrase “triumphant and victorious is he.”
4There are those who would state that Jesus was not familiar enough with Jerusalem to have pre-arranged such an elaborate showing. And yet, even though it is true enough that the Synoptic Gospels only mention this one final visit to Jerusalem during his ministry, the Gospel of John notes that Jesus actually made a number of similar treks during his three years of teaching (see John 2:13, John 5:1, John 10:22, & John 12:12). In addition, the Gospel of Luke makes it quite clear that Jesus had sent out at least seventy disciples to reconnoiter – and probably prepare – “every town and place where he himself intended to go.” (see Luke 10:1) After all, how else could his disciples “immediately” find the requisite donkey after entering Bethphage, and how else could the owner thereof release the same “immediately” as soon as the proper words were uttered in response to that owner’s quite reasonable complaints? (see Matthew 21:2-3)
5See Jesus’ bold proclamation made during his final Passover meal – a meal, by the way, which consisted solely of wine & bread – “While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the a new covenant, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ ” ~ Matthew 26:26-28 (also Mark 14:22-24 & Luke 22:17-20)
6NOTE that lamb was not served at the Last Supper – in harmonic resonance with Jesus’ revolutionary claim that his new Gospel of willingly self-sacrificial Kindness (Matthew 24:12-14) was in effect the new “gate for the sheep” (John 10:7).
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