Matthew 21:1, commentary and pictures

When He draws near to Jerusalem at Bethphage by the Mount of Olives He sends two disciples ahead to bring a colt never ridden for His entry. It is the first day of the week at Passover time near the close of His final ministry, with multitudes joining Him including those drawn by the raising of Lazarus. He who had always walked and long refused royal honors now deliberately presents Himself publicly as Israel's promised King and the world's Redeemer and accepts the crowd's homage in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9. The demonstration directs all eyes to His crowning sacrifice as the antitypical Passover Lamb voluntarily set apart for the sins of the world, not claiming an earthly throne but faintly prefiguring His future coming in glory. Amid the rejoicing His tears over the city are His last appeals of love to a people who reject Him and point to Jerusalem's doom, joining the lesson of the barren fig tree against outward profession without fruit.

Setting and Circumstances

When they drew nigh unto Jerusalem they had come to Bethphage unto the Mount of Olives, a short distance from the city, and then Jesus sent two disciples ahead to bring the colt for His entry. The animal is described as an ass and its colt, a young colt that no one had ridden. The entry takes place on the first day of the week at Passover time, near the close of His final ministry, as He resumes His journey to Jerusalem to keep the feast. It is the beautiful season of the year when foliage is green, and the Mount of Olives is green and covered with varied foliage. Multitudes join Him, including crowds from Bethany drawn by the raising of Lazarus and others on the way to the feast who keep joining Him, with many come from the surrounding regions hoping to see Jesus.

Though He had always traveled on foot, He now rides a donkey into Jerusalem, following the custom for a royal entry by Israel's kings. The procession is unlike a conqueror's parade, for it is made up of people He had delivered and healed, who praise Him for His works of mercy. Lazarus, restored from death, guides the animal on which He rides. Followers and onlookers celebrate with leafy branches, spreading garments and leafy branches in His path, waving palm branches, and shouting praise as they welcome Him with homage as Messiah and King.

The Mount of Olives setting was hallowed by His presence, prayers, and tears, and its slopes echoed with the crowd's joyful shouts when He entered Jerusalem. Nearby Bethany gave Him rest at Lazarus's home, and at the foot of the mount lay Gethsemane, where He would agonize alone before His trial. His need to borrow a stranger's animal shows His humility, while His precise directions for obtaining it show His divinity. Though in this one triumphant scene of His earthly life He might have appeared escorted by heavenly angels and heralded by the trumps of God, He remained true to the life of humiliation He had accepted, bearing the burden of humanity till His life was given for the life of the world.

Messiahship and Redemptive Purpose

This sending of the two disciples begins His public presentation as Israel's promised King, heir to David's throne, and the world's Redeemer. After long refusing royal honors He now deliberately draws attention to Himself, choosing to ride in amid public homage and accepting the crowd's welcome as Messiah and King. Riding an animal used by Israel's kings followed the custom for a royal entry, and His royal reception did not mean He was claiming an earthly throne.

The entry fulfills prophecy, especially Zechariah 9:9 foreseen also by Isaiah. Prophecy must be fulfilled, so that if the multitude were silenced even the stones would cry out. The disciples are carrying out God's purpose in it, though they do not yet understand its full meaning.

The demonstration is staged to direct all eyes to His crowning sacrifice ending His mission to a fallen world. As the antitypical Passover Lamb He by a voluntary act sets Himself apart as an oblation for the sins of the world, ordering the events preceding His great sacrifice to direct all people to the sacrifice itself. The startling public events before His death are ordered so all eyes follow His rapid progress to the final end, calculated to be the talk of every tongue and bring Him before every mind. The display was necessary so that in all future ages the church would make His death for the sins of the world a subject of deep thought and study, with every fact connected to it verified beyond doubt. After His crucifixion people would connect the entry with His trial and death, search the prophecies, recognize Him as Messiah, and be multiplied as converts in all lands.

The ride shortly before His crucifixion faintly prefigures His future coming as Zion's King in glory, when angels and saints rejoice. The disciples, friends of Jesus, and people mistake the ride into the capital for a sign He will proclaim Himself King of the Jews, assert earthly royal power, take David's throne, and free Israel from Rome and its oppressors. Excitement spreads and raises the hopes of the people to the highest pitch, with the disciples expecting Him to be crowned king. Their hopes are shattered when He is crucified and buried, with high hopes disappointed and the darkness of death closing about them in a disappointment greater than that of later believers. His resurrection revives their hopes, and only then do they understand that prophecy had also foretold His suffering and rising, while He remains true to His promises with sweet consolation to His people and rich reward for the true and faithful.

Judgment and Present Lessons

The triumphal entrance that begins at Bethphage near Jerusalem points to Jerusalem's coming doom, for amid the crowd's rejoicing Christ's tears over the city were His last appeals of love and compassion to a people who rejected Him. That warning of judgment was joined with the cleansing of the temple and the judgment pronounced upon the barren fig tree.

The whole chapter beginning here is a powerful lesson to be studied, joining the riding into Jerusalem just before the lesson of the barren fig tree. The tree's showy leaves symbolized Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, whose outward religious profession concealed separation from God, pride, and apostasy and left them unable to recognize their Redeemer. In the same sense the fruitless tree represents professed servants of God who bear no fruit in their lives, and its blighting represented God's righteous anger and Jerusalem's destruction.

Preaching Christ's riding into Jerusalem exalts Jesus and lifts Him up, showing that salvation is through Jesus lifted up and not by law. So lifted up He draws hearers to conviction, to baptism, and to uniting with the church. Such preaching urges hearers to let the word take hold upon their souls and to do their part well, so they may stand acquitted when the judgment sits and the books are opened and every account is balanced. It shows the Son of God come to this world to draw all men to Himself, whose coming brings not peace but a sword. His followers must therefore walk in the light of His example without questioning the cost in labor, trial, and suffering, each maintaining the truth in its purity and pushing the triumphs of His cross to extend His kingdom.