August 30, 2024 - Matthew 21-23

The entry into Jerusalem:  “Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, to the Mount of Olives . . .” (21:1).  Paul and I, in 1999, stood there in Bethpage and on the Mount of Olives.  Standing among the olive trees, you can look out over the city of Jerusalem and its gates.  Pretty cool.  But what was about to happen was not cool.  Well, on the one hand, it was not at all cool; on the other, though soon to suffer terribly and to die, Jesus, out of the anguish of his soul, has made many righteous and has borne our sins (Isaiah 53:11).

So, the people welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem.  They spread their cloaks before him and put branches on the road as he made his way.  They cried out praises to him.  But they did not understand.  They thought a great king was before them.  And he was, but not in the way that they imagined.

It’s interesting that Jesus, upon entering Jerusalem, did not go immediately to his death.  We talk about “the passion week,” i.e., his week of anguish.  And it must have been that.  But he did a lot before being brought before Pilate, etc.  He taught.  In fact, he got in an amazing amount of teaching there in the great city:  the cursing of the fig tree and his teaching on prayer, the parables of the two sons and the tenants and the wedding feast, his responses and teaching related to the questions of the Herodians and Sadducees and Pharisees (on paying taxes, on the resurrection, and on the keeping of the law).  His work was not yet done.  Soon, but not just yet.  And what a wonderful work it was.  As the prophet Isaiah asked, “Who hath believed our report?” (Isaiah 53:1, KJV)

Hark, the glad sound! The Savior comes,

the Savior promised long!

Let every heart prepare a throne,

and every voice a song.

He comes the pris’ners to release,

in Satan’s bondage held;

the gates of brass before Him burst,

the iron fetters yield.

He comes the broken heart to bind,

the bleeding soul to cure,

and with the riches of His grace,

to enrich the humbled poor.   -- Philip Doddridge (1735)