John 12:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Notice the Evangelist's wisdom. He is not ashamed to make their former ignorance visible.

They knew what was written, but they did not know that what was written referred to Christ.

They would have been scandalized that He, being King, had to suffer so much and undergo such betrayal.

On the other hand, they would not at once have understood the teaching about the Kingdom of which He spoke. According to another Evangelist, they thought that He was speaking of that kingdom.

They were enlightened with knowledge from the time of the Resurrection, when Christ breathed into their face (Jn 20:22), and from what they were before, they became other men.

They were enlightened still more on the day of Pentecost, when they were transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit who came upon them.

Yet if the Lord had not wished this, or had had nothing like it in view, He could easily have avoided such a solemn entrance.

He could have entered Jerusalem secretly, with His disciples alone, or without them. He could even have avoided going to Jerusalem in such a dangerous state of affairs.

No. He considered this necessary. It cannot even be said that He merely used these circumstances as accidental.

On the contrary, this already flowed from His preceding actions. In Jericho there had been something similar to this.

He showed the intentional character of this action still more clearly in this: despite the short distance from Bethany to Jerusalem, He ordered two disciples to go ahead of Him.

At the descent from the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem, in the village of Bethphage, they were to prepare for Him a donkey and a colt.

The disciples spread their garments upon them. Jesus sat upon the young donkey, which had not yet been used for any work.

Clearly this was in accordance with the prophecy, which presented the Messiah's appearing to Jerusalem in precisely this form. In Him it presented generally a peaceful and meek king, who deliberately chose this animal for Himself as a symbol of peace, not as a symbol of war (Zech 9:9-10).

In this position He became visible to all, and this further intensified the joy of the people.

Before great feasts, crowds of pilgrims gathered from everywhere and customarily entered the holy city solemnly, with every expression of joy.

Christ also wished to make such an entrance. As a prophet acknowledged by the people and a renowned teacher, He necessarily had to occupy a prominent position.

He used this circumstance to reveal His glory for the last time. Until now He had usually entered Jerusalem on foot.

Now He wished to enter it as His forefather David had more than once entered in former times, namely, sitting on a donkey.

This peaceful and useful animal was highly valued in the East. For the Jews, not a few historical memories were connected with it, making it in their eyes even nobler and more beloved than the proud horses obtained from Egypt.

The donkey's significance was raised still higher in their eyes by the solemn declaration of the prophet that the Messiah-King would enter Jerusalem precisely on a donkey (Zech 9:9).

Therefore this very entrance of the Savior into the holy city could serve as the best and most visible proclamation of His messiahship.

Early in the morning of the ninth of Nisan, the Savior left His peaceful and hospitable shelter in Bethany. As usual, He set out on foot with His disciples toward Jerusalem.

Descending into a small valley entirely covered with fig trees and olive trees, they approached the village of Bethphage. Like Bethany, it was so near Jerusalem that by rabbinic law it was regarded almost as part of it.

Secret disciples and followers of Christ lived in many places at that time. Probably to one of them, living in Bethphage, He sent two disciples to take a donkey for His solemn entrance into Jerusalem.

The disciples carried out the command exactly and brought the donkey with the young colt.

Therefore, even if they knew the prophecy of Zechariah mentioned here, they naturally imagined its fulfillment in a form incomparably more magnificent and brilliant than the Lord's entrance into Jerusalem.

This corresponded to sensual expectations and dreams of the glory and splendor of the Messiah as an earthly king, when He would solemnly reveal His kingdom.

Only later, when the Lord was glorified through humiliation and death, and when He rose and ascended and entered into His glory, did they remember and understand.

By the power and action of the Spirit who enlightened them (Jn 7:39), they understood that this was no accidental event, and that His sitting on the young donkey was no insignificant matter.

It was the fulfillment of the ancient and majestic prophecy. It had been written by the prophet precisely about Him, and not about anyone else.

They themselves, the disciples, without knowing it and without their own will or awareness, had done to Him what had been foretold. They brought the donkey and participated in this messianic coming.

Likewise the people, without knowing or understanding it, did to Him what had been foretold. They met Him and solemnly confessed Him as the Messiah.

"The word Hosanna means salvation. The Jews used it as an exclamation expressing joy on solemn occasions, like our 'Hurrah.'

Therefore the expression 'Hosanna in the highest' means the desire that the cries of joy and exultation be heard not only here, but also in the highest, in heaven, where God is."

Christ the Savior entered Jerusalem not as one condemned to death, but as King and Conqueror of death. The members of the Sanhedrin had to suppress their malice.

They even decided to postpone the execution of their plan until after Pascha, when the people would disperse.

But Christ voluntarily went to suffering and death for our salvation. By the will of God's Providence, the Lord Jesus Christ had to suffer before Pascha.

How grievous it was for the human heart of Christ the Savior to hear this rejoicing of the people. As God, He knew that in a few days these joyful cries would be replaced by malicious cries: Crucify Him, crucify Him.

All four Evangelists describe the solemn entrance of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11; Mk 11:1-11; Lk 19:29-44; Jn 12:12-19).

Only by comparing them does one obtain the full picture of this moving event in the earthly life of Christ the Savior.

On this day, and on the following three days, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Jesus Christ did not remain overnight in Jerusalem. He went away to Bethany, probably to the house of Lazarus.

The daughter of Zion and the daughter of Jerusalem mean the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Is 1:8; Is 16:12; Is 32:9) or the Church of Jerusalem.

Among the Jews it was customary to call cities and their populations daughters or virgins (Amos 5:2; Jer 46:24; Ps 44:13; Ps 136:8).

Jerusalem with its inhabitants was also called the daughter of Zion because, under David and Solomon, it was situated on Mount Zion, the highest of the neighboring hills.

The inhabitants of Jerusalem were to meet with triumph a righteous king, under the special protection of God, and at the same time meek.

What sort of King is this? The union of qualities scarcely united, righteousness and meekness, points to an unprecedented king.

The prophets indicated righteousness and righteous judgments in the Messiah as His distinguishing marks (Jer 33:15-16).

The king's inseparable sign is a solemn entrance into the capital on a young donkey. Jerusalem must look attentively for this feature of its king.

Jewish tradition recognized in this prophecy a prophecy of the Messiah (R. Eheser c. 32; R. Saadius Gaon ad Dan 7:13; Talmud in tract. Sanhedrir. c. 11).

The Evangelist observes: "His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of Him and had been done to Him."

This observation is a memorial to the truthfulness of the sacred narrator. He speaks the truth even when it is not flattering to the disciples of Jesus, including himself.

It might seem impossible not to recall Zechariah's prophecy when the Lord carefully gave the command to take the donkey and the colt from a certain owner.

It might seem still more impossible when the people solemnly met Jesus, especially since the meaning of the prophecy had been preserved by tradition.

But without higher illumination the Apostles did not understand many things in the words and deeds of Jesus. Only after His Resurrection did the Lord give them the ability to understand the prophecies (Lk 21:27, 45; Acts 1:3).

The disciples' ignorance of many things is also evident in Jn 2:22. In Jn 7 it is indicated that full understanding could come only after the Lord's glorification, by the action of the Holy Spirit.

For we must remember that with the glorification of the Lord in human flesh, all believing humanity was raised and glorified together with Him.

Only by this act of God's mercy did humanity become capable of receiving the great mysteries revealed by the Incarnation of God the Word.