Page 90 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

21:1-11 when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and it was, considered triumphant because he had done so
without bloodshed on the side of the people.

Secondly, in the ancient Biblical world, a leader rode on a horse if he was coming in war, but on a donkey to
signify peace.

Thirdly, Jesus used the donkey to connect with the common people. Life was also not easy for a Jew living
under Roman rule in the 1st century—more so for the poor. But Jesus embraced the poor and sick people
during his time here on earth. His choice of a donkey instead of a horse was God’s way of saying that he came
as a king who will serve and save the oppressed.

The crowd had heard Jesus was coming from Bethany. They gathered at the Mount of Olives to receive Him. He
was to travel down the Mount to the Kidron Valley, then up to the Temple Mount through the Eastern gate. The
people shouted a refrain from the Psalms, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
(Psalm 118:25-26).

This was the Passover, the most significant feast of the year. The population of Jerusalem swelled to between
100,000 and 125,000 people for this event. In fact, the Temple mount was so large (34 acres) that more than
100,000 pilgrims could occupy the court of the Gentiles on the mount all at one time.

The Gospel writers capture the full significance of Jesus’ climatic arrival in Jerusalem. Both Matthew and John
interpret the Triumphal Entry according to the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. He was greeted by the hailing of
countless thousands, and the response, John reports, like the raising of Lazarus before, aroused fears of a
popular uprising in the minds of the religious leaders who opposed Him.

The amazing thing to contemplate is that these same people in less than a week would be crying out for Jesus’
crucifixion.

Due to overcrowding in the city, perhaps, Jesus and the disciples stayed with a friend in Bethany just a 40-
minute walk to the east of Jerusalem.

16 His disciples did not understand these things at first. However, when Jesus was glorified, then they
remembered that these things had been written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
17 Meanwhile the crowd, which had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him
from the dead, continued to testify. This is also why the crowd met Him, because they heard He had done
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this sign. Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You’ve accomplished nothing. Look—the world
has gone after Him!” Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the festival. So
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they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
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22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus replied to them, “The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. “I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground
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and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.

Planting always involves risk. We release control of something we need in the hopes that it will come back to us
in multiplied measure. But once we let go of it, we forfeit any ability to use it for ourselves. Seeds you plant you
can no longer be consumed. Yet without the act of planting, there will never be a harvest. If you looked at every
one of your blessings as “kingdom seeds,” how many of them are you planting in the fields of God’s kingdom,
and how many are you keeping in storehouses to use as “food”?

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