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Flashback: The Triumphal Entry
by Mary KassianThe throngs in Jerusalem for the annual festival pressed closer to catch a glimpse. The miracle-man was coming! The one who made deaf ears hear, blind eyes see, and crippled legs walk. Rumor had it that he had even raised the dead! Word spread quickly. The crowd thickened. Jesus mounted a young donkey to avoid being crushed.
Children began to wave palm fronds and admirers carpeted the road with cloaks in an impromptu victory parade. They shouted. They cheered. They sang. And then a woman began to chant. It wasn’t long before the whole crowd reverberated with her refrain: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”
Jesus glanced down at his disciples. They were reveling in the moment. Victory was sweet. Little did they know it would be won at bitter cost. He was the King of Israel. He had come in the name of the Lord. But the crowds were fickle. In a few days they would abandon him. In the end he would battle alone…rejected, scorned, brutalized, and bloodied. Thus – and not through the recognition and accolades of the masses – would he secure the victory… and triumph.
The Triumphal Entry
12The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna![1] "
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"[2]
"Blessed is the King of Israel!" 14Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
15"Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey's colt."[3]
16At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.
17Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. 18Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. 19So the Pharisees said to one another, "See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!"
Footnotes
1. 12:13 A Hebrew expression meaning "Save!" which became an exclamation of praise
Related Reading: Experience the Passion for yourself