Jesus went ahead toward Jerusalem. Near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two disciples ahead. He told them that they would find a colt tied in the village, one that no one had ridden, and that they were to untie it and bring it to him.
Jesus was leading the movement toward the city rather than following behind the group. Before reaching Jerusalem, he paused near the villages by the Mount of Olives and gave the two disciples a precise task. The animal would be tied within the village and had never carried a rider.
If anyone asked why they were untying it, they were to say that the Lord needed it. The disciples found everything as Jesus had said. When the owners asked why they were untying the colt, they answered that the Lord needed it.
The owners’ question came while the disciples were loosening the animal, exactly the circumstance for which Jesus had prepared them. They delivered the answer he had given and brought the colt back to Jesus.
They brought the colt to Jesus, put their cloaks on it, and set Jesus on it. As he went, people spread their cloaks on the road. Near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the mighty works they had seen.
Because the young animal had no saddle, the disciples placed their own cloaks upon it. Other cloaks formed a path on the ground as Jesus rode. Before he had reached the city itself, the descent from the Mount of Olives filled with the voices of the disciples.
Their praise answered the powerful works they had personally witnessed. Together they called Jesus the king coming in the Lord’s name. Their words joined peace in heaven with glory in the highest, and they spoke loudly enough for the Pharisees within the crowd to object.
They called blessed the king who came in the Lord’s name and spoke of peace in heaven and glory in the highest. Some Pharisees in the crowd told Jesus to rebuke his disciples.
The Pharisees addressed Jesus rather than silencing the disciples themselves. Jesus did not issue the rebuke they requested. He said that if those voices became silent, the stones themselves would cry out.
Jesus replied that if the disciples kept quiet, the stones would cry out. When he came near and saw the city, he wept over it.
The joyful procession did not prevent a different response when Jerusalem came fully into view. Jesus looked at the city and wept. He spoke directly to it about the peace it had failed to recognize.
He spoke of the things that would have made for peace, now hidden from the city’s eyes. He said that enemies would surround and destroy it, leaving no stone on another, because it had not recognized the time of God’s visitation.