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The Passion and the Resurrection · Matthew 21

The Triumphal Entry

Having reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two disciples to fetch a donkey tied up with her colt: “The Lord has need of them.” So the prophecy is fulfilled: “Behold, your King is coming to you, meek, and sitting on a donkey” (21:5; Zech 9:9). The disciples lay their cloaks on the animals. The crowd spreads their cloaks and branches from the trees on the road and shouts: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The whole city is stirred: “Who is this?” Jesus enters the temple, drives out those who buy and sell, and overturns the tables of the money changers: “My house shall be called a house of prayer. But you have made it a den of thieves.” He heals the blind and the lame, and children cheer for him, to the indignation of the chief priests and the scribes.

What happens

  1. Two disciples go to fetch a donkey and her colt Matthew 21:1–3
  2. The prophecy of the king “sitting on a donkey” is fulfilled Matthew 21:4–5
  3. The crowd carpets the road and shouts “Hosanna!” Matthew 21:8–9
  4. The whole city is stirred: “Who is this?” Matthew 21:10–11
  5. Jesus drives the merchants out of the temple Matthew 21:12–13
  6. He heals the blind and the lame, and the children cheer for him Matthew 21:14–16

Who is in this story

The lesson

Jesus comes as a gentle king, not as a conqueror. To truly welcome him is to let him cleanse our lives the way he cleansed the temple, and make them a house of prayer.

And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
Matthew 21:9

Quick quiz on this story

What does Jesus ride into Jerusalem?

What does the crowd that goes ahead of Jesus and follows him shout?

In the temple, Jesus accuses the merchants of making the house of prayer…

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