Triumphant Entry

Triumphant Entry
Triumphant Entry
John 12:12-16

12 On the next day [epaurion] much [polus] people [ochlos] that were come [erchomai] to [eis] the feast [heorte] , when they heard [akouo] that [hoti] Jesus [Iesous] was coming [erchomai] to [eis] Jerusalem [Hierosoluma] ,
13 Took [lambano] branches [baion] of palm trees [phoinix] , and [kai] went forth [exerchomai] to [eis] meet [hupantesis] him [autos] , and [kai] cried [krazo] , Hosanna [hosanna] : Blessed [eulogeo] is the King [basileus] of Israel [Israel] that cometh [erchomai] in [en] the name [onoma] of the Lord [kurios] .
14 And [de] Jesus [Iesous] , when he had found [heurisko] a young ass [onarion] , sat [kathizo] thereon [epi] [autos] ; as [kathos] it is [esti] written [grapho] ,
15 Fear [phobeo] not [me] , daughter [thugater] of Sion [Sion] : behold [idou] , thy [sou] King [basileus] cometh [erchomai] , sitting [kathemai] on [epi] an ass's [onos] colt [polos] .
16 [de] These things [tauta] understood [ginosko] not [ou] his [autos] disciples [mathetes] at the first [proton] : but [alla] when [hote] Jesus [Iesous] was glorified [doxazo] , then [tote] remembered they [mnaomai] that [hoti] these things [tauta] were [en] written [grapho] of [epi] him [autos] , and [kai] that they had done [poieo] these things [tauta] unto him [autos] . KJV-Interlinear

12 On the next day the great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 took the branches of the palm trees, and went out to meet Him, and began to cry out, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.' 14 And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, 15 'Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey's colt.' 16 These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. NASB

More details on these activities have been covered in our study in Matt. 21. You will recall that Jesus sent a couple of the Apostles out to get the donkey. They were sent into the city which was in the process of swelling by the hour to huge numbers for the feasts that were about to be celebrated - the Feast of the Passover (a one day celebration) and the Feast of Unleavened Bread the seven day celebration immediately following the Passover.

The population was huge, the rumors were running rampant. 'Will Jesus show or not? Will He be arrested or not?' There was a huge population which was simply setting back to see the confrontation between Jesus and the chief priests, and then what might happen as a result of it.

Now the rumor and excitement rises to a fervor. 'Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming!' What is all the excitement about? 'Hosanna (save now)! Hosanna (save now)!' Is the shouting. They lay branches before Him in a triumphal entry, but the triumph is premature. Jesus is not coming to overthrow the chief priests. Jesus is not coming to overthrow the Romans. Jesus is not coming to heal everyone so they can just go home and live their lives forever in Judea, and just feel good about everything. He is in fact coming to Jerusalem to be crucified. That is His destiny, His purpose.

Without this sacrifice, there would be no payment for all of mankind's sins. What are sins? They are simply transgressions against God, transgressions against truth, righteousness and justice. Unless they are corrected, then there would be no future for any of us. For God can have no relationship with anything that is less than perfect. If He did, then He would not be any better than any of our philosophies which make wide room for compromise, bias, prejudice, and in short everything that is evil. And evil has but one end - the total destruction of everything.

So, 'Hosanna,' is the shouting. 'Save now,' is the meaning, but not of salvation. This is a shouting of victory against oppression, or politics. It is a shouting that you would hear at the end of a sporting event when your underdog team has just beaten the heavily favored competitor. Everyone is wild and ecstatic with their shouting. 'Here is Jesus, our King. Take that you chief priests who over charge us for the temple merchandise. Take that you Romans who tax us to death. Yeah. Here He comes. The King.'

And so the shouting goes. The chief priests hear it. Hummm. Where is their warrant? They plot. They plan to get Jesus engaged in some form of debate in the Temple in the next few days. They are really at a loss as to just how they are going to get rid of Him - until Judas approaches them.

The apostles? They are just clueless. They have been used to the daily healing, the weekly miracles of eating fishes and bread. I exaggerate here of course. But we are told even in our current passage, they did not understand these events until long after the glorification of Christ. When did that occur? When He was seated at the right hand of the Father.

After the Cross, Christ arose of course, He had led a giant procession, a victory parade of all the Old Testament believers out of the Paradise (in the under world), into a new Paradise in heaven. There was a coronation ceremony in heaven wherein Christ was crowned formally and then seated at he right hand of the Father. That is the moment of His glorification. We can only imagine the grandness of that coronation ceremony that took place in heaven.

Meanwhile back here on earth, the apostles were told to ask for the Holy Spirit to help them hold on until the Feast of Pentecost - fifty days after Passover - which is the same fifty days after the Cross, but they didn't ask as they were told to ask.

Christ's first command after His coronation was to send the Holy Spirit back to mankind to begin, among other things, the building of the Royal family. Our Church Age was then begun.

Then and only then did the apostles begin, emphasis on 'begin' to understand and to remember all of these events. Meanwhile Zech. 9:9 prophesied the entrance, of the Messiah to Jerusalem, on the back of a poor mans animal. Not on the back of a kings thoroughbred stallion, but in the capacity of the servant and one destitute of everything mankind deems worthy.

The expectations of the crowd were that Jesus was going to take over and run things from now on. Not so. So the crowd will in general feel betrayed when 'their' expectations are not met, and they will just as quickly turn on Jesus, shouting 'crucify,' as they shouted, 'hosanna' for Him on this day of His entrance.

Ah, but you say, 'what about the next verse?' And Ah, but I say, 'We'll get to it tomorrow. What do you think it means?'

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