Everybody, what is going on? You know what time it is. You're listening to join the Journey podcast

with your host, Emma Daughter. Thanks for joining. Today, I want to walk us through the triumphal entry.

We hear about it a lot on Palm Sunday, but why is it so significant? Oftentimes when we read our

Bibles, there are cultural, historic, or geographic references

we don't understand and we skip over them. We're so used to encountering words or places

we don't recognize that we can become blind to how much we're skipping. Matthew 21 starts

off like this. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage to the Mount

of Olives, right off the bat, we're introduced to two locations, Jerusalem and Bethpage.

You've probably heard of Jerusalem before, but Bethpage? Maybe not. It was about 1.5 miles east

of Jerusalem. Let's keep reading. Jesus sent two disciples, telling them,

go to the village ahead of you. Right away, you will find a donkey tied there, and a cult wither.

Untie them and bring them to me. Verse three, if anyone says anything to you, you are to say,

the Lord needs them, and he will send them at once.

This is fascinating. It's important for us to understand that at this time, unless you are

incredibly wealthy, people walked everywhere. So why would Jesus have asked for a donkey?

This is the only instance in the New Testament where Jesus rides an animal.

And back in the Old Testament, there are two noteworthy instances where we see a king

riding into the gates of Jerusalem on a donkey or mule as horses were associated with warriors.

But donkeys, they were associated with peace.

One example is King David returning to Jerusalem

in peace after the death of Absalom, and the other was King Solomon when he was being enthroned

or said differently, becoming king. Now, it's interesting. This is the only instance where

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