“The shine and luster of all the attributes of God together is God’s glory.”
Jeremiah Burroughs
The scene was set. The war horse had been set aside. The wheels of the chariot would not turn. The gladius, the preferred sword of the Roman Legionary, would not be in his hand. Instead, Jesus would enter Jerusalem sitting on a donkey’s colt. John describes the scene:
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”(John 12:13-15)
The crowd was ecstatic. With a psalm in their mouths (see Psalm 118:26) and palms in their hands, they were ready to crown a King. The palm branch was the Jews’ emblem for a conqueror, an association that they also made with the promised Messiah. William Barclay writes that the Jews who waved these palms were looking on Jesus as God’s Anointed One, the Messiah, the Deliverer, the One who was to come. And there is no doubt that they were looking on Him as the Conqueror.
Jesus had other ideas. He chose to ride in on a donkey’s colt. It was an animal that had never been worked. It was an animal that Luke described as one which no one had ever sat upon. (Luke 19) It was an animal that was ready to be sacrificed and on it was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. Thomas McComiskey notes: “The donkey stands out … as a deliberate rejection of this symbol of arrogant trust in human might, expressing subservience to the sovereignty of God. Jerusalem’s king is of humble mien, yet victorious, and so it has always been that the church does not effectively spread the gospel by sword or by arrogance, but by mirroring the humble spirit of its king and savior. Such is the entrance of this messianic King, One who is righteous, with salvation, but who comes not in worldly might but in the weakness of the cross.” What a Savior! He chooses to suffer and bear the sin of his people that salvation might be the result. How he longed for Jerusalem to come to him but they would not have him. (see Luke 19) Jesus entrance into Jerusalem caused much concern with the Pharisees who said the following, “Look the world has gone after him.” Today, we turn their statement into our closing question, “Have you gone after him?” Are you trusting in Christ as your Lord and Savior today? Have a blessed week and we will see many of you on Sunday.
Unto Jesus be glory and honor,
Pastor Dale
