SolLuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

11/29
Matthew 21:1-11

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately. "

This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?"

The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Who Is this?

Sequence Not!

Advent will mess with your sense of sequence sometimes. Gospel portions will jump around in the life of Jesus thematically and defy chronology.

We are taken to the last week of Jesus' pre-passion earthly life to see preparation of a different sort. Here, he is preparing to enter Jerusalem for his final show-down with death.

"The Lord has need of them," seems to be enough for the owner of the donkey to allow the disciples to untie hisproperty.

"This took place to fulfill," introduces an age-old message of hope that the prophet announced centuries before. Jesus is intentionally acting it out as a message to this generation of oppressed people, "Your king is coming!"

The large crowd, without rehearsal or preconception shout, "God save!" which we record as, "Hosanna!"

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!"

The Advent question is the same as the question the people asked then, "Who is this?"

Who is this indeed?

That is why we have holidays, symbols, and rituals. they occasion the most important questions.

Who is this?
What is this?
What does this mean?

The faction of the crowd that believed they knew answered the faction of the crowd that was asking. There was probably a good amount of overlap in the factions, but the answer, to the best of their understanding, was, ""This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

Who is this to you today in this decade of the 21st century in a time of pandemic and political-ideological-religious division?

Who is this and why are the crowds all worked up about him?