The King Who Entered

7 Days Until Easter

Matthew 21:8–11

“Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.””

In Matthew 21, Jesus enters Jerusalem in what we often call the triumphal entry. Crowds gather. People lay their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches and spread them out before Him. There is shouting, celebration, and a sense that something significant is happening. The atmosphere is filled with expectation.

Everyone feels like this is the moment.

And if I am honest, I have had moments like that in my own life.

Moments where it felt like everything was lining up. Where it seemed like God was clearly moving in a certain direction. Where I could almost see how things were going to play out. There is a certain excitement in those seasons. A confidence that what is coming next is going to unfold exactly the way you envision it.

But what I have learned over time is that just because I can see a direction does not mean I fully understand what God is doing.

The crowd in Jerusalem was not wrong to celebrate Jesus. They were right in recognizing that He was the King. But they misunderstood the kind of king He came to be. They were expecting immediate victory, visible change, and a kingdom that would take shape in a way they could fully grasp.

Instead, Jesus entered the city on a donkey.

Not in power as they imagined, but in humility. Not to take a throne in the way they expected, but to move toward a cross they did not see coming.

And that is where this passage becomes personal.

Because I have found that there are moments in life where I celebrate what I think God is doing, only to realize later that He was doing something deeper than I understood at the time. What looked like one kind of breakthrough was actually preparation. What felt like a clear direction was actually part of a bigger story I could not yet see.

That does not make those moments wrong.

It just means my perspective was limited.

The crowd’s praise was real, but incomplete. And in many ways, that is true for us as well. We can genuinely follow Jesus and still have moments where we do not fully understand His ways.

As we move closer to Easter, this passage invites us into a deeper kind of trust. Not just celebrating Jesus when things align with our expectations, but following Him even when His path looks different than what we had in mind.

Because the same King who entered Jerusalem in humility was moving toward something far greater than the crowd could imagine.

And often, God is doing the same in our lives.

Prayer

Lord, help me trust You not only in the moments that make sense, but also in the ones that don’t. When my expectations don’t match Your plans, give me the faith to keep following You. Teach me to trust that You are always working, even when I don’t fully understand. In Jesus’ name, amen.