How Triumphant was the Triumphal Entry?
Luke 18v35-44
Part 1
27th March 2026
This is Luke's account of the Triumphal Entry. Luke was the only one of the four Gospel writers who wrote for a Gentile audience. That's probably why he didn't mention palm leaves or the word "hosanna", which would have been more meaningful to a Jewish audience. He tells the story of how Jesus sent His disciples to borrow a colt for HIm to ride and then says:
Luke 19v35-38
... they brought it [a colt] to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put
Jesus on it.
As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the
whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the
miracles they had seen:
"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"
The people of Jerusalem had been taught the Old Testament. They knew from Daniel Chapter 9 that the Messiah would come to them around this time. They also knew:
Zechariah 9v9-13
Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a
donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and
from the River to the ends of the earth.
They were sure this was the day. The king had come, He would enter His capital city, and He would put everything right. We can only imagine their excitement. No wonder people spread their cloaks on the road. One of the greatest days in history was happening before their eyes. They wanted to be a part of it. They didn't know what else they could do, so they sacrificed their outer garments – their cloaks – in worship of the coming king. They wanted to acknowledge and celebrate Jesus. They wanted, for the rest of their lives, to be able to say, "I was there! I was there when King Jesus rode into Jerusalem. I laid down my cloak, and His donkey walked on it." They openly, delightedly, joyfully, identified themselves as Jesus’s disciples. The whole crowd shouted, "Jesus is King! Jesus comes in the name of the Lord, YHWH. God has visited His people! We’re saved! And God will get the glory!" What a day!
They celebrated all the miracles they’d seen Jesus perform. In the Old Testament, men such as Moses, Elijah and Elisha had performed miracles, but no-one had performed as many miracles as Jesus. He was, of course, the ultimate man of God. He healed the sick, cured lepers, made the lame walk and the blind see. He cast out demons. He raised the dead.
The timing according to Daniel, the fulfilment of Zechariah 9, and the miracles, all confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah they’d been waiting for. He could do anything! He helped the poor and the outcasts. Surely He would set the people free.
But they didn’t understand Jesus’s mission.
They thought He’d come to lead the Jews to victory over the occupying Roman army. As well as knowing their Old Testament, they also knew their history. The remembered the stories of the Maccabean rebellion against the Seleucid kings of Syria from 167 to 160 BC. They remembered that the Maccabees were successful in expelling the Syrian occupiers and restoring Jewish political independence. They thought Jesus would do the same thing, that He would bring peace to Judea through conquest, not through sacrifice. They’d misinterpreted the prophecies about Him.
I think we can see that it would be easy for them to imagine Jesus as a revolutionary warrior, leading an army of Zealots to victory over the Roman legions, and establishing a new Jewish empire comparable to the one David ruled 1,000 years before. At that time, the Roman empire was called the Pax Romana – a peace imposed by Rome, who ruled the Mediterranean. I think the Jews could have interpreted Zechariah 9 to mean that there would be a Pax Judean, imposed peace under a Jewish king – Jesus.
But they’d misunderstood why Jesus had come.
Let’s pause our narrative at this point. We know, with the benefit of hindsight, that Jesus didn’t come to be a military leader. He’s the Prince of Peace. We know that He said that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18v36). We can see that the Jews of Jesus's time had misinterpreted the scriptures, taking them to mean what they wanted them to mean. They wanted the Romans thrown out of Judea. They wanted military victory. So they interpreted the scriptures to say what they wanted them to say, that Jesus would be their military leader.
The people of Jerusalem were celebrating an impending military victory they would never have. They we celebrating an imaginary Jesus, not the real one. The day was triumphal, but they would never see the military triumph they'd imagined. Soon, they would reject Jesus and have Him killed.
So here’s a question for us. Have we interpreted, or misinterpreted, the Bible to mean what we want it to mean? Do we hold any cherished beliefs that we demand that the Bible confirm, and not contradict. We’re Christian enough, I hope, to agree that if the BibIe says something we don’t like, we will change our minds – repent – in order to agree with the Bible, because the Bible is the perfect, eternal word of God. Have we the courage to examine our beliefs in the light of what the Bible actually says?
Here’s another question for us, a still more important one. The Jews in Jesus's time misinterpreted the scriptures in such a way as to make Jesus the person they wanted Him to be. Do we do the same? Here's one example: Do we imagine God to be the great vending machine in the sky? Do we think of Him as the One who will supply not only our needs for life and godliness, but our every desire? Do we think God wants every one of us to be wealthy? Jesus wasn't. Paul wasn't. Most of the early disciples weren't. God will sometimes make a Christian wealthy, but not often. He does so because He has a special purpose for each one of us. But His purpose for most Christians is to live a humble life and to depend of God for everything. Do we think God wants every one of us to be healthy? Paul wasn't. Timothy wasn't. I expect many in the early church weren't. God will heal some Christians, but not all of us, and not always as soon as we ask.
If you’re a socialist, or a conservative, or a liberal, or a feminist, or a congregationalist, or a presbyterian, or a vegan, or a vegetarian, or a meat eater, or a charismatic or a cessationist, if you believe mass immigration is a good thing or a bad thing, do you interpret the Bible to make it say that what you believe is right? Or do you ignore the Bible because what it says doesn’t fit into your existing world view? I'm not saying all the ideas I've mentioned are bad. I think some of them are good. I'm trying to say that we must derive our world view from the Bible, not impose our world view on the Bible. Military leaders are not bad in themselves, but Jesus wasn't one.
Is your idea of Jesus consistent with the Biblical Jesus? Or have you invented it for yourself, or derived it from what others have told you? Let us worship the true God, not a false image of Him.
We'll continue with the story next week.