Thomas Aquinas Commentary John 12:12-19

"On the morrow a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried out, Hosanna: Blessed [is] he that cometh in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. And Jesus, having found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass`s colt. These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. The multitude therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, and raised him from the dead, bare witness. For this cause also the multitude went and met him, for that they heard that he had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Behold how ye prevail nothing: lo, the world is gone after him." — John 12:12-19 (ASV)

1. Here we see the fervor of the crowd that went to meet Christ.

   First, they go to meet Christ; second, we have the reaction of the Pharisees: the Pharisees therefore said.

   Concerning the first point, the Evangelist does three things:

   • First, he mentions their going out.
   • Second, he tells of our Lord’s entrance: and Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it.
   • Third, he states why the crowd went out to him: the multitude.

2. He mentions four things concerning the crowd that went out to the Lord. First, the time they went out, the next day, that is, the day following the one he referred to when he said, six days before the Passover (John 12:1); in other words, the tenth day of the month. This corresponds to the figure in Exodus, where we read that the Paschal lamb which was to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day in the evening should be obtained on the tenth day of the month (Exodus 12:3).

3. Second, the ones who went out are described: and on the next day, a great multitude came to the festival day. They signify the multitudes of people who would be converted to Christ: let the assembly of the people be gathered about you (Psalms 7:7). He says to the festival day because believers are converted to Christ so that they may come to the feast day of the heavenly Jerusalem: many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 8:11).

4. Third, the Evangelist mentions their reason for going out, which was that they heard Jesus was coming; he says that when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. For all the faithful are converted to Christ through what they hear of the faith: faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ (Romans 10:17); and the children of Israel heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel; and the peoples believed (Exodus 4:31).

5. Fourth, he mentions how they conducted themselves. First of all, what they did: they took branches of palm trees. Now the palm, since it retains its freshness, signifies victory. Thus, in ancient times it was given to conquerors as a symbol of their victory. Again, we read of the conquering martyrs that they held palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9). And so the branches of palm trees were given as praise, signifying victory, because our Lord was to conquer death by dying and to triumph over the devil, the prince of death, by the victory of the cross. And went forth to meet him: prepare to meet your God, O Israel! (Amos 4:12).

6. Second, the Evangelist mentions what they said: and cried: hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel! Here they combine both a petition and praise. There is a petition when they say, hosanna, that is, “save us, I implore you.” It is like saying ‘hosy,’ which means ‘save,’ and ‘anna,’ which means ‘implore.’ According to Augustine, this is not a word but an exclamation of someone praying. And it is fitting that they should ask the Lord Jesus for salvation, because we read in Isaiah (35:4): behold your God . . . he will come and save you; stir up thy might, and come to save us! (Psalms 80:2).

7. They praise him for two things: for his coming and for the power of his reign or kingdom.

   They praise his coming when they say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Note that to bless is to speak well of someone. Now God blesses us in one way, and we bless God in another. For when God blesses us he makes us good, since for God to speak is to do: for he spoke and they were created (Psalms 148:5). But when we bless God, we profess his goodness: we bless you from the house of the Lord (Psalms 118:26); blessed be every one who blesses you! (Genesis 27:29). Therefore, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, for Christ worked in the name of God, because everything he did he directed to the glory of God.

   Now because both the Father and the Son are the Lord, the phrase, in the name of the Lord, can be understood in two ways. In one way, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord means blessed is he who comes in his own name, as Lord: the Lord is our ruler (Isaiah 33:22). Moses did not come in the name of the Lord in this way, because he came as a servant: now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later (Hebrews 3:5). According to Augustine, the better interpretation is to say that in the name of the Lord means in the name of the Father. For Christ’s own words direct our minds to this: I have come in the name of my Father (John 5:43). Further, there are two ways in which Christ is said to have come in the name of the Father. First, he came as the Son, which implies the Father; second, he came to reveal the Father: I have manifested your name to the men (John 17:6).

8. The people praise the power of his reign when they say, the King of Israel. Literally, the Jews believed that he had come to reign over them temporally and deliver them from subjection to the Romans. That is why they hailed him as a king: he will reign as king and deal wisely (Jeremiah 23:5); behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice (Isaiah 32:1).

