A Different Kind of King

Matthew 21: 1-11 (April 17, 2011)

1) The Text

21When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” 4This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” 6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 10When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

2) The Context

This story is found in all four gospels, indicating its importance to the early church: Mark 11:1-11a; Luke 19:28-38; John 12:12-19. Matthew records Jesus' Palm Sunday ride into Jerusalem. Actually it is John who tells us that it took place on the Sunday before Jesus' crucifixion, cf. Jn.12:1. Matthew records that after deliberate and careful preparation, Jesus rides into Jerusalem and in so doing fulfills prophecy, revealing the full extent of his Messianic character.

Only Matthew mentions two donkeys. Mark, along with Luke, tells us that "no one has ever ridden" the animal. The prophecy tells us that it was a colt, a young animal. Matthew gives us the full details. Jesus rides the young colt with its mother tagging alone. The Lord who stills the storm, stills the unbroken animal.

The spreading of cloaks on the road by the crowd acknowledges Jesus' kingship. The cutting of branches and spreading them before Jesus is a gesture similar to that offered to Simon Maccabaeus when he entered Jerusalem, 1Macc.13:51, 2Macc.10:7. Both acts are a gesture of respect. Jesus' stay in Bethany most likely allowed the news of his approach to spread throughout Jerusalem. Along with bands of pilgrims, Jesus moves toward the city. The crowd starts singing a pilgrims' chant. The chant comes primarily from Psalm 118:25-26. "Hosanna" is an acclamation of praise. "Son of David", and "He who comes in the name of the Lord", are both messianic titles. "Hosanna in the highest" is equivalent to "Glory to God in the highest." The disciples may understand the significance of these words, but it is unlikely the crowd does.

Mark has Jesus weeping over the city while Matthew focuses on the entry. Jesus probably enters the city near the north entrance to the outer court of the temple. By this time many in the city are caught up in the event, but of course question what it all means. They are not actually asking "Who is this?", but are rather questioning "Who is this Jesus?" For many in the crowd Jesus is just a local prophet, certainly not the messiah.

3) Interpretation

There are reasons that we tend to like candidates who we're convinced are outsiders to politics. One of them is that we're dissatisfied with the games of politics as they're currently played. We don't want someone who works well within the system; we want a system that works, and on some level, we know that the system as it's been running isn't working for a lot of people. I think a dynamic with some similarities to that is at work in Matthew's presentation of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Matthew has the crowd proclaiming Jesus as the king in Jerusalem who has come as an outsider, a prophet from Galilee (Matthew 21:11). This is not a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss": things are going to change, and in the biggest of ways, when Jesus is king -- starting with how kings rule.

Matthew wants people to know that when he says that Jesus is king, we're not talking about kingship as it's usually conceived, or kingship as it's usually used by those who have it. Jesus is a king who restores the glory of God's people, but not with military victories. Jesus triumphs, but not with the might of the sword. Jesus rides into the city not on a war horse, but "humble and riding on a donkey," a beast of trade rather than of war, because this is a different kind of king.

There are at least two points that are central in the Christian proclamation of Jesus as Lord. The first is that the position has been filled, fully and forever -- no other candidates need apply. Jesus, and not any earthly ruler, nor any power or principality, is Lord of all that is. The second is that the Lord Jesus is not like other kings. Jesus did not come to be "king of the hill," but to fulfill our longing that “every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level and the rough places a plain (Isaiah 40:4).

That's what the writer of the Gospel According to John meant when he wrote that Jesus said to Pilate, "my kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36). It's not that Jesus is uninterested in what happens on earth. Quite the opposite is true. Jesus didn't come to tell us to give up on the earth, any more than he came to rule it like Pilate. Jesus came to redeem it. Jesus didn't come to take over Pilate's system; he came to replace it. When we confess that Jesus is Lord and Christ, the anointed king, we are leaving no room for the Pilates of this world. When we confess Jesus as Lord – not in some distant world or only in the future, but of all that is, and of here and now – we are proclaiming the Good News that it is possible, with Jesus as Lord, for all those with power to use it as he used his, for the vision of the prophets to find flesh among us who proclaim Christ the king.

That is the vision and the reality we proclaim when we honor Jesus, the outsider of Nazareth, as king in Jerusalem. Jesus brings more than a new face under the crown, a new point on the calendar: it is a new world.

4) Thought Exercise

How would you describe Jesus’s vision for our world?

What basic things can we do to inch toward that vision?