John 12:12-16

On the next day much people … when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of the palm trees

The triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem

In the morning Jesus set forth on His journey.

Three pathways lead, and probably always led, from Bethany to Jerusalem; one a long circuit over the northern shoulder of Mount Olivet; another a steep foot path over the summit; the third, the natural continuation of the road, by which the mounted travellers always approach the city from Jericho over the southern shoulder. There can be no doubt that this last was Christ’s road. Two vast streams of people met on that day. The one poured out from the city; and as they came through the gardens, whose clusters of palm trees rose on the southern corner of Olivet, they cut down the long branches, as was their wont at the Feast of Tabernacles, and moved upwards towards Bethany, with loud shouts of welcome. From Bethany streamed forth the crowds who had assembled there on the previous evening, and who came testifying to the great event at the sepulchre of Lazarus. The road soon loses sight of Bethany. It is now a rough, but still broad and well-defined mountain track, winding over rock and loose stones; a steep declivity below on the left; the sloping shoulder of Olivet above on the right; fig trees below and above, here and there growing out of the rocky soil. Along the road the multitudes threw down the boughs severed from the olive trees, through which they were forcing their way, or spread out a rude matting formed of the palm branches which they had already cut as they came out. The larger portion--those, perhaps, who had escorted Him from Bethany--unwrappedtheir loose cloaks from their shoulders, and stretched them along the rough paths to form a momentary carpet as He approached. The two streams met mid-way. Half of the vast mass, turning round, preceded; the other half followed (Mark 11:9). Bethany is hardly left in the rear, before the long procession must have swept up and over the ridge, where first begins “the descent of the mount towards Jerusalem.” At this point the first view is caught of the southeastern corner of the city. It was here (Luke 19:37)--may it not have been from the sight thus opening upon them?--thatthe hymn of triumph, the first hymn of Christian devotion, burst from the multitude--“Hosannah,” etc. There was a pause as the shout rang through the long defile; and as the Pharisees who stood by in the crowd Luke 19:39) complained, He pointed to the stones which, strewn beneath their feet, would immediately cry out if these were to hold their peace. Again the procession advanced. The road descends a slight declivity, and the glimpse of the city is again withdrawn behind the intervening ridge of Olivet. A few moments, and the path mounts again; it climbs a rugged ascent, it reaches a ledge of smooth rock, and in an instant the whole city bursts into view. It is hardly possible to doubt that this rise and turn of the road was the exact point where the multitude paused again, and “He, when He beheld the city, wept over it.” (Dean Stanley.)

The entrance into Jerusalem

Four heads of thought

I. THE MULTITUDE. This a vast concourse of people who are accompanying Jesus from Bethany to Jerusalem, and of people coming out of Jerusalem to meet Him. It was composed of Galileans, of Jews from foreign countries, and even of Jerusalem (John 12:11), these latter being led by the miracle of the raising of Lazarus to reconsider the claims of Jesus, and to believe on Him, at least temporarily. The enthusiasm offers a sad contrast to the furious cry. “Crucify Him,” so soon to be heard; but it seems sincere enough. With palm branches, symbols of triumph Leviticus 23:40), and with loud acclamations, they welcome the King to the royal city. In John 12:13 we have the Divine mission and the national work both recognized.

II. JESUS HIMSELF. Hitherto He had resisted the enthusiasm of the people John 6:15); now the time to yield to it has come. He sees the yielding to be in accordance with the Father’s will. It is not a move calculated upon, but unfolding itself out of, the course of events. He does not say, “Now I will fulfil the prophecies which concern Me”; but simply accepts the situation, recognizing (as He always did) Divine guidance. Two things have to be done:

1. He has to assert Himself; He has openly to announce His true relation to the theocracy, and to take the consequences of doing so, which He clearly foresees.

2. He has to assert Himself in such a way as to give no countenance to mistaken Messianic ideas; but rather to symbolize the spiritual character of His royalty. This is accomplished by riding on an ass, and thus, in the most simple and natural way, the ancient prophecy is fulfilled (Zechariah 9:9).

III. THE DISCIPLES. They had joined with the people in their homage to Jesus; but even they did not understand the significance of their actions. They had submitted to the influences of the moment; and afterwards, looking back, discovered that they had been unconscious instruments of fulfilling the purpose of God concerning His Son (cf. Acts 13:27)

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IV. THE OPPONENTS OF CHRIST. For the moment they seem paralyzed. “They had lost what they looked upon as their own. But it was their own after all; and it came back to them. The world at large does not and will not accept Christ. It swings back to its centre. Conclusion: We may learn how to distinguish between emotion and principle” between a momentary enthusiasm and the complete surrender of heart and will to the Saviour. (G. Calthrop, M. A.)

Jesus coming

I. TO CONFOUND HIS FOES.

II. TO CONSOLE HIS FRIENDS.

III. TO COMPLETE HIS WORK.

The coming of Jesus

I. AS A MAN AMONG MEN.

II. AS A POWER AMONG SAINTS.

III. AS A KING AMONG NATIONS. (S. S. Times.)

The King comes to His capital

I. THE KING’S PERSON. Jesus

1. Recently condemned by the Sanhedrim.

2. Who had tacitly claimed to be Zion’s King.

3. Who had repeatedly proved His right to this dignity, and lately established it by the miracle at Bethany.

4. Who now asserted it in the most open and unambiguous manner by riding in royal state into His capital.

II. THE KING’S CREDENTIALS

1. Consisted in the fact that He was coming to His metropolis in the name of the Lord. He was no usurper, but One to whom the throne belonged by

Divine appointment. The crown pertained to Him in a more real sense than to any of Israel’s kings.

