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Author: Stephen Weller
640 words, 3 minutes read time

Jesus Enters Jerusalem and the Temple

Scripture: Matthew 21:10-11; Mark 11:11; John 12:17-19

With the previous lesson we covered a very short section in which we found Jesus weeping over Jerusalem’s lack of belief and their coming destruction. With this lesson we will cover another short section that covers the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem.

^{Mt 21:10} And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

As Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a colt with probably a donkey (its mother) at its side, the whole city was stirred. This reminds me of a passage in Matthew 2:1 – 3 when in the days of king Herod, wise men following a star came to Jerusalem seeking information on where Jesus was born, as they wanted to see the child and worship him. When king Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him. Here again there is fear among those in the religious establishment that Jesus may usurp their power.

There were some in Jerusalem who wondered what this meant and asked the question about who this was riding into town. Others who were with Jesus heard their question answered them saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” Moses spoke of a prophet like him that God would raise up that they were to listen to (Deuteronomy 18:15 – 18), but there is no indication here that the crowds recognized Jesus as that prophet.

^{Jn 12:17} 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 have two crowds coming together here in Jerusalem: the crowd that had been with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, and the crowd in Jerusalem who had heard about that event. As these two crowds come together it causes concern among the Pharisees. This concern takes us back to John 11:47 – 48 when the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

^{Mk 11:11} And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

Jesus goes into the temple, not as a pilgrim but as the sovereign Lord who, according to Malachi 3:1, “will suddenly come to his temple” and looks around at everything to see if the center of Jewish religious life is fulfilling its purpose of leading people to the true worship of God. What he sees is shocking and will soon result in a powerful response from him. But since it already late, he takes the twelve disciples, and most likely the donkey and its colt, and they leave Jerusalem and return to Bethany to spend the night with their friends Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

Conclusion

What Jesus saw in the temple that Sunday afternoon deeply displeased him and will result in two events to take place on Monday when he returns to Jerusalem.