My Dear People, 

Today we begin Holy Week. We begin with the solemn entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Up to this point, Jesus had been careful in public settings to keep His Messianic identity quiet. That secrecy ended, however, when He entered Jerusalem. The crowds spread their garments on the ground before Him like a royal carpet (this was an ancient custom of honoring the kings) and praised Him as the royal “Son of David” (21:8-9).   

Why this sudden fanfare? It all has to do with Jesus’ decision to ride into the city on a donkey. 

Bethphage is on the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem. Matthew mentions this place because it was associated with messianic expectations. According to an oracle of Zechariah, the Lord Himself would come to defend Jerusalem and would become king over all the earth (Zech 14L 4-9). The Mount of Olives also recalls the place where David mounted an ass when he was fleeing Jerusalem in exile (2 Sam 15:30). “David went from Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives amid cries of lamentation (2 Sam 15;30). Jesus, the Son of David, goes from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem amid shouts of jubilation.”

Jesus’ request for the donkey has a purpose! According to Zech. 9:9, one day the Messiah king would enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey: “Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass.” Jesus enters His holy city on an ass to signal that He is fulfilling Zech 9:9. 

Jesus announced a “kingdom” from the beginning of His ministry, and many people had been hoping He was the Messiah. Through this powerful symbolic action, Jesus publicly makes His messianic claim explicit for the first time. By riding into Jerusalem on an ass, He boldly announces—without saying a word—that He is the Messiah Jerusalem has been waiting for!

At the same time, by drawing attention to this prophecy, Christ indicates that His kingship is different from popular messianic expectations. According to Zech 9, the king entering Jerusalem will be “meek” and “on an ass,” (not with a horse, chariot, or bow for battle (Zech (9:9-10). This king will bring peace, not war (Zech 9:10). The allusion to Zech 9, therefore, is meant to counter the nationalistic and revolutionary tendencies associated with popular messianic hopes. 

A very large crowd of pilgrims accompanying Jesus quickly perceive the royal claim He is making by riding into Jerusalem on an ass. They immediately begin honoring Him as king. They roll out the royal carpet for Him as they spread their cloaks on the road (an act of homage for a king (see 2 Kings 9:13). Others lay branches before Him in festive procession. They hail Him as the Son of David. A royal title refers to the Messiah. 

As they near the end of their procession into Jerusalem, the crowds also fittingly recite the words from Ps 118:25-26, a pilgrimage hymn typically chanted on the way to the temple for the major feasts. Hosanna is a Greek transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “Save us,” which became an expression of praise in liturgical worship. Blessings bestowed on the one who comes in the name of the Lord were customarily reserved for pilgrims coming to the temple.   Here in reference to Jesus, it takes on a Christological significance. Jesus is the one who, coming in the Lord’s name, represents God and acts on His behalf (see 23:39).

The city’s cold response to Jesus’ arrival stands in contrast to the crowds accompanying Him. At Christ’s birth, when “all Jerusalem” was ‘gravely troubled” by news of a new “king of the Jews” (2:2-3),  the whole city was now shaken by the uproar surrounding Jesus’ regal procession into the city. The way the pilgrims acclaimed Jesus as king would have been troubling to the Romans authorities in Jerusalem, who would see any rival king to Cesar as a threat. The priestly leaders of the temple, alarmed by a man from the north, would have seen Jesus  as a threat to their own positions of influence in Jerusalem. 

Consequently, instead of rejoicing in the king’s arrival (as Zechariah 9:9 exhorted them to do), the Jerusalem inhabitants questioned Jesus’ worthiness to receive such a royal welcome: Who is this? they ask. The crowds (many Galilean Passover pilgrims) emphasized that Jesus is one of their own, not a Judean. He is Jesus of Nazareth (not Jerusalem), a city in Galilee (not Judea).

This was the motive for which Jesus was condemned by the Romans, and the inscription on the cross read, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. 

After Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled that prophecy and now He is a king in Heaven. This is why Jesus said to Pilate: “my kingdom is not of this world.” The kingdom in Heaven was empty until Jesus died on the cross and opened Paradise for the people. Jesus came to bring the kingdom of Heaven on earth, which is upon the people. After life on earth, they will enter the kingdom of Heaven where Jesus will reign forever. 

[Source from The Gospel of Matthew by Curtis Mitch and Edward Sri]

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente