We are now in the final week of Jesus’s mission. After all of the miracles, healing and sermons he is now heading towards the end. The end of his ministry and the purpose of his coming is to suffer and die for us. Jesus goes specifically back to Jerusalem to fulfill his mission. Even though he has been to Jerusalem before this time it is quite different. This time Jesus prepares a particular ride, and there are crowds cheering for him. He is coming as king!
Our passage shows why Jesus prepares a donkey and a colt for his ride. He is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecy. But there is a reason why the Old Testament prophecy talks about a donkey. It shows what kind of King the Messiah will be. The donkey represents peace. Many kings ride great horses to show off their power, but a king riding on a donkey is showing his peace. Jesus didn’t come to rage war, but to bring peace. It sounds great all great for the people, and they are excited. The people are spreading their coats and waving branches and chanting, “Hosannah.” Do they understand what this means?
Instead of Jesus coming to rage war against sin and evil, he became the barer of sin and evil. If he was to rage war, we would all die since we are sinful and evil. It will be a righteous thing to do, but it is not good news to us. The people are calling out “Hosannah” which means “save us.” The crowd are asking Jesus to save them. That is exactly what Jesus came to do, and will be doing. Saving us. These people who cheer “save us” for Jesus on Sunday will be crying out “crucify him” on Friday. They are evil. We are evil. However, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. When God created us, it was good. Very good. Now Jesus is coming to set everything right again.
Jesus is coming back to Jerusalem to tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. He is coming back to Jerusalem to die, because he will be the final and ultimate sacrifice. We now start Passion week, and we will see how passionate, in all sense of the word, Jesus is for us.