Palm Sunday - fulfillment of Scripture

Jesus is deliberately fulfilling the Scriptures here:

Jesus sending 2 men to look for a donkey is probably significant.

In the Old Testament, Saul was anointed as king, and then he met 2 men who tell him that the donkeys he’s been looking for have been found.

(1 Sam 10:2)

When Solomon, King David’s son, was anointed King he had ridden a donkey (1 K 1:33, 38).

The point is that Jesus is God’s anointed king.

In Gen 49:8-12, Jacob / Israel says to his son Judah:

"Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.

⁹ You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son.

Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness-- who dares to rouse him?

¹⁰ The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.

¹¹ He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹² His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.”

Jesus belonged to the tribe of Judah.

He is the one to whom the sceptre and the ruler’s staff and the obedience of the nations belong.

In Zech 9:9-10, we read:

“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰ I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”

In 2 Kings 9:13, when the people of Israel want to make Jehu king, they spread their cloaks before him.

Throwing cloaks in front of someone is treating them as a king.

It’s treating them like your king.