Mateus 21

The triumphal entry—Sunday, 03/31/30AD

1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, opposite the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them: "Go into the village opposite you and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose her and bring them to me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them." 4 Now all this happened so that what was spoken through the prophet should be fulfilled, namely:

5 "Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Look, your King is coming to you,

humble and mounted on a donkey,

in fact, a young donkey,

foal of a beast of burden.’ "*The quote is from Zechariah 9:9. Unfortunately the KJV (corrected by the NKJV) mistranslates both the Hebrew and the Greek, making it appear that Jesus rode both animals, which was not the case; He rode only the colt. For a more complete discussion, please see the Appendix: How many animals?

6 So going and doing just as Jesus had commanded them, 7 the disciples brought the female donkey and the young donkey. And they placed their clothes on them and He sat down on them [the clothes].*It must have been a curious sight—no one had ever seen anything like it. Mark 11:2 and Luke 19:30 make clear that no one had ever ridden the colt. It was so young it was still staying close to ‘mother’, so if she was tied he was too. Jesus was going to expose the colt to a frightening experience—be ridden for the first time, by a stranger, someone perhaps heavier than the colt, and in the middle of a noisy crowd! So He has them bring the mother along as moral support. The disciples put clothes on both animals (the clothes would be very strange to the young donkey, but seeing his mother take it patiently would help his peace of mind), but Jesus rode only the colt—maybe He had to lift His feet so they didn’t drag! It was probably comical, a strange way for a King to present Himself. 8 And the very large crowd spread their clothes on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. 9 Then the crowds who went in front and those who followed kept crying out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!*See Psalm 118:26.

Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

10 So when He came into Jerusalem the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"*Really and truly: can’t you just see the hubbub! The crowd with Jesus was not from Jerusalem (John 12:12), so the locals were taken by surprise. 11 And the crowds kept saying, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Natsareth of Galilee."*Mark and Luke have the correct sequence of events for that Sunday, Monday and Tuesday—Matthew rearranges the material for stylistic reasons (presumably). For the correct sequence of events, read Matthew 21:1-11, 18-19, 12-17, 20-22, 23-46. Chapters 22-26 are in sequence.