READINGS

1. Matthew 21:1-11

HOMILY

You'll notice something rather important about discussed, which is that Jesus is doing something very deliberate.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. ...

Actually, the Matthew Gospel says "donkey and a colt"; but it's probably a single donkey like in Mark and Luke.

Anyway, here we have two of them.

... Untie them and bring them to me. 

If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

“Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

In other words, Jesus is doing something quite deliberate.

He is enacting a Davidic prophesy, a prophecy concerning the promised son and heir of David, who would also be the Messiah-king, who also would be a Messiah-priest, a Melchizedek figure who would come into Jerusalem at the beginning of the tenth jubilee - that's the tenth period of forty-nine years since the establishment of the Temple.

Who would come in to perform the definitive sacrifice.

In other words, Jesus is doing something very deliberate: he's enacting a series of prophecies.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 

They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

That is to say, they were chanting Psalms, announcing the arrival of the Davidic Messiah.

This would be appropriate on the feast of Tabernacles, but it wasn't the Feast of Tabernacles at the time.

Or was it?

In fact, there were two calendars:

1. The old First Temple calendar, in which this week would have been the run-up to the feast of Atonement.

2. The new Second Temple calendar, in Tabernacles would be at another time of the year completely, so this was the wrong time of the year for Tabernacles.

This was the week leading to the feast of the Passover.

Very curious: Jesus is doing something very deliberate.

He actually brings together two feasts: the feast of Atonement and the Passover, which normally would not be on the same day.

Only very very occasionally the old day of the feast of Atonement and the new day of the feast of Passover would be on the same day.

And this isn't the Passover that Jesus is coming to Jerusalem for, as St John's Gospel makes it much more clearer.

So, these people are entering into a genuine excitement concerning the arrival of the promised Davidic King.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, 

Again, not surprising: this is a city whose income was organized around tourism, all those pilgrimages.

They knew exactly on what dates things happen, what and why, so that they would be ready for the appropriate pilgrimages.

They were naturally a little bit thrown by someone who got the wrong calendar.

So they say:

“Who is this?” 

The crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, the man from Nazareth in Galilee.” 

The reason I have chosen to preach to you today on this text rather than the whole of the Passion is because it brings about something that I will ask you to bear in mind as we go through the next few days: Jesus is doing something deliberately.

He knows what he is doing, he is coming for a particular purpose: he is enacting the prophecies concerning the offering of the definitive sacrifice of Davidic priestly, kingly figure, the Messiah.

Over the next few days, if you read the Gospels that follow, you will see that he spends time in the Temple trying to enable Temple authorities to understand who he is and what he is doing.

They are asking, they are authorities, and they are doing these things.

It's not much of them trying to catch him out as they wanted to be absolutely sure that he is what he says he is.

He is trying to make them understand who is from within their own frame of reference, so they don't have to stone him for blasphemy if they understand for themselves.

But, as we know, they are not going to.

They are going to be frightened. And Jesus will go to his death.

As we go through this week meditating on the Passion, following along, try to think of the heart of the man that accompanied this intention.

He was doing something for people for a particular purpose.

And it's that purpose, which has opened up for us, about which we are going to learn this week.