Jesus had returned to the wilderness about Ephraim, as it were, “hiding out from the Pharisees,” to await the time of Passover. This was a very special time for Jesus, for this Passover season had been revealed to Jesus by the Holy Spirit as the final Passover season he would experience as the “Son of Man.” Moses had foretold of Jesus and his mission (Deut. 18:18-19). Furthermore Jesus knew that he had preached “the kingdom” to the Jews and they received him not. John provides the answer in John 1:11 — “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to be offered as “The Lamb of God for the sins of the world.”
Matthew writes “And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said unto them, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him; and the third day he shall rise again.” (Matt-20:17-19). One should note that Mark gives this exact account, found in Mark 10:32-34. Jesus had long before told his disciples of this event recorded in Matt. 16:21. It was no doubt with sadness that Jesus makes this final journey to Jerusalem to face his enemies.
There is no time period mentioned when Jesus passed through Jericho, nor when he stayed at the house of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:5). Perhaps the weary party rested at this house for a night or even a day and a night. Jesus blessed Zacchaeus saying: “This day is salvation come to this house forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:9-10.
To follow the exact story of Jesus one must now go to the Gospel of John 12:1: “Then Jesus six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray Jesus, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” John 12:1-5. Judas did not care about the poor in the least, for he was a thief and all that he could get he kept; a very greedy person by nature.
How different was Jesus, for with glorious words he said: “Let her alone; against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” John 12:7-8.
Perhaps this act of Mary was a symbol of the selection of the Passover lamb. Exodus 12:3. This being six days before the Passover. Matthew tells of the same incident in Matt. 26: 6-13.
Perhaps Jesus wanted to impress the disciples with the fact that Mary’s ointment meant he was soon to be buried. For what ever reason, the disciples did not get the true meaning, having other thoughts in mind.
This supper would have taken place after sundown, therefore it was after the sabbath, or in other words was the beginning of the first day of the week. The Jewish day was from evening to evening as we find in Lev. 23:32. “It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls; in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath.”
Also there is reference as to the pass-over day in Joshua 5: 10-11: “and the children of Israel encamped in Gagal, and kept the Passover on the 14th day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the pass-over, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.” “The manna ceased” so the children were starting a new period of their history.
To go on then start with John 12:12-13: “On the next day (Sunday first day of the week) much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went forth to meet Jesus, and cried Hosanna: Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written.”
It was to fulfill the old testament prophesy as it is written in Zech. 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion; shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
What a wonderful prophecy. But where could Jesus get such an animal. We find in the gospel of Luke 19:29-35, the best quotation. “And it came to pass, when Jesus was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon vet never man sat; loose him, and bring him hither. And if any man ask you, why loose ye the colt? thus shall ye say unto him, because the Lord hath need of Him.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One