Ver. 1. And when they drew nigh to Jerusalem] In this one verse our Evangelist closely compriseth all that St John sets down of our Saviour’s oracles and miracles from his Matthew 7:1-12:12, viz. the history of five months and ten days; for Christ rode not into the city till the fifth day before his last passover, John 12:1,12, having the day before been anointed by Mary at Bethany, John 12:1, called here Bethphage, or the Conduit House (Bethphage a תב et πηγη).
Ver. 2. An ass tied, and a colt with her] There are those who by the ass understand the Jews laden with the law, and by her foal, the Gentiles that wandered whither they would. That canonist made the most of it, that said that children are therefore to be baptized, because the apostles brought to Christ not only the ass, but the colt too. Oneramus asinum et non curat quia asinus est. Bern.
Ver. 3. The Lord hath need of them] The Lord of all, both beasts and hearts; for else how could he so soon have obtained the ass of her master? Some read the text thus: “The Lord hath need of them, and will presently send them back again”; to teach us to be no further burdensome or beholden to others than needs must.
Ver. 4. All this was done that, &c.] Here is the mystery of the history; which would otherwise seem to some ridiculous and to little purpose. He hereby declared himself that King of his Church before promised by the prophets, however poor and despicable, as the world accounts it.
Ver. 5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion] Here was that also of the Psalmist fulfilled, “God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth,” Psalms 74:12. For Jerusalem is by the Fathers observed to stand in the very centre and navel of the habitable earth, as if it were fatally founded to be the city of the great King. Thy King cometh unto thee] All in Christ is for our behoof and benefit, 1 Corinthians 1:30, and Micah 4:8,9 “Unto thee shall it come, O daughter of Zion, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Why then dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no King in thee? Is thy counsellor perished?” A mandamus from this King will do it at any time, Psalms 40:4. Meek, and sitting upon an ass] Not upon a stately saddle horse, as Alexander, Julius Caesar, &c.; no such state here. Christ’s kingdom was of another world; “He came riding meekly”; and his word (the law of his kingdom) is both to be taught and received with meekness, 2 Timothy 2:25 Jas 1:21. At Genoa in Italy they show the tail of the ass our Saviour rode on for a holy relic; and bow before it with great devotion. On Palm Sunday, their priests bring forth an ass in state, and bow before him and worship him, as if Christ himself were there present; which when the Turkish ambassadors once beheld at Craeonia in Poland, they blessed themselves, and cried out, O terram impietatem! Siccine asinum brutam bestiam adorari? Oh detestable impiety! should an ass be so adored? Neither will these dull dizards be reclaimed from such fond fopperies; being herein like those Italian asses, which feeding upon the weed henbane, are so stupefied, that they lie for dead, neither can they be awakened till half-skinned. A term ‘originally applied generically to a number of ancient writs, letters missive, or mandates, issued by the sovereign, directing the performance of certain acts’, but afterwards restricted to the judicial writ (called ‘the high prerogative writ of mandamus’) issued in the King’s name from the Court of King’s Bench (now, from the Crown side of the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice) and directed to an inferior court, a corporation, an officer, etc., commanding some specified thing to be done. ‘Its general object is to enforce the performance of some public duty in respect of which there is no other specific legal remedy’ (G. H. B. Kenrick in Encycl. Laws Eng. s.v.). ŒD The common name of the annual plant Hyoscyamus niger, a native of Europe and northern Asia, growing on waste ground, having dull yellow flowers streaked with purple, viscid stem and leaves, unpleasant smell, and narcotic and poisonous properties; also extended to the genus as a whole. ŒD
Ver. 6. And the disciples went] With a certain blind obedience they went on Christ’s errand, though not very likely to speed. Their Master’s sole authority carried them on against all difficulties and absurdities. When God commands us anything, we may not dispute, but dispatch; argue, but agree to it, captivate our reason, exalt our faith.
Ver. 7. And put on them their clothes] Teaching us to honour God with the best of our substance, and to dedicate ourselves wholly to the Lord our God. Jonathan stripped himself, for his friend David, of the robe that was upon him, and his garments, even to his sword and his belt, 1 Samuel 18:4. Christ suspended his glory for a season, laid aside his rich and royal robes, borrowed humanity of us, that he might clothe us with his righteousness. And shall we think much to clothe him in his naked members, to part with anything for his sake and service? And they set him thereon] They that make religion dance attendance to policy (saith one) these set the ass upon Christ, not Christ upon the ass. Thus did Jehu, and before him Jeroboam, cui gravior iactura regionis, quam religionis. to whom it was more serious to lose the kingdom than religion. Thus do all our Machiavellians and the world’s wizards, whose rule is, Philosophandum sed paucis; Religiosum oportet esse, sed non religentem, &c. But what saith the father? Deum siquis parum metuit, valde contemnit. And one thing, said Luther, that will be the ruin of religion is worldly policy, that would have all well however, and seeks to procure the public peace, by impious and unlawful counsels and courses, Quae vult omnia redigere in ordinem, et publicae tranquillitati impiis consiliis mederi.