NOTES for Luk 19:29-40
Why do the Pharisees ask Jesus to make His disciples be silent when they were glorifying Him as the Messiah? Was it only out of fear of possible political consequences? Of course, they could have feared excesses, or even outright revolt, although in a certain sense the time for that had already been missed. Still, anything at all could be expected from the Jerusalem crowd, and the Romans, who tolerated no disturbances in the city, were always ready to intervene, and their intervention always ended in bloodshed. But the matter was not only these fears. The matter was also that, in the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus was the "wrong" Messiah, one completely inconsistent with their ideas and concepts. They were, of course, waiting for the Messiah, but not for one like this. And this one did everything differently from what they expected. At first He refused to provide them with the proofs of His messiahship that they expected; then He avoided the opportunity to head a mass popular movement, though such an opportunity presented itself to Him several times. But now He, it seems, speaks directly about His messiahship, yet again not in the way a "real" Messiah should have done it. After all, a real Messiah cannot ride into the city mounted on a donkey, can he?! This is no longer even a parable; it is a real profanation of the triumphant entry into the city of the Messiah-victor, the Messiah who drives out the Romans, the Messiah who establishes His Kingdom, the Messiah who will rule with a strong hand in the name of God... And suddenly, instead of the expected triumph, there is some half-solemn, half-buffoonish procession, recalling the entrance into the city of a "king" chosen from slaves during the Roman Saturnalia... There was reason to be confused. It is no wonder that the Pharisees, as deeply religious people, began asking Jesus to stop what seemed to them an inappropriate and unworthy comedy. And Jesus answered them that everything was serious. So serious that it was even hard for them to imagine it. Only the events would unfold differently from what they expected.