John 12:12–19 (ESV)
The Triumphal Entry
12 The next day the large crowd
that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” 14 And Jesus
found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion;
behold, your king is coming,
sitting on
a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him. 17 The crowd that had been with
him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness. 18 The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are
gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
We are moving into Holy Week readings right after Easter (3 weeks ago). Jesus makes his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. He enters as a humble king, and in a week will die
on the cross with a sign above his head reading “King of the Jews”. How quickly the people turn on him. Almost prophetic or divinely inspired... I watched Rocky IV on TV where Rocky fights Ivan Drago (Russian played by Dolph Lundgren).
Great movie where Rocky fights in Russia and everyone is yelling for Ivan (their countryman). By the end of the fight, they are yelling “Rocky” after they see his heart in this fight. People change. Rocky talks about the change...
that people change... and gets a standing ovation. Very moving seen. Today we read of a King entering a city... soon we will be reading about a King nailed to a cross. It will take us more than a week to get there though. But we are
entering the final week... Holy Week... where Jesus will end up on the cross.
I pray: O Lord, you are my Prophet, Priest, and King. Your Kingdom is not of this Earth, you are the King of Heaven. I can’t wait to join you
in heaven, but until then... help me to keep my eyes focused on you. Amen.