Matthew 21a

 Jesus declared in Chapter 16 that it was a divine necessity that he go to Jerusalem; the word is ‘must go’ and it is an expression of the Holy Spirit leading Jesus in the mission of God. That the mission is accomplished by ‘great suffering’ and death is an idea yet beyond the disciples. Do we disciples still struggle to understand that to be a follower of Jesus is to walk this path as he did? In 16:21 Matthew said:

 “From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day raised again.”

 Now, five chapters later, Jesus and the disciples have arrived at a village on the Mount of Olives looking across the Kidron valley and up to the temple mount in the city itself. The village is Bethphage, a name (beit pagga) that means ‘House of Not-yet-ripe Figs’. That this village is situated on the Mount of Olives points to the agricultural nature of the Judean economy; figs and olives.

21: 1-3.  When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.”

 Bethany was nearby. That was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (John 11) and a likely place to rent a donkey. However, we cannot be certain which ‘village ahead of you’ is indicated. Jesus seems to have a special knowledge of what the disciples will find on entering the village. Perhaps the owner is a Jesus follower who would know they meant by ‘Lord’. At any rate, a female donkey and her offspring are led away. Note: young donkeys are often trained by apprenticing with their mothers or other elder donkeys.

21: 4-5.  This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:

“Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

 This is the first of several side comments in this chapter. They may originate with Matthew, but it is also likely that Jesus explained these things to the disciples as they went along. Perhaps Matthew is now remembering how Jesus framed his arrival and ministry in Jerusalem.

 Which prophet? Zechariah. This prophet preached in the 500s and was probably both a priest and a prophet for the Returnees from Exile. As such, drawing on themes from Isaiah and Jeremiah, he has visions of the restoration of Judah and, in particular, the rebuilding of the temple. That is why he bursts out with an announcement. Here is the quote with more context.

Zechariah 9: 9-12.  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” 

 As I have said before, oftentimes a short quote is an invitation to go back and read more of the whole passage. That is certainly true here, and we will expand this line of reasoning after the second quotation (verse 9 below). At this point, notice the contrast in the fuller passage above between the idea of a warrior king who will lead Israel to throw off their oppressors and defeat their enemies, and the opposite idea that this is a different kind of king, a humble peaceful king. 

 This contrast can be seen in the juxtaposition of “triumphant and victorious” with “humble and riding on a donkey.” As we examine the next part of the passage, we see that this is not a king who fights earthly wars to conquer other people. In fact, this is a king who demilitarizes Israel: no war horse and no battle bow. Instead, this king “shall command peace to the nations.” 

 Notice the contrast between Judah and Jerusalem on the one hand, and “the nations,” on the other. This latter is a translation of ta ethne as the Greek Septuagint has it, and means ‘the ethnic groups’ or ‘the Gentiles’. This is a king of peace who depends on a redeeming God who is active in setting prisoners free. Also, God’s activity with Israel has the larger goal of bringing blessings (see God’s word to Abraham, Genesis 12: 2) and salvation to the nations. Israel has not done that yet, and Jesus makes that charge again later in this chapter. 

 Finally, let me defuse a possible misunderstanding right away. When the prophets preach, they often speak in poetic form. We have learned that Hebrew poetry is marked by ‘parallelism’, that is, by repeating an idea in slightly different phrases. For example, “Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my sighing” (Psalm 5: 1). 

What we have here in this quote from Zechariah is such a parallelism. Tasker suggests that a better translation would solve  the problem of Jesus seeming to ride on two animals at once: “on an ass, even on the foal of a beast of burden” (R. V. G. Tasker, 1961, The Gospel According to Matthew, page 198).

21: 6-9:  The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

 Do you notice a pattern that is emerging in Matthew’s presentation in this new Jerusalem section? Matthew describes a scene, then we learn that this happened in order to fulfill a prophetic word. We have examples in verse 5 and 9 already, and will have others in verses 13 and 16.

