Behold, Your King

One thing is evident in the accounts of Jesus ‘Triumphal Entry’ into Jerusalem: no one knows what is actually happening except Jesus. Some cheered as though the deliverer had finally come, others jeered insinuating he was a fraud. By the end of the week, all will join in demanding his crucifixion. This melding of disparate voices reveals that neither grasped the truth of who Jesus was and what he had come to do. But that he knew is clear from how Matthew recounts and interprets the scene for us.

Jesus gives direction to two disciples to collect an animal that he had arranged for his use. It was a very deliberate choice and one designed to declare precisely who he was. The prophet Zechariah had foreseen the coming of the Righteous One and pictured the manner and demeanor of his arrival: “Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (9:9) Jesus’ choice of a colt was no coincidence. He was making a statement and everyone got it, those who cheered and those who jeered.

What they didn’t grasp was the nature of his messiahship. Both parties thought he was claiming to be the one who would ride ahead of a victorious army, but such was not the case. That Jesus understood this is evident in the interpretation Matthew offers of the events. In quoting the framing passage from Zechariah he makes two changes to the text. The first is a substitution of language from Isaiah that turns the opening line into an evangelistic call. While the original called for rejoicing in a completed work, the substitution called people to pay attention to what was about to happen. The second is the elimination of a line from Zechariah: “righteous and having salvation is he.” Many translations offer an alternative translation for “having salvation” -- “victorious.” Both intend to communicate that the arriving king is to be celebrated for a finished work, his having been victorious, his having saved. Matthew’s deletion is a subtle redirecting of the offered praise. It is not for what Jesus as messiah has done, but what he will do. By the end of the week, the humble and lowly demeanor will find full expression as he yields himself to the conniving and cries of the crowd. It’s his death that will establish the prophesied peace, a peace that cannot be undone.

What is remarkable, and reveals the grace and mercy of God, is that in a few short weeks many of those who cried for Jesus’ crucifixion will be brought to faith and repentance. With the outpouring of the Holy Spirit the Good News is preached with power and conviction soon follows. The same thing can happen now. I think it safe to say that few know what actually happened on Palm Sunday, and many are they who deny the messiahship of Jesus. But through the power of the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Good News others can be “cut to the heart,” and say, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

Heaven on Earth?

Have your read Psalm 72? If you haven't, please do. If you have, read it again. It's a prayer that God would give the king (the royal son) righteousness and justice so that he might rule righteously and justly. As the prayer unfolds, the existence under his righteous and just reign is longingly expressed: the oppressor is crushed, the poor and needy are defended, and even the land produces in abundance under his stewardship. His rule would be "like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth." All authority would be yielded to him as "all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him." And why? For "he delivers the needy when he calls, / the poor and him who has no helper. / He has pity on the weak and the needy, / and saves the lives of the needy. / From oppression and violence he redeems their life, / and precious is their blood in his sight."

The psalm is attributed to Solomon, David's son. He clearly had a vision for what it would mean to have a righteous ruler on the throne. Unfortunately, it was not realized in is reign. In truth, his idolatry led him far away from this ideal and after his death it was acknowledged that his vanity had put a "heavy yoke" upon those he ruled. Solomon's successor was counseled to "be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever" (1 Kings 12:7). That advice was a fitting summary of the psalm that Solomon had penned. Alas, Solomon did not follow it. Nor did his successor, Rehoboam.

I think it safe to say that no ruler has ever fulfilled this vision. Whether monarch, dictator, president, or prime minister, no one has ever succeeded in engineering heaven on earth, no matter how noble his or her intentions. There is only one king that has ever graced the Earth who is capable of achieving this longed-for existence. He is the one who confronts us on Palm Sunday. He it is who ushers in the Kingdom of Heaven with his humble entrance into Jerusalem. 

But it must be noted that the full realization of a perfect human existence under the rule of our benevolent King awaits the consummation of the age. Only when the new heaven and earth are manifested will we completely experience the promised peaceable kingdom. Till then, we await him and pray with the faithful, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).

To Seek and to Save

Events that had been planned from eternity were about to unfold. Jesus, knowing that the “days drew near for him to be taken up,” had “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51). That determination had brought him into proximity of the place that symbolized God’s presence among his people. Soon, despite the accolades that will accompany his entrance into Jerusalem, he will be rejected by the “righteous,” who should have been able to see him for who he was. They will remand him to be humiliated, tortured, and finally executed. Spiritual blindness was a persistent problem for Israel; now the malady would prove decisive. In a stroke of divine irony, however, a blind man will recognize him and an unrighteous man will welcome him.

Jesus proclamation that the “Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10), reveals that the heart of his mission was to wrest from men and women any sense that they have no need of him. Men like Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, and Zacchaeus, a despised tax collector in the employ of Rome, were persuaded of this need, and when they heard that their savior was passing by, they laid hold of him.

Jesus’ encounters with these two men serve as a fitting exclamation point to his ministry prior to Holy Week. He had proclaimed his purposes early on in his hometown of Nazareth (see Luke 4:18-21) and he had been faithful in demonstrating that, as proclaimed, he had come “to seek and to save the lost.” That explanation of his work within the context of these two final encounters, places his entire enterprise within an eternal frame. The confession of Bartimaeus and the contriteness of Zacchaeus reveal faith in Jesus that saves them not only from earthly bondage but from eternal judgment as well.

Just after these encounters and prior to his ascent to Jerusalem, motivated by the misapprehension of many as to what was about to take place, Jesus relates a parable that warns of the consequences of not grasping who he is. The message: understand now and live accordingly, for when I return it will be too late. We are in that time period right now. It extends from the moment of his ascension until his reappearing. Pray that, like Bartimaeus and Zacchaeus, you will have ears to hear when the good news about Jesus is made known to you. The faith that will be engendered will result in eyes that will see him as the savior of the world.