Conversation Points for Matthew 21:1-11

Study Format:
1. What did you hear Jesus offering to you? To us? To the world?
2. What kind of resistance to Jesus did you hear?
3. What will you have to learn to resist or renounce in order to receive what Jesus is offering?

Interesting Ideas to Consider:
• One of the differences between John’s account of Jesus’ ministry and Matthew’s is in Matthew, this triumphal entry marks the very first time Jesus is in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is first mentioned in Matthew as joining with King Herod at being troubled at the birth of Jesus (2:3), but after escaping to Egypt and making his way to Galilee, Jesus never went further south than the Jordan River until now.
• The traditional phrase of “triumphal entry” can only be used in the ironic sense, to point out the ways in which Jesus’ kingship differs from the traditional sense of the word. “Triumphal entries” into the city were common under the Roman occupation, as Rome would use them to draw attention to their military power and might, welcoming in returning military or political leaders. Since we know Pilate was also in town at this time, some scholars have even posited that Jesus’ entry happened at the same time as Pilate was entering. While Pilate paraded through the streets on a stallion with all the power of Rome to greet him, Jesus entered on a donkey and a colt, attended upon by the poor with nothing to wave but branches cut from trees and their own cloaks, a concrete display of two very different styles of leadership.
• One of the themes of Matthew is Jesus as the fulfillment of scripture. Matthew frequently cites Old Testament passages as proof of Jesus’ identity. This causes a couple of differences to how Matthew presents this story opposed to other Gospel accounts. For this event, Matthew draws on the prophet Zechariah. Matthew set the story at the Mount of Olives, connecting it to Zechariah’s vision of the end of days. The scripture quoted in Matthew 21:5 is from Zechariah 9:9. It features poetic parallelism, a trait common in Hebrew poetry, where a thing is said once, and then repeated in more detail (“on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”). Matthew had to have been familiar with this style of poetry, but his attention to detail leads him to leave both animals in, leading to the rather humorous scene where Jesus appears to be riding into Jerusalem astride two animals.
• The shouts of “Hosanna” come from Psalm 118:25-26 (“Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord”). Hosanna was originally a prayer (“save us, we beseech you”), but by the first century had become a common, festive shout, sort of like a religious “hurrah.”

Works Sourced:
Boring, M. Eugene. “The Gospel of Matthew.” The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume VIII. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995.