The garments went from glorifying him to being stripped from him, and humiliating him. Each reflected the crowd’s devotion to Jesus, and Jesus accepted them and used them to symbolize his own devotion to his mission.īut the people later changed their hearts, and the branches went from praising Jesus to being used to beat and abuse him by soldiers. Only John tells us that Jesus was specifically honored with palm branches.Įither way, the use of garments or branches were traditional customs to show reverence to a beloved leader. Matthew and Mark do not mention garments but only speak about branches, without specifying which kind. Interestingly, Luke doesn’t mention anything about branches or palms. King Jehu, one of the great religious reformers of ancient Israel, was greeted in a similar way. In the Lord’s procession, Luke tells us that the people threw down their garments. Even as the crowds went wild over Jesus’s entry, the Lord literally rode in on humility.Īs the crowds would later turn on him, switching from “Hosanna” to “Crucify him,” the Lord’s humility was consistent through both moments. Either way, the imagery of a colt was to symbolize lowliness. Incidentally, Matthew tells us that Jesus actually had both an adult donkey and a colt, since he wanted to show Jesus was also fulfilling a similar prophecy from Isaiah. The use of a colt would have brought to mind to many people in the Holy City the historical memory of the great King Solomon, who rode a colt to his regal anointing, as well as an ancient prophecy of Zachariah (some time after Solomon) about a future king who would enter the Holy City in such a way.
Of course, Luke tells us about Jesus entering Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey, as do Mark and John.
0 kommentar(er)