2. Were displayed in the manner of His coming. He came exactly as predicted. Had He come as kings of the earth are wont to approach their capitals--as Solomon and His successors--on fiery chargers, there would have been required no further demonstration that He was not God’s Messiah. He came in humility and righteousness--indisputable tokens of His claim.

III. THE KING’S WELCOME.

1. The multitudes--accompanying, meeting.

2. Their homage--waving palms and strewing garments in the way.

3. Their acclaim--Hosannah.

IV. THE KING’S ATTENDANTS. The disciples.

1. Ignorant at the time of its significance; perhaps imagining the present realization of their earthly hopes.

2. Afterwards alive to its spiritual and eternal meaning.

IV. THE KING’S ENEMIES. The Pharisees. The spectacle seemed for a moment to confound their plots. It filled them with indignation, urged them to recrimination, made them more determined. Caiaphas’ prophecy appeared on the eve of coming true. The nation was slipping from their hands. Lessons:

1. The religious instincts of the multitudes.

2. The credibility of ancient Scripture;

3. The illumination Christ’s glorification has cast on history.

4. The certainty that the world will ultimately be won by Christ. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Welcoming the Monarch’s approach

Going out to meet an approaching guest, and escorting him to one’s house with a show of honour, is a common custom throughout the East. A ruler of any sort, or a conquering hero, is welcomed in that way as a matter of course. Thus it was that Abraham was welcomed by the kings of Canaan when he returned from his pursuit of Chedorlaomer; that Jephthah was welcomed by his daughter and her companions; that David was welcomed by singing and dancing women, out of all the cities of Israel, as he came back from the slaughter of the Philistines. Herodotus records that when Xerxes was passing over the bridge of the Hellespont, the way before him was strewed with branches of myrtle, while burning perfumes filled the air. Quintius Curtius tells of the scattering of flowers in the way before Alexander the Great when he entered Babylon. Mentor, in our own day, saw the way of a Persian ruler strewn with roses for three miles; while glass vessels filled with sugar were broken under his horse’s feet--the sugar being symbolical of prosperity. (S. S. Times.)

Two royal progresses

The immense host which accompanied Xerxes in his attempted conquest of Greece--a concourse gathered together from the Indies to the Lybian desert; a sea of nations rolling on in serried waves, with turbans and helmets of brass and steel, of silver and gold--were seven days and seven nights without intermission, and under the stimulus of the lash, in crossing the boat bridges of the Hellespont; and as they took up their line of march, they all moved on with exultation, and strewed branches in the pathway of their king. But what a contrast in spirit, in purpose, and in result, between that occasion and this! There, a vast army, held together by the bands of military force, and moving in abject submission; here, a spontaneous multitude, kindling with the impulses of wonder and of love. That, marching to the work of terror and of desolation; this, celebrating the achievements of a healing and restoring goodness. Here, among a rejoicing people, with eyes that had been blind, turned toward Him in beaming gratitude; with tongues that had been dumb, crying hosannas to His name; with hands that once were impotent, strewing branches and garments in His path, comes the King of Israel, the Saviour of mankind, in humble raiment and wayworn sandals, riding upon an ass. (E. H. Chapin, D. D.)

Three classes in relation to Christ

Two things strike us at the outset.

1. The highest majesty under the garb of meanness. Christ as a mere man was great. But how does this “Prince of the kings of the earth” enter Jerusalem? In a triumphal chariot? On a prancing steed, accompanied by a magnificent cavalcade? No! On an ass. The more truly kingly a man is, the less he cares for conventional pageantry. Hearts of oak requires neither veneer nor varnish. A great age has never been an age of millinery and gold rings. “Howe’er it be, it seems to me,” etc.

2. An eternal idea developed in an apparently incidental appearance. It seemed perfectly casual that Christ should have required a creature to ride upon, and that there should be such a creature at hand; but all this was but the carrying out of an eternal plan, indicated six hundred years before. Caprice and impulse had no part in the control of Christ’s life. The life of virtue is never that of accident; it is always the unfoldment of an eternal idea. We have here

I. THE POPULACE, a type of the unsophisticated masses unbiassed by doctrinal and ecclesiastical prejudices. These men

1. Saw Divine royalty under the garb of secular meanness. Men in our age and land are so blinded by pride and prejudice that they can discover no moral greatness under the garb of poverty.

2. Because enraptured with the morally great for its own sake. Conscience is bound by the law of its own constitution to exult in the right and morally great. “I delight in the law of God after the inner man.”

3. Felt the reality of Christ’s miracle. The sophisticated and prejudiced tried to argue it away, and refused to believe it. But the common people saw it, and had no interest in denying it. Thus the “people” went with Christ and honoured Him; and this they will always do if Christ is presented to them as He really is, not as metamorphosed by churches and creeds.

II. THE DISCIPLES.

1. They were partially informed (John 12:16). They knew nothing of what Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9) uttered in relation to Christ. Though they had been with Christ so long, and heard Him expound the Scriptures, they were yet very ignorant.

2. They were enlightened by history. After Christ had ascended, and the Spirit come down, a new light dawned upon them. The facts of His life were brought vividly to their minds, and were compared with their older Scriptures, when they saw the fulfilment, of ancient predictions. History is the best interpreter of prophecy.

III. THE PHARISEES (verse19). These men were

1. Bound to acknowledge the failure of their efforts. “Ye prevail nothing.” All the antagonists of Christianity will have to acknowledge this sooner or later.

2. Bound to acknowledge a most disagreeable fact. “The world is gone after Him.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)