Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is another account that is covered in all four Gospels. This event has become the basis of Palm Sunday.
Jesus sends two disciples to go ahead and find a colt that no one has ever ridden. Perhaps the colt is unusually stubborn and no one has been able to ride it. The disciples untie it and bring it back to Jesus, but not before getting the owners' permission.
Jesus rides the donkey through the streets while the crowds lay down their cloaks and palm branches. The Pharisees say tell Jesus to rebuke the crowd, but Jesus says that if he did that, the stones will cry out.
Jesus goes to the temple, but it is late, so he goes back to Bethany. That sounds a little anticlimactic.
He also weeps fondly over Jerusalem and declares that its oncoming destruction will be because they rejected the Messiah. Again, this is a prediction of the destruction by the Romans during the Jewish revolt.
Here is a time to discuss Ezekiel 44:1-3, which discusses the eastern gate being closed and only the Prince of Peace can ride through it. Many believe that Jesus would have entered the Temple Mount through the eastern gate. The eastern gate was destroyed by the Romans, rebuilt, and then closed in the 1600s by the Muslims. One theory is that the Muslims closed the eastern gate specifically to prevent the Jewish Messiah.
Some Christians think that the eastern gate will be reopened when Jesus returns so he can go through it again.
I think the prophecy of Ezekiel 44 has already come and past. The Messiah did go through the eastern gate. As for Ezekiel, much of his visions spanned both the literal world and the spiritual world. I think this eastern gate reference was a blend of both. Further, Ezekiel 44:1 states the gate was already closed. Hence, it was to remain closed until the king should come, which happened. Putting Ezekiel's vision with Christ, it emphasizes the unique nature of Christ as the only king.
I think it is misguided to obsess whether the eastern gate is closed or not because the original gate that stood when Ezekiel spoke and during the time of Christ is long gone. Therefore, the eastern gate that currently exists in Jerusalem cannot be the gate that Ezekiel would have been referring to. Finally, it cannot be taken too literally because many people would have passed through the literal gate in between Ezekiel's writing it was closed and before it was physically closed.
Back to the story, some Greeks attending Passover try to meet with Jesus. They speak with Phillip, who speaks with Andrew, and together they speak with Jesus. This prompts Jesus to speak about his future death. A voice from heaven speaks; some of the crowd hear thunder while others hear what they think are angelic voices.
Despite all this, the crowd questions Jesus because they believed the Messiah was to reign forever.
At least they are finally figuring out that Jesus will die, and will die soon. This seems to be the limit of their understanding. We cannot blame them too much for this as the text states that even the core Twelve did not fully understand everything until afterwards. In this story, they did not understand that they were acting in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 when they brought the colt to Jesus.
A further note on Zechariah 9:9, it refers to salvation, which is what Jesus was brought during Passion week.
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