Jesus wasn’t interested in appearing as an earthly king. He was interested, though, that we worship Him. This daily devotional looks at the triumphant entry.
Nuggets
- Jesus borrowed a colt for an important ride.
- The triumphant entry treated Jesus as a King but was really a worship service.
- God will always be praised, even if we aren’t praising Him.
Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem was an important time in Jesus’ ministry. We’re just going to dive in.
Securing Transportation
“As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples and said, ‘Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’ So those who were sent left and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ ‘The Lord needs it,’ they said” (Lk. 19: 29-34 CSB)
Jesus borrowed a colt for an important ride.
Jesus was focused on His mission. In Luke 9: 52, Luke wrote, “As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem” (NLT). We don’t know if He went straight there, but that was His goal.
- “Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he went, always pressing on toward Jerusalem” (Lk. 13: 22 NLT).
- “As Jesus continued on toward Jerusalem, he reached the border between Galilee and Samaria” (Lk” 17: 11 NLT).
- “Taking the twelve disciples aside, Jesus said, “Listen, we’re going up to Jerusalem, where all the predictions of the prophets concerning the Son of Man will come true” (Lk. 18: 31 NLT).
- “After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples” (Lk. 19: 28).
This resoluteness showed Jesus’ willingness to die. He could have turned around at any time and said, “I’m not going there.” He didn’t.
Power pointed out that Jesus had to be totally dedicated to His mission. He wrote, “Firmly and intelligently, with a full knowledge of the indignity and death before Him, our Lord started forth, and took the headship of His little band on His way to Jerusalem. That steadfastness is of immense importance to us. Were there the least wavering in Christ’s character, we were undone.”
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We have to remember how Jesus got to Jerusalem. He was poor, so He and the disciples walked everywhere. That also meant He was probably hungry and thirsty.
It changed when Jesus got to the outskirts of Jerusalem. He went big here.
Well, shouldn’t He? Jesus was meeting His destiny. He just needed one little thing.
Jesus sent a couple disciples off to pick up a colt. It always amazed me that the owner would accept the sentence of, “The Lord has need of it” and would let them take the colt. But He did, and he did.
Jesus did need the colt — to fulfill prophecy. “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt” (Zech. 9: 9 NLT).
Parker argued that, if God could manage small details like that, doesn’t that mean He is going to manage all of the details? God does everything for a purpose.
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Strauss argued that this proved Jesus was a King. The evidence was Jesus was able to procure the colt by the power of His will.
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A Traveling Worship Service
“Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” (Lk. 19: 35-38 CSB)
The triumphant entry treated Jesus as a King but was really a worship service.
Jesus road into town in style on the colt. No, this was a change of procedure.
In the past, Jesus had declined to be recognized as King. “When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself” (Jn. 6: 15 NLT). Parker said that He would not be made King in this way because “… what is done by compulsion may by compulsion be undone.”
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Jesus knew that, if he was crowned king in Jerusalem, He would never be crowned king in our hearts. The Jews would focus even more on an earthly kingdom rather than a spiritual kingdom.
Our spiritual health was the sole reason Jesus came. He came, as Strauss said, “… as a Friend and Saviour; and wants to be loved, not feared.”
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Jesus’ mission was not to eliminate poverty, disease, death. He was here to right injustices and cure racism.
The sole purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to die on the cross so that His blood could atone for our sins. Period. End of story.
Glossary
Why would Jesus sacrifice Himself for us? He loves us that much. He didn’t want Heaven without us.
What a Beautiful Name
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
I learned two things reading through this today. All of the versions — even the King James — translated it as placing their clothes on the ground for the colt to walk on.
I always thought it was branches in the King James Version. I misremembered.
I also always thought it was the entire crowd praising Jesus. It was only “… the whole crowd of the disciples …” (Lk. 19: 37 CSB). I guess I had always thought this was a foreshadowing of “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Phil. 2: 10 NLT).
Sorry, guys. It is important that we sing to God. Spurgeon wrote, “… not one silent tongue among the disciples — not one who withheld his song.”
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The ones who withhold their song is going to be the Pharisees and worldview people. They don’t believe Jesus is the Messiah.
Whoever was praising Him, they didn’t wait until Jesus hit Jerusalem’s gate. They started praising where they were.
Did you catch that they were praising God in a loud voice? They weren’t hiding the fact that they were glorifying God.
They were specific in their praise. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!” (Lk. 19: 38 CSB).
We’ve said before that blessedness means we have been perfected. The perfected state indicates the combination of the graces which, when all are present, form spiritual wholeness or completeness.
They were praising Jesus for becoming perfected because they knew He would accomplish His mission. It wasn’t the way any of them envisioned it, but they knew Jesus would succeed.
The disciples did it right. They were generating the enthusiasm we should have when praising God.
Gregg asked the question, “What is your religion if it have no enthusiasm in it?” Good question.
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Enthusiasm needs to be a integral part of our worship. The joy we feel in being forgiven and redeemed should bubble out of us.
A Choir of Stones
“Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out’” (Lk. 19: 39-40 CSB)
God will always be praised, even if we aren’t praising Him.
Of course, the Pharisees had something to say about it. Their mission in life was finding fault with everything that Jesus did.
Jesus didn’t follow the Pharisee’s line of thinking, so they wanted the praising shut down. At a minimum, they wanted the disciples to be given a bad performance evaluation.
Spurgeon felt the foundation of their objections was their jealousy. They thought if the disciples were praising Jesus, then they wouldn’t be praising God.
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Jesus didn’t address the disciples. He said praise was going to happen regardless of what the Pharisees wanted.
What they didn’t understand was that enthusiasm that we talked about in the last section. They also didn’t understand that praise was a requirement for disciples.
The Pharisees just saw the legalistic viewpoint. We have to do this. We can’t do this.
It didn’t sink in that — for all of eternity — we will be singing “… Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty — the one who always was, who is, and who is still to come” (Rev. 4: 8 NLT). (Yes, guys. Singing.)
For Jay, it all boiled down to this. He wrote, “If we have ourselves received the knowledge of Christ, we are bound to impart it.”
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It all goes back to our job description. We are to preach the gospel and make disciples.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
What is the root of our praise? It is our love for Jesus. We are to love Him so much that we must “… must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9: 23 NIV).
I keep thinking when reading this passage how the worldview is trying shut Christianity down. Ooo, baby. Wouldn’t they be surprised if the rocks started singing?
Making the Connections
No, Jesus wasn’t interested in being an earthly king. He was interested in being our spiritual King.
Jesus is interested in us praising Him. He wants us accept the gift of salvation.
How Do We Apply This?
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him.
Father God. We are humbled that Jesus agreed to be our Savior and Redeemer. Even when we were mired in sin, He chose to die for us. Lord, we worship Him and praise His name. We worship You for designing this plan, so that we could be restored to You. We will sing Your praises for eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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