 The disciples put their cloaks on the donkey, and Jesus sat on them (he sat on the cloaks, not on both animals). The behavior of the disciples and the crowd is symbolic of something, but it is not something that we recognize easily. First, this scene is reminiscent of the story about Jehu being anointed by the prophet Elisha to be king. As his anointing was announced, “hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spared them for him on the steps; and they blew trumpets and proclaimed, ‘Jehu is king’” (II Kings 9: 13). 

 But, there is more because Jesus is not a king in the mold of Jehu. A more extended reference is to the event that occurred as David drew near his death and the succession was in question. This is, after all, a celebration of “the Son of David” who “comes in the name of the Lord!.” Jehu was not a son of David. Who is a son of David?  

 As David's life was coming to an end, one of his many sons tried to take the throne as his successor. Previously, David’s son Absolom had tried a coup, but that failed and ended in his death (II Samuel 15-18). Now the next oldest son, Adonijah, schemes to get a jump on his brothers, including Solomon. For his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, Adonijah “prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him,” then on the way he “sacrificed oxen, fatted cattle, and sheep in abundance” (I Kings 1: 5, 19). Does that sound like what Jesus is preparing? 

 When David heard about Adonijah’s bold attempt to take the throne, he quickly confirmed Solomon instead as his chosen successor. He ordered his advisors to “take with you the servants of your lord, and have my son Solomon ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon (a spring in the Kidron Valley). There let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him king over Israel; then blow the trumpet, and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’” (I Kings 32-37). 

 It is in this tradition of Solomon, the humble and wise Son of David, that Jesus enters Jerusalem as a different kind of king who will make Jerusalem a city of peace and salvation for all the nations. He will not fight a war as we know it. Three times the text emphasizes that Solomon was riding his father’s mule (I Kings 1: 33, 38, 44), in contrast to Adonijah’s attempt to enter Jerusalem riding on a war horse in a military parade. By contrast, a mule, which is in the same class as a donkey as a beast of burden, is a humble ride. 

 This king is bringing peace and salvation, thus the crowd shouts “Hosanna,” which means ‘Save us, please!’ By the time of Jesus, the phrase is becoming a statement of support for the person in question.  

21: 10-11.  When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

 This also follows the model because when Solomon entered the city, Adonijah and his followers heard the great shouts and trumpet blasts, and they asked, “Why is the city in an uproar?” (I Kings 1: 41-42). Then, Adonijah learned that his brother Solomon had entered the city as the God-ordained king of peace. Of course, his name is from the word ‘shalom’ which means ‘peace’. However, it seems that the crowds who witnessed Jesus’ entry have not learned this lesson yet.

 Instead, the crowd says that “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” Later it will become clearer, in an ironic manner, that Jesus is “the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27: 37). 

21: 12-13.  Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”

 What’s the problem? Matthew does not explain much to us, so we are not sure what Jesus is angry about. Of course, we live 2000 years later and in another country halfway around the world. Why would we understand? 

The problem is that the Temple ceremonies and sacrifices had become a means of making a profit to support the priests and elders who ran the Temple. In the Gospel according to Luke, Jesus says of the scribes that “they devour widows’ houses” (Luke 20: 46), yet they like to appear pious. In fact, they got a cut of the profit from exchanging secular money for Temple shekels (which they required), from the exorbitant prices for animals required for sacrifice (for which they had a captive market), and from the regular tithes and offerings. The authorities were not offering a service to worshippers, they were taking advantage of desperate people. Who wants to herd a sheep up the mountain and through the crowd to the temple only to have it declared unacceptable?

 Jesus saw barriers to worship everywhere. That is contrary to Isaiah 55 which begins with “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” With this kind of invitation, Isaiah expected the successors to the House of David to “call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you” (Isaiah 55: 5). 

 Yet, there were barriers to foreigners and eunuchs and the disabled. That is why Isaiah goes on to say, “these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56: 7).  

 The second half of the quote comes from Jeremiah 7: 11 where God pronounces this judgment about how worship rituals have been twisted, “but you are making it a den of robbers.”  

 We will pick up right here next week because there is more to this story, much more.