Jesus' Final Visit to JerusalemIsampula

Jesus’ Triumphal Entry

After telling this story,1 Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early to go through the purification ceremony before Passover began. They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood in the Temple, they said to one another, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?” Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.

Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem. They came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany—the home of Lazarus, the man he had raised from the dead—on the Mount of Olives, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

When the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many had deserted them and believed in Jesus.

The next day, the news that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem swept through the city. Jesus sent two disciples on ahead. “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it that no one has ever ridden. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’ And he will immediately let you take them.”

So the two disciples did as Jesus commanded. They left and found the colt standing in the street, tied outside the front door, just as Jesus had said. And sure enough, as they were untying it, some bystanders—the owners—asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”

And the disciples said what Jesus had told them to say: “The Lord needs it.” And they were permitted to take it. Then they brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over the colt for him to ride on, and he sat on it.

This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said:

“Tell the people of Jerusalem,2

‘Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem.

Look, your King is coming to you.

He is humble, riding on a donkey—

riding on a donkey’s colt.’”3

His disciples didn’t understand at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. But after Jesus entered his glory, they remembered what had happened and realized that these things had been written about him.

As he rode along, most of the large crowd of Passover visitors spread out their garments on the road ahead of him; and others took leafy palm branches they had cut from the trees in the fields, spread them on the road, and went down the road to meet him. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and when he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers, the people all around him, began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen:

“Praise God for the Son of David!

Blessings on the one who comes in the name of

the Lord!

Hail to the King of Israel!

Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!

Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!

Praise God in highest heaven!” 4

Many in the crowd had seen Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb, raising him from the dead, and they were telling others about it. That was the reason so many went out to meet him— they had heard about this miraculous sign.

But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!” He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”

Then the Pharisees said to each other, “There’s nothing we can do. Look, everyone has gone after him!”

But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. “How I wish today that you, of all people, would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long, your enemies will build ramparts against your walls, encircle you, and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Footnotes:

1 Referencing the parable of the ten servants Jesus previously told (Luke 19:11-27) as he neared Jerusalem.

2 Isa 62:11.

3 Zech 9:9.

4 Pss 118:25-26; 148:1; Zeph 3:15.