Luke 19:28-40

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 "Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord needs it.' "

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, "Why are you untying the colt?"

34 They replied, "The Lord needs it."

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" [b]
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"

40 "I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out."



Dig Deeper
During the presidential election for the United States in 2008, one of the then candidates, now President Barack Obama, made a rather controversial splash when he began to show up to election rallies in a different way than any other candidate for President ever had. Rather than coming out to crowds like a candidate for President and speaking surrounded by campaign posters and supporters, Obama had a seal made for himself, one that looked nearly identical to the official seal of the President of the United States. When Obama would show up for campaign rallies, he and his staff went to a great deal of trouble to make his arrival and subsequent speech look like someone who already was the President of the United States. Not the least of those efforts was that Presidential-looking seal that sat boldly and auspiciously on his speaking podium. The response to all of this was quite varied. Those who supported Obama saw no problem with it. In fact they encouraged it and embraced it as a reality that was to come. Those who did not support Obama, however, had a much different perspective. They saw it as offensive, presumptuous, and arrogant. They urged him and his followers to stop such a display and wanted him to immediately discourage his supporters from acting like he was already the President of the United States when he clearly was not yet.

The big difference between that example and the scene that Luke describes here is that Jesus comes into Jerusalem surrounded by all the trappings and symbols of a Davidic king, yet he really is king it was just that no one yet fully recognized it. Everywhere we look in this passage we are confronted by the sights, sounds, and symbols of the triumphal entry of a king, but this was no presumptuous act. This was the arrival of the king. Jesus was the king that had been described in the parable in the previous passage. He was the one who had been away for a long time. Israel was awaiting the return of their God and the arrival of their promised Messiah, and it was all happening in one fell swoop right in front of their eyes. Jesus’ disciples were determined to make this the kingly event that they believed it to be, even if they didn’t yet fully grasp everything that was going on and didn’t entirely understand who Jesus was yet. Some of the Pharisees, however, were firmly against all this. They saw it in the same negative light that Obama’s critics did. It was arrogant and presumptuous, and beyond that, Jesus’ actions were potentially dangerous if Herod or the Romans got wind that some sort of Messianic uprising was taking place. Whatever Jesus was up to, his opponents didn’t like and wanted it to stop immediately.

This passage represents the climax of the travel sequence that began all the way back in Luke 9:51 when Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Now Jesus has finally arrived. How will he be received? How will he be treated? In some ways this passage begins to answer the first of those questions, but it also creates an even bigger surprise for the answer to the second question. Jesus’ initial reception and his final treatment could not be at further ends of the spectrum.

Luke draws special attention to the fact that as Jesus approached Jerusalem, he came to the Mount of Olives. The prophet Zechariah spoke symbolically of the Messiah setting foot on the Mount of Olives and creating a vast division. It seems that Luke possibly intended some allusion to the passage from Zechariah 14:4-5 as he stresses that Jesus has arrived at the Mount of Olives.

As he looked towards Jerusalem, Jesus sent two disciples ahead to collect a young donkey for him to ride in on. As they arrived they found the situation just as Jesus had described. They spotted a young colt, untied it, and when asked by the owners what they were doing, they simply explained that the Lord needed it. Luke doesn’t tell us the response but they do come back with the colt. Many commentators have speculated that Jesus had somehow pre-arranged this situation, but the text doesn’t even hint at any such arrangement and it seems that Luke intends for his readers to see Jesus’ foreknowledge of the situation more than he does any such speculative pre-arrangement. The situation is not as strange as it might seem to us, though, as there was a common practice in ancient Isreal called “angaria,” where an important person, such as a rabbi or priest, could commandeer the use of property such as animals for personal reasons.

The primary point of the colt section, however, seems to be to stress the fact that this young animal had never been ridden which likely was an allusion to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. This was a powerful prophecy of the peace-making and humble Messiah that would ride in on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The Septuagint, the translation of the Old Testament in use in Luke’s time, stressed that it was a “new colt” so it was likely that Luke wanted to make the point that this incident was a specific fulfillment of Zechariah’s great prophecy. It is also quite possible that Luke mentions the detail of the young donkey being tied and untied so often because in those details he saw a clear prophetic connection to Genesis 49:11 which spoke of the Messiah tying his donkey to the choicest vine.

It should not be missed, however, that everywhere we look in this passage, we see that Luke wants to make the point that this was the reception of a king. As Jesus approached, his disciples began to spread their cloaks on the ground in a manner reminiscent of 2 Kings 9:12-13 which describes the triumphant reception of Jehu as king of Israel: “'This is what the LORD says: I anoint you king over Israel.' They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, "Jehu is king!’” As they were laying down their cloaks in a kingly reception to this humble king who was riding in on a donkey just as Solomon had when he was being recognized as King of Israel (1 Ki. 1:38-39). Riding the donkey then, was a symbol of kingship, but of humble rule rather than base power.

As Jesus passed the Mount of Olives, the disciples began to praise God for all that they had seen and for the miracles that had pointed the way to the kingdom of God that was breaking into the present age. Luke says that they shouted “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” This is significant and interesting for several reasons. This is a quote from Psalm 118, a hymn that was used in ancient Israel both as a hymn of royal entry during the ritual of re-enthronement and as a song that pilgrims would sing on their way to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. This event brings both of those elements together. Jesus is the king that is returning to Israel to demonstrate that he is the true king, albeit it would be in way that no one expected. But he is also the fulfillment of the Passover. He is the lamb being led to slaughter so that God’s people can be freed from their slavery to sin. His blood would bring freedom to the people of God and they will be his people and he will be their king. It is extremely interesting, however, that the text of this blessing has added “the king,” as the original language of Psalm 118:26 reads “blessed is he.” This addition, whether it was the disciples who made it that day, or Luke who added it in later, ties together this praise passage from the Psalm with Zechariah 9:9 and the other elements surrounding Jesus’ entry to demonstrate that Jesus is the king.

But just as Jesus made clear in the previous parable of the Ten Minas, not everyone would want this man as their king. There were Pharisees who did not “want this man to be our king” (Lk. 19:14). They saw all of this as terribly inappropriate and downright dangerous. So they call on Jesus to rebuke his disciples for this outburst and the obvious kingly and Messianic reception that they were giving him. Luke likely omitted the mention of the waving of the palm branches mentioned by John’s Gospel in John 12:13 because he wished to avoid the political connections that palms had with the political aspect of Judas Maccabeus who was greeted with the waving of palms. Thus, Luke is stressing the Messianic aspect of Jesus’ kingly reception rather than being a political king or ruler.

The response of Jesus to this request to silence his disciples is quite fascinating. Not only did Jesus refuse to quiet those who were properly praising and receiving him as the Messiah, he retorted that “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” It was John the Baptist who had declared to the people of Israel “do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Lk. 3:8). That is precisely what was taking place. Those that did not want Jesus as king were rejecting him and God would indeed raise up “stones” to be the children of Abraham. Those that would come to Jesus in faith to be the Messiah, King, and Lord would be “children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:7) and could truly say that they “like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5).

It is striking to consider that the same people who were so exuberant in their reception of Jesus as King and were so ready to take part in the pomp, circumstance, and emotion of this moment, are the same people who will be so quick to abandon him when stiff opposition and death stare them directly in the eye. Let us not be those who are quick to follow Jesus when things are going well but who are also so quick to abandon his kingdom agenda at the slightest hint of controversy.


Devotional Thought
Are you as willing to follow Jesus into trouble and trials as you are to spread your cloak on the ground and receive him as King when things are going well? Spend some time considering that question as it applies to your life and then praying for strength and boldness to follow Jesus through any situation.