For readers of the Gospels, the Triumphal Entry is a familiar scene.
It’s basically Jesus taking a victory lap, but it’s a victory lap with a difference.
It’s different because within a few short days the crowd will no longer be crying “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” but “away with him, crucify him!”
And they will get their wish.
But what accounts for such a change?
One simple suggestion is that there were two different crowds involved. Matthew himself hints at this when he mentions that “all the city” was asking “who is this?” (Matthew 21:10). It’s not hard to imagine that with the enormous crowds of pilgrims who flocked to Jerusalem at Passover there would be many who had no idea who Jesus was.1
Even so, what’s notable about Jesus’ trial and execution is his abandonment. Not just by “the very great multitude” (Matt. 21:8) but by even his closest disciples (Matt. 26:56). We see no more public support of Jesus until after his resurrection.
What this evidences, I think, is that Jesus’ followers, including even his closest disciples, misunderstood him. As John points out, his disciples didn’t understand what the triumphal entry was all about (John 12:16). So when it comes to Jesus’ kingship, we would be better to ask after Jesus own understanding rather than that of his followers.
Here let’s be clear that kingship was exactly what Jesus was claiming. Here I think we find Jesus “the prophet from Nazereth in Galilee” (Matt. 21:11) doing something which was common amongst Israel’s prophets—making a prophetic announcement using actions instead of words.
I believe that Jesus absolutely intended that his actions should be interpreted through the lens of Zechariah 9:9—the passage that all the Gospels quote as an explanation of Jesus actions on that day—even though nobody understood their true significance.
And the true significance is found only when we note that Zechariah describes the coming king as “lowly” (some translations have “humble”). Jesus had come as a humble king. Not to lord it over his people, but to serve them. And his particular service would involve his death on the cross. This had been his intention ever since he “set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51).
What we see, then, is a massive “expectation—reality gap.” That is, a massive difference between the expectations of the crowd, of even Jesus’ own disciples, and Jesus own self-understanding and mission.
And this, to me, points us toward one of the really big questions that the Triumphal Entry throws up for modern readers: do we also have an expectation—reality gap when it comes to Jesus?
What sort of king are we looking for? And what sort of ruler do we expect Jesus to be?
If the word “lowly” (or “humble”) doesn’t find a place in your expectations, then you can certainly be sure there is a gap between your expectations and reality.
This Lent and Easter my prayer for you is that you have your expectations challenged! That you come closer, ever closer, to seeing Jesus as he is and as he sought to proclaim himself. The Son of David, lowly and seated on a donkey, come not to conquer but to give himself for others.
May a renewed understanding of the reality of Christ transform your heart and mind this Easter!
And may that renewed understanding change how you yourself approach the world.
1 At Passover the regular population of around 20-30,000 would swell to as many as 180,000. See Joachim Jeremias, Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), p. 84.