Conversation Points for Luke 19:28-40

Study Format:
1. Read passage aloud. What did you notice in the reading? What words or phrase caught your attention?
2. Read passage aloud a second time. What questions would you ask the text?
3. Read passage aloud a third time. What do you hear God calling you to do or be in response to this text?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• Entrance processions were common practice in the first century. Numerous kings and conquering generals had paraded through Jerusalem over the years. Paul Brooks Duff summarizes the characteristic pattern of such a procession as having these four parts: 1) The conqueror/ruler is escorted into the city by the citizenry or army of the conqueror. 2) The procession is accompanied by hymns and/or acclamations. 3) Various elements of the procession symbolically depict the authority of the ruler. 4) The entrance is followed by a ritual of appropriation where the ruler symbolically takes control of the city. Jesus entrance fits that pattern. 1) Jesus is escorted by people and “the whole multitude of the disciples” (v. 37). 2) Procession accompanied by chants of Psalm 118:26. 3) Elements depicting Jesus authority include commanding the disciples to bring him a colt, crowd spreading coats on the road, praise of Jesus for “deeds of power” and as the bringer of peace. 4) Appropriation rituals include weeping over the city, entering the Temple as God’s emissary, and driving the merchants out of the Temple.
• There are clear differences between Jesus’ entrance procession and the entrance procession of conquering rulers. Jesus rides on a borrowed donkey, a show of humility. The cloaks thrown were not expensive garments, but the tattering clothing of the poor.
• The donkey reflects also serves to demonstrate how Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture. Zechariah 9:9-10, “your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey…” Gen 49:10-11, the donkey is tied, the “scepter shall not depart from Judah. Solomon rode a donkey before he was crowned king (1 Kings 1:33-37).
• The “multitude of the disciples” echoes the “multitude of the heavenly host” who announced Christ’s birth (2:13), the multitude he taught in Galilee (6:17), the multitude from Gerasa (8:7), and the multitude who would take him to Pilate and to his crucifixion (23:1, 27).
• The first part of the multitude’s praise, “Blessed is the king, who comes in the name of the Lord” is from the Hallel psalms used to welcome pilgrims to Jerusalem. But the Lukan author has inserted “the king” as a reference to the theme of Jesus Sonship throughout Luke’s Gospel.
• The second part of the multitude’s praise “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven” echoes the songs of the multitude of the heavenly host at his birth.

Works Sourced:
Brown, Michael Joseph. “Commentary on Luke 19:28-40.” Working Preacher. < https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2801>. Accessed 14 March 2016.

Culpepper, R. Alan. “The Gospel of Luke.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume IX. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.