21 As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of them on ahead. 2 “Go into the village over there,” he said. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a donkey tied there, with its colt beside it. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone asks what you are doing, just say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will immediately let you take them.”
4 This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said,
5 “Tell the people of Jerusalem,
‘Look, your King is coming to you.
He is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.’”
6 The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt to him and threw their garments over the colt, and he sat on it.
8 Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God for the Son of David!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
10 The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. “Who is this?” they asked.
11 And the crowds replied, “It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Matthew 21:1-11
Dear God, a lot of the time I skip the explanations in the footnotes, but that is probably a mistake. There’s an important one today. For verse 9, right after “Praise God,” there is a footnote that says, “21:9a Greek Hosanna, an exclamation of praise that literally means “save now”; also in 21:9b, 15.” It’s the “save now” that caught my eye. It’s what I thought of when I first read this passage this morning. Of course, I’ve thought this before. The people that day were so ignorant. Not one of them, including the disciples, knew what was going on or about to happen. In fact, I’ll bet the disciples were getting pretty amped up too. “Yes, Jesus, save now! We’ve spent the last three years priming the pump. It’s go time!” They just didn’t know what they needed saving from.
How do we make that same mistake today. We pray to you to save our country. To give us power and influence. To give us provision including rain for our water and food (crops and livestock). We pray that you make us feel better about ourselves. That you make us happy. What we miss is that that’s not what you came for that day. Somehow, we still try to put you back on that donkey and get in line both ahead and behind you shouting, “Save now!” But we misidentify what we need saved from.
So what do I think I need saved from? Myself. My selfishness. My own agenda. My sin. My hate. My lust. My covetousness.
This is a deep thought for me. When I am critical of Christian Nationalists in our country, or any other country for that matter, what I think I’m critical of is that they are trying to put you on that donkey and join the crowd that day. Ready to follow you to personal glory and power.
That brings to mind your behavior after the resurrection. Okay, so, sure, leading in to the crucifixion, yes, that had to be what it was because we needed your death and resurrection to save us from our sins. But after the resurrection and our sin is paid for, that’s when it will be “go time,” right? When you rise again you’ll show yourself to Caiaphas, supplant him as the high priest of Israel and then work things so that Israel removes Roman rule. Surely that’s how this will work!
No. No, that’s not how it will work either. How it will work is you will selectively reveal yourself to a few hundred people. here and there. You will leave after 40 days, send your Holy Spirit, and then allow each of the original 11 (excluding Judas) to be, at a minimum, persecuted, and all but one of those 11 martyred.
Father, help me to identify today the areas of my heart that still cling to the error of Palm Sunday. The part of my heart that identifies “saving” as power instead of “saving” being redemption and reconciliation with you. I am a citizen of this world, but it is not my home. You are my home. I give you my praise and worship today not for what you are doing for me, but simply for who you are.
I pray all of this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 
Luke 19:41-42
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.
Luke 19:41-42
Dear God, I’ve taken these two verses out of context because I want to sit with this this morning, but they are part of the Triumphal Entry story:
28 After telling this story, Jesus went on toward Jerusalem, walking ahead of his disciples. 29 As he came to the towns of Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. 30 “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks, ‘Why are you untying that colt?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 So they went and found the colt, just as Jesus had said. 33 And sure enough, as they were untying it, the owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?”
34 And the disciples simply replied, “The Lord needs it.” 35 So they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their garments over it for him to ride on.
36 As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. 37 When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
38 “Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!”
39 But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, “Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!”
40 He replied, “If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would burst into cheers!”
41 But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”
45 Then Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people selling animals for sacrifices. 46 He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”
47 After that, he taught daily in the Temple, but the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders of the people began planning how to kill him. 48 But they could think of nothing, because all the people hung on every word he said.
Jesus longed that the people understood the way to peace. So what is the way to peace? Reading The Communicator’s Commentary: Luke by Bruce Larson, I saw that “the donkey was a symbol of peace in those days. Horses were symbols of military might. Conquering generals came on horses. An ambassador coming on a peaceful mission rode on a donkey. Jesus was an ambassador of peace from the Ultimate Kingdom.”
I found myself wondering an impossible question to answer when I read this passage this morning: What if they had understood and gotten it right that day? What if the Pharisees embraced him and asked what they must do to repent? What if the people ignored Roman rule, the Israelites embraced Jesus as your son/the Messiah, and then took reconciliation with you to the Gentiles? What if everyone cheering and jeering Jesus that day embraced who he was and then started worshipping you with every thing they have and loved their neighbors as themselves? What if?
Of course, it didn’t happen that way. But is there a lesson for your faithful remnant now? As I see Christians striving for political power and influence, I can’t help but wonder if they aren’t making the same mistake the crowds made that day. In my opinion, they are. They do not “understand the way to peace.” Are they embracing reconciliation with you through Jesus? Sure. Are they taking that to the world and ungodly? They probably think so. But I think they see the more expedient path of doing it through power and control, and not the slow, deliberate path of loving one person at a time.
Father, I am reminded of the thing I heard once from John Dickson, that Jesus used (and gave to us to use) four tools, and four tools only, to impact the world around us: Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering. I don’t pray enough for people. I could probably serve more. My persuasion abilities on the ungodly are weak. And, well, let’s face it, I don’t suffer much. Show me what that means. Show me what it means to worship you through the deliberate acts of worshipping you, but also through the acts of Prayer, Service, Persuasion, and Suffering.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Posted by John D. Willome on November 20, 2025 in Luke
Tags: bible, Bruce Larson, christianity, Faith, Jesus, John Dickson, Luke, Palm Sunday, The Communicator's Commentary, Triumphal Entry, Weeping for Jerusalem