I would like to talk about another missed opportunity to understand Jesus and his ministry for lifting up women on this Palm Sunday. All 4 Gospels: Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12, mention that Jesus sat on a colt and rode it into the city or the sitting implied that he completed a prophesy. Wikipedia has a nice chart here break out the precise language of each and comparing it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumphal_entry_into_Jerusalem
But I would like you to notice a detail from Matthew. In Matthew, Jesus had a donkey and a colt. Possibly, a female animal and an unridden colt, which could be a colt that is still nursing. Jesus sat on the colt that was still nursing from its mother and this represented his triumphal return. A colt will follow his mother into the city because the colt will not stray too far from its source of nourishment. Could it be that those who spoke about, transcribed, or wrote about the story didn’t quite understand? Or had they decided that there was no need to include that two animals were brought to Jesus? If one did not understand the significance, you might think, why do we need to mention this other animal? The writer of John, may have thought the fetching insignificant but knew that the colt represented something prophetical, but where does one grab the thread, the thread of the mother? The thread found in the information that Jesus rode in on two animals. The first time Jesus “rode in” somewhere on a donkey, he was in his mother’s womb. There was only one animal for one rider because he wasn’t born yet. She rode into a town possibly in some disgrace because even if she and Joseph accepted that the child she carried was God’s, people talk. I mean, were there other reason’s that she couldn’t stay at the inn? Really, who turns away a heavily pregnant woman unless there was another reason? But back to the “triumphal entry” of the adult Jesus. In Matthew’s account, Jesus is mentioned as riding on both animals. Well, that’s awkward to imagine! Could it be that his mother was on the donkey? Maybe in those days or to some, it would hardly be worth a mention that a woman would also be riding. I know my son would put me on an animal to ride. He’s always holding my arm in parking lots and he has always been caring towards his grandmother, holding her arm to walk her across streets. Of course, Jesus’ mother would be cared for as such. He even asks the disciple John to care for his mother when Jesus was on the cross. He says, essentially, that she is your mother now. (John 19:25-27) Mary was with Jesus when he entered the city and she probably rode on the donkey. The donkey whose colt would follow her into the city. The triumphal entry is that Mary’s son is the messiah entering the city. She has been vindicated with this entry, as well as her son.
