Jesus Christ - a most Holy Heretic

The triumphant entry into Jerusalem
We find our next episode of importance – Jesus' “triumphant entry” into Jerusalem – near the end
of the Gospel of Matthew's recounting of his ministry (see Matthew 21:1-11 – also Mark 11:1-11, Luke
19:28-44, & John 12:12-19) 44 . In this story, Jesus and his disciples – having left Jericho behind 45 – were
nearing the great city of Jerusalem when Jesus had them pause outside of Bethphage, a small town
located at the eastern base of the Mount of Olives. Shortly thereafter Jesus sent two of his disciples
into the town to procure a donkey and its young colt 46 and bring them back to him. The two disciples
did as they were told and brought back
the two animals, whereupon Jesus sat
upon them both and rode them to
Jerusalem. As he and his disciples (along
with those who had followed them from
Bethany – see John 12:17) went along, a
“large crowd” of people spread their
cloaks and “branches from the trees”
(probably palm fronds, see John 12:13) on
the ground before him while others
announced his arrival, shouting “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord!”
(Matthew 21:9 – see also Mark 11:9-10, Luke
19:37-38, & John 12:12-13). Such was the
spectacle that the city was “in turmoil” as
he entered, with many asking “Who is
this man?” and with many in the crowd
answering, “This is Jesus, the prophet
from Nazareth.” (see Matthew 21:10-11)
44 While this is indeed one of the rare facets of Jesus' ministry that is relayed by all four canonical Gospels, there are some
significant differences among the four accountings. Mark (in all likelihood the first Gospel written and thus in all
likelihood the Gospel most in alignment with what many call “the Word of God”) mentions “leafy branches from the
fields” – not the palm fronds mentioned indirectly by Matthew, directly by John, and not at all by Luke. In addition,
unlike the other three tellings, Mark makes no mention of Zechariah 9:9's “prophecy” related to the Messiah riding into
Jerusalem on a donkey. Also, unlike Matthew, the other three Gospels mention only a donkey being ridden, not a
donkey and a colt, and the Synoptic Gospels all have said donkey being retrieved by Jesus' disciples, not found and
“borrowed” by Jesus himself (as told in John). Finally, whereas Matthew has Jesus immediately heading into the
Temple after his “triumphal entry” (to raise a ruckus with the money-changers there), Mark has him retreating back to
Bethany (and spending the night there before returning to enter the Temple the next morning), Luke has him first
pausing to lament the imminent suffering that will come to Jerusalem's inhabitants, and John has Jesus first telling his
disciples about his imminent crucifixion and then hiding out from his would be attackers until the Last Supper.
45 Interestingly, this tale has Jesus and his cohorts traveling along the same road mentioned in his Parable of The Good
Samaritan (as shared in Luke 10:29-37).
46 While true to Matthew's telling of the tale, in all probability only one animal was retrieved (as is indeed the case in all
three of the other Gospel accounts). After all, it will forever remain unclear how anyone – even a divinely inspired
Messiah – could ever manage to ride both a donkey and a much smaller colt simultaneously. Of course, this conundrum
is explained easily enough as a probable mis-relaying of the Old Testament passage it intentionally recalls – that being
Zechariah 9:9, which prophetically tells of a king who would arrive “humbly, riding on a donkey; even on a colt, the
foal of a donkey.” This explanation gains even more credence when the reader realizes that the author of Matthew took
other liberties with Zechariah 9:9 as well – attaching a portion of Isaiah 62:11 as its new introduction (“Tell the daughter
of Zion”) and completely omitting the phrase “triumphant and victorious is he.”
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