Luke 19:28-40
Every gospel of the Bible gives us a different perspective of the story of Jesus’ coming into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As we are going through the gospel of John, reading the perspective of the other gospels provides us insight that will help us see things from another point of view.
Luke was a doctor who interviewed everyone around to get a full perspective of the events which transpired during the life of Jesus. Luke followed Paul around in his travels and gained an inside perspective in this way. The point of the gospel that Luke wrote was to show that salvation through Jesus was for both Jews and Gentiles. That is, Luke wrote this mostly to Gentile Christians, from whom the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts was addressed to, Theophilus. We also note that Paul’s main ministry was to the gentiles, so this gives us a background to why Luke wrote the way he did.
As John focused on Jesus character as being God, he also wrote his gospel to address both Jews and Gentiles. His goal was to show that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and that He was, in fact, the Son of God, or in other words, God incarnate. These are seen through the miracles that John uses to prove who Jesus is and the “I Am” statements that Jesus makes throughout the gospel. John was also a close disciple of Jesus, which provides us a strong and personal recounting compared to that of Luke.
So as we continue through John’s accounts of the events surrounding Easter, let us take a step back to reflect on Luke’s perspective.
The Word
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”
32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”
35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.
37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[a]
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”