The Triumphal Entry in All Four Gospels

All four of the Gospel accounts record Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem but each one chose to include certain details important to their respective audiences.

MATTHEW 21:1-11

The book of Matthew was primarily written with the focus to portray Jesus as Israel’s promised Messianic King. He recorded this account for Jewish people whose background was the Old Testament. Thus, they understood the Law and the Prophets. Specific prophecies like Zechariah 9:9 would have stuck out which Matthew quoted to pinpoint Jesus’ fulfillment of that five-hundred-year-old promise.

As the people were shouting His praises, Matthew made sure to document their acknowledgment and confession of Him being the Son of David which he also began his account with regarding Christ’s genealogy (1:1). This proved both His birth-right and legal-right to the throne of David as their King. Another interesting point to take note of is that, at the beginning of the book, when the wise men came to worship baby Jesus, the whole city was “troubled” (2:3), and now nearing the end of the book, “the whole city was stirred up” (21:10). Things happen when Jesus is in a city!

MARK 11:1-11

John Mark, known more simply as Mark, wrote this account primarily to Gentile [non-Jewish] believers – specifically those living in Rome. These men and women, for the most part, were not necessarily well-versed in the Old Testament which is why he did not include any specific reference to Jesus fulfilling ancient prophecies. Instead, Mark focused his account more on the arrival of Israel’s humble King who was bringing about the very Kingdom of God.

Roman believers would have been accustomed to royal parades and grand entrances of the emperor. However, their leader(s) would have more than likely ridden on horseback to signify strength, power, authority, and conquest. Therefore, what Mark was pointing out was that Israel’s King is like no other king – He is humble and bringing peace. And His patience is demonstrated in the fact that Jesus walked into the temple, saw all of the evil that was going on, yet held His tongue and controlled His emotions by leaving for the night. As Mark would go on to describe, Jesus came back the next day to clean house.

LUKE 19:28-44

Luke’s account was also written to a non-Jewish audience – specifically one man named Theophilus. While Luke did not directly quote from or reference any Old Testament prophecy, he did record a statement Jesus made which implied Israel’s willful ignorance to the times and events which they were experiencing. Jesus basically said that Israel should have known about these things, but because they were unaware, they would be judged (19:42-44). What Christ was referring to was the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 in which the angel told Daniel exactly when the Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem.

In this passage, Luke recorded that the people were proclaiming Jesus as “the King who comes in the Name of the Lord!” Obviously, there were both believers and non-believers in this crowd because even some of the religious leaders were shouting for Jesus to rebuke His disciples for what they were saying. And yet, this was a rare event in which Jesus received public worship and praise from the people and stated that, if they had remained silent, then even the earth would begin crying out in worship.

This brings up another interesting point: the pronouncement of blessing upon Jesus is almost identical here as it was at the beginning of the book when Jesus was born. In Luke 2:13-14 a crowd of heavenly hosts proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.” Whereas in Luke 19:38 a crowd of human hosts proclaimed, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

JOHN 12:12-19

As one of the Twelve, John was up close and personal to the Lord during His public ministry. He was writing to the Church, which is comprised of both Jews and Gentiles, and showing Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel, who is coming sacrificially into the world to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. He is the only one who stated what kind of “leafy branches” these were – they were palm branches. And the reason this is important to note is because in Leviticus 23 God gave the nation of Israel a certain number of festivals…all of which He revealed, over time, had prophetic implications.

At this time in Jesus’ ministry, the people were preparing for the Feast of Passover. Yet, because they brought out palm branches, they were acting as if it was the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths (Leviticus 23:40) which is the only festival where the people were specifically commanded to take and use palm branches in their time of celebration. Whereas Passover occurred at the beginning of the calendar year and looked forward to the ultimate sacrifice for sin, Booths occurred near the end of the year and looked forward to the arrival of all nations coming to Him in worship during His global reign as King.

This is why John pointed out that the religious leaders were worried that “the world has gone after Him.” Because both Jews and Gentiles were going out to see Him and were publicly proclaiming Him as the King of Israel, the Anointed of the LORD, the fulfillment of the Old Testament, the Master over death, and the One to come whom all previous generations eagerly anticipated. God used His Triumphal Entry to present Jesus as King!

CONCLUSION

Jesus came to redeem the whole world, Jew and Gentile alike and, two-thousand years later, He hasn’t waivered in His mission. Today, He speaks through His Word to bring hope to a broken and hurting world. In the last week of His earthly ministry, of which the Triumphal Entry is the start, we see our Lord weep over the sin of His people, rebuke those doing evil, serve one who would betray Him, and pray to His Father. Let us each pray that the Lord would work in us to implement these four characteristics into our lives so that we might be used by Him to bring hope and Truth to the world.

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