Jesus is Always in Control of the Narrative

The narrative about the event of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey to fulfill prophecy was controlled by none other than Jesus Christ himself. He was the one who orchestrated all of this. Why did he? And was it to only fulfill prophecy?

While prophecy fulfillment is an important reason, I think there are additional important reasons as well. He was forcing the Jewish leaders to a final decision. Jesus had tried to get the Jewish leaders to understand that his miracles were evidence of him being their Messiah, just as Isaiah prophesied: “Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert” (Is 35:5-6).

Isaiah spoke of a future time when sickness would be no more, and people would live a long time. Jesus’ miracles confirmed that he could cure the sick and keep people form dying. The Jewish leaders had to decide if they were going to overcome their pride and accept Jesus for who he claimed to be.

Jesus wasn’t against the Jewish leaders, even though he spoke harshly to them. He just wanted them to be who they claimed to be. After all he told the people, “So you must be careful to do everything they [i.e., teachers of the Law and the Pharisees] tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach” (Mt 23:3).

Jesus now enacted a prophecy all Jews, and especially the Jewish leaders, would be extremely familiar with. The question was, were they now going to accept Jesus as the fulfillment of that prophecy as the people were currently doing?

As mentioned previously, Jesus likely entered the Sheep Gate with many of the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover with their lambs as he was presenting himself as the paschal lamb they had been waiting for since the time of Moses. This was the 10th of Nisan, the time that lambs for Passover were set aside and evaluated before offered and verified fit for Passover sacrifice (Ex 12:3-7).

The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to stop the people from praising him for two important reasons, or at least important to these Jewish leaders: (1) This Hallel psalm the crowd was quoting from was about the Messiah, which they did not believe Jesus to be, and (2) This Hallel psalm was the one they quoted when they took the paschal lamb to the temple for sacrifice; so, according to them, this was not the right time for the psalm to be quoted. They, as always, looked at the prophecy without considering how and when it would be fulfilled.

Both of these reasons indicated Jesus was the Messiah and the people’s national paschal lamb. The Jewish leaders asked Jesus to stop the people from quoting from this Hallel psalm, but Jesus replied that if they stopped, the very stones would take up their cry. Jesus being the Messiah was not just for the people but for the Earth as well. Paul tells us in Romans, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Ro 8:22). The Earth itself is also waiting for the reign of the King of kings.

There is another important reason Jesus rode into Jerusalem. He was also fulfilling Zechariah’s prophecy. We’ll get into that reason next time. I hope you join me.

____________

Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens