Save for the resurrection, the triumphal entry has seemed to me the most dramatic of all the events of Jesus’ life among us. Most of us tend to see Biblical events as smaller than they are. The triumphal entry is case in point. Leading up to his initial entry to Jerusalem for what would be his last Passover, Jesus had both taught and healed in such a way as to draw attention to himself and to his final mission. The healing of Lazarus is an example. By the time of his entry Jerusalem was a charged ant-hill of anticipation. They were looking for him and talking about him.
Jerusalem was a large city for those days. During normal times the population of the city was approx. 250,000. But at Passover time Jewish families came from all over the known world for the Passover celebration, and every Jew within 15 miles was required to attend. By the time of Jesus the Passover population of greater Jerusalem would swell to over 2 ½ million people.
I say “greater Jerusalem” because there simply wasn’t room in the city for all those people. So the areas around the city were thronged with pilgrims camping out, going in and out of the city each day. Villages, like Lazarus’s Bethany, only 2+ miles from Jerusalem, were full. In other areas the pilgrims simply camped out. The garden of Gethsemane on the western flank of the Mount of Olives between Bethany and Jerusalem was the traditional camping area for the people from Galilee, with thousands of them filling the garden each year.
Just think of all those people and of the anticipation of seeing Jesus when the news ripped through the town and surrounding areas that he was on his way. He started on the road from Bethany to Jerusalem, and it wasn’t just him and his disciples. He was on a donkey’s colt, fulfilling a prophecy from Zechariah, and I can see him already surrounded by other pilgrims, already waving palm branches, a symbol in that world of victory. As he started from Bethany Jews from Jerusalem began coming out to meet him. He began the ascent of the eastern side of the Mount of Olives to a growing crowd. At first the crowd was a single line on each side of the road; first one deep, then two, then three deep, and that was just the beginning. The sound of the crowd grew. Excited voices became shouts. Shouts soon enough grew to a roar. You can hear them in your imagination: “Look, there’s Jesus…and look, Lazarus the raised. Then behind Jesus, can you see them? Blind Bartimaeus, given sight. Lepers, whole and clean. Martha and Mary, laughing and flushed with excitement. Look, there’s Zaccaeus, the tax collector turned righteous, the demon-possessed made whole, the lame walking, the insane in their right minds, the hungry, fed.” This is is no small event. This is the Messiah, Emmanuel, God in Flesh, the Lord of Eternity entering the city to take possession of that which is his!
The roar of the crowd grew. Soon a roar was insufficient and they burst into cheering. Then, even cheering was not enough. They began to SING! Not pretty and controlled church singing, but deep longings pulled from their hearts and given full voice:
Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! God save him from on High…God bless the coming Kingdom of David!
The Pharisees were having a fit! They wanted him arrested and killed, not acclaimed as the Messiah! The Pharisees, loudly because of the crowd, called to Jesus, “Rebuke your disciples!” Jesus, even louder, “If they were silent, the very stones would begin to cheer.”
But it was the other song they sang…”Hossana,”to whatever tune it was robed in. We’ve always translated hosanna as “Praise God,” a happy and joyful expression. But this was not a happy and joyful crowd. This was a needy crowd. And to the Jews of that day hosanna meant, “Save us…help us please!” This was the song of a broken heart. Jesus was surrounded by the brokenness of humanity, all singing to him.
Help us bread of life…we starve for meaning. We starve for joy. Help us living water…our faith has turned dry and we have become moral book-keepers, Water us with true righteousness and grace. Help us light of the world…We’ve lost our way. We don’t know how to live, how to treat each other, how to walk with God. Illuminate our darkness. Help us good shepherd…we are weary, we are burdened, we are heavy laden. Release us from bondage and bring us peace.
From Adam to Abraham to Joseph to David to Isaiah to Malachi to Peter…all of time, pleading and welcoming him to the city so that he might do that which only he could do…redeem and save.
He continued straight to the temple. He entered by the Golden Gate, surrounded by money-changers, animal sellers, and religious parasites. It was a bazaar, the coming and going of commerce that fleeced the poor and made the temple rich. The merchants were so wrapped up in their haggling and commerce they didn’t even know it was he who was coming.
He threw them out. I mean out. The King had come to his palace. He allowed nothing to be carried through the temple. No wood. No sacrifice. No instruments. No anything. He literally shut down the entire temple at its peak time of year. Because he was there the temple had become irrelevant.
He stayed in the temple all day. He went right to the middle of the largest of its courts and sat down. A hush rippled out from that still center. He taught. He healed. Surrounded by an immense crowd. Making the temple that for which it was intended…holy.
His whole march into Jerusalem was the shout of God, calling…”Come all you who are heavy laden. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light and you will find rest for your souls.” And the city stirred as though an anthill stirred by a stick, and said, “Who is this!?”
Message delivered.
Prayer: “Great God of wonders and spectaculars, I really wish I had been there to see it! One of my hopes for heaven is that we will somehow get to see the great events of your salvation history as though we were actually there. But I was there. He marched into Jerusalem, doing battle with evil, for me. I am saved because Jesus did battle on my behalf. I have the promise of heaven because he defeated death. But wow, what a story! Amen.”