Luke 19:33-38 33And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35So they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their coats on the colt, they put Jesus on it. 36And as he was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 37And as he was approaching, already near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God rejoicing with a loud voice for all the miracles that they had seen, 38saying, “Blessed is the one who comes, the King in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Verse 33 introduces a potential problem in the story as the owners of the young colt question the two disciples who appear to be stealing their animal. It is not every day when someone basically commandeers your transportation and takes it away. The disciples only need to say Lord, and the owners know God is involved. The text does not indicate that they would have known the Lord to be Jesus, but it is certainly possible. In our imagination, we can picture them joining in the procession and later getting their animal back with Jesus’ appreciation. When the Lord has need of something, we can be assured that when we are obedient, we will experience his blessings. The owners’ acceptance of the situation adds further weight to Jesus’ sovereignty. The owners are examples of full obedience and the type of response the third servant in the earlier passage should have had.
Coats became an important symbol of submission in the story. Twice, people take their coats off and place them before Jesus. The type of garment mentioned here refers to the outer cloak people of that time wore and used to keep out the cold and could be used as a blanket at night. It was an essential part of a person’s dress. Also, people likely did not have a closet full of these either, so it was a sacrifice to give one’s cloak up. The subjects and pronouns get blurred in this passage. It appears on the surface that the two disciples were the ones to put their coats on the colt as a form of saddle or cushion.
The crowd of disciples grew as Jesus came closer to Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives was across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem and the temple mount. Jesus received two types of responses as he entered Jerusalem. The first response came from the crowd of disciples who had some level of faith in him. The other response is given in verse 39. The disciples shouted with great joy because they believed Scripture was being fulfilled. Their king was coming as Zechariah 9:9 and Psalm 118:26. This psalm was sung by pilgrims as they entered Jerusalem.
These followers saw a clear connection between Jesus and their expectations for the messianic king. The biggest evidence for them was that Jesus performed miracles that no one else could do. He had all the power and authority needed to restore the kingdom of Israel. The challenge was that they misunderstood what this kingdom was about. Later, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, they would begin to realize that the kingdom was one of spiritual power and not earthly domination.
The verse from Psalm 118 proclaims the fulfillment of what the angelic choir sang in Luke 2:14. The King brought the peace of heaven to earth. Luke’s version of the story adds the word the King to the quotation of the psalm, thus showing the connection between this story and the previous parable. The emphasis is on Jesus’ sovereignty. He brought his kingdom with him, but this kingdom was not earthly but heavenly and spiritual. Those who put their faith in him can begin to experience now the peace and glory of this heavenly kingdom.
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