We’ve been studying the gospel of Matthew in our Sunday services off and on for the last couple of years and we’ve finally made it to the last week of Jesus’ life (Matt. 21-28). The event that initiates this final week is known as the triumphal entry. I’m not sure how or when it received that name, but it is the name that most Christians are familiar with. We also know it as Palm Sunday, and I think it would be difficult to find an event more laden with symbolism in the Scriptures. Let me explain.
We’re all familiar with the basic facts of the passage. Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem while the people wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna to the Son of David!” What does all of this symbolize? First, we know the reason why Jesus rode a donkey for the last mile or so (of his 100-mile journey from Galilee!) into Jerusalem was not due to him being tired. He rode the donkey into Jerusalem in order to fulfill Scripture (cf. Zechariah 9:9). Zechariah prophesied that Israel’s king would come to her riding on a donkey. The donkey points to the fact that Jesus is self-consciously identifying himself as the Messiah, the rightful heir to the Davidic throne.
There’s more to the donkey than just what Zechariah tells us though. The donkey is royally significant in at least two other places in the Scriptures (there is another connection with donkeys and the tribe of Judah’s role in ruling over the people in Genesis 49:8-12). When David’s heir was challenged by his sons in 1 Kings, we are told that David chose Solomon to be his heir. The instructions David gave to his key advisors included the instructions to have Solomon ride his mule to the place where he would be anointed (1 Kgs. 1:33, 38, 44). The fact that Solomon was riding David’s mule signified that he was the heir to the Davidic throne. Another earlier moment in David’s life was when his son Absalom tried to depose him as king. David was forced to flee Jerusalem and fled to the east, down the Kidron valley and up the Mount of Olives. When David reached the summit, a man approached him and gifted him donkeys laden with supplies (2 Sam. 16:1-4). So, the imagery of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey from the Mount of Olives, in the exact opposite direction that David fled, would have signified the return of the Davidic king. The king has returned to overthrow the usurpers and regain his throne.
Second, the cloaks and palm fronds the people laid before Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem symbolized their acknowledgement of his rightful authority over them and the ultimate victory he would win on their behalf. After the anointing of Jehu as king over Israel in 2 Kings 9:1-13, the people eagerly displayed their support for him by laying their garments before him and declaring that “Jehu is king” (v. 13). By laying their garments before him, the people were saying in essence that their lives are his to command, that he is the rightful authority over them. The use of palm fronds is most likely an allusion to the victories won by the Maccabean family against the invading Gentile nations in the 2nd century B.C. The Jews celebrated these victories with palm fronds and the people of Jesus’ day were probably carrying on the tradition.
Finally, Matthew tells us the massive crowd that accompanied Jesus into Jerusalem led him from the front and followed him from behind (Matt. 21:9). This is definitely a picture of a royal procession. Like a conquering king returning home after a successful military campaign, the people welcome him, surround him, proclaim his victory, and usher him into the city. This is what the triumphal entry symbolizes. Jesus has come home as the rightful Davidic heir, the long-awaited for Messiah. But there is much that has to take place before he assumes the throne.