9. Note that the words above can be found in the Psalms. For when the Psalm says, the stone which the builders rejected (Psalms 118:22), it then continues, save us, we beseech thee, O Lord! . . . blessed is he who enters in the name of the Lord! (Psalms 118:25–26). And there Jerome, according to the meaning of the Hebrew, translated “hosanna” as “blessed.” But what the people added, the King of Israel, is not in the Psalms. Instead, the psalm says: the Lord is God, and he has given us light (Psalms 118:27). In saying this, the people, due to their blindness, lessened his praise: for the Psalm praises our Lord as God, but they praised him as a temporal king.

10. When the Evangelist says, and Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it, he describes our Lord’s coming:

    • First, he tells how he came.
    • Second, he mentions a prophecy.
    • Third, he describes the disciples’ state of mind regarding this event.

11. It should be noted in regard to the first point that John the Evangelist wrote his Gospel after all the others. And so, after carefully noting what the others had written, he merely summarized what they had already mentioned but filled in what they had omitted. Therefore, since the other Evangelists had already told how the Lord sent two of his disciples to bring the donkey, John is content to mention briefly that Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it.

    However, note that Christ’s actions stand midway between the events of the Old and New Testaments. Thus the crowds praised him, both the one that went before him and the one that followed him, because Christ’s actions are the rule and example for the things done in the New Testament, and they were prefigured by the fathers of the Old Testament.

    The young donkey is an awkward animal and represents the Gentiles. Christ sat upon it to signify that he would redeem the Gentiles: I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6); happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free (Isaiah 32:20), that is, thus uniting the Jews and the Gentiles in one faith.

    Now Matthew wrote his Gospel for the Jews, and so he made mention of a female donkey. This female donkey represents the synagogue of the Jews, which was like a mother to the Gentiles in spiritual matters, because out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3). The other Evangelists, however, wrote their Gospels for the Gentiles, and so they mention the young colt of the female donkey.

12. When the Evangelist says, as it is written: fear not, daughter Zion, he cites the prophecy which was written in Zechariah (Zechariah 9:9). First, he reassures them; second, he promises a kingly majesty; and third, he adds the benefit that the king will bring.

    He reassures them when he says, fear not, daughter Zion. Zion was the fortress in Jerusalem where the king lived. The daughter of Zion, therefore, would be the people of Jerusalem and Judea who were subject to the king of Jerusalem. Thus the Jews are being told, fear not, because the Lord is your defender: who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass? (Isaiah 51:12); the Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalms 27:1). Here the Evangelist is driving out their worldly and servile fear.

    He promises them a kingly majesty, saying, behold, your king comes: for to us a son is given (Isaiah 9:6); he will sit upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom (Isaiah 9:7).

    He says, your king, that is, taking flesh from you, for it is not with angels that he is concerned, but with the descendants of Abraham (Hebrews 2:16). Again, your king, that is, for your benefit. Thus he adds, comes, to you: if only you knew today the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes (Luke 19:42). But because they resisted, they hindered their own good. The king comes to you, I say, not to harm you but to set you free; thus he adds, sitting on an ass’s colt. This signifies the mercy of the king, which is most welcome to his subjects: his throne is upheld by mercy (Proverbs 20:28). This is the opposite of a king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion (Proverbs 19:12). In effect, he is saying: He is not coming as a haughty king, which would make him hateful, but with gentleness: if they make you master of the feast, do not exalt yourself . Therefore, do not fear that the king will oppress you. Now the old law was given in fear, because the law produced slaves. This phrase also signifies the power of the king, because by coming with humility and in weakness, he attracted the entire world: the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Corinthians 1:25).

13. Then when he says, these things his disciples did not understand at first, he describes the disciples’ state of mind regarding this prophecy. And he admits his own ignorance and that of the other disciples, for as we read, the just person is the first to accuse himself (Proverbs 18:17).

    So he says, these things, what was predicted, his disciples did not understand at first, that is, before the Passion. But when Jesus was glorified, that is, when he showed the power of his resurrection, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and they had done these things to him. The reason they understood only after he was glorified was because it was then that they received the power of the Holy Spirit, which made them wiser than all the wise: the breath of the almighty makes a man understand (Job 32:8). The Evangelist adds this, however, to show that what happened was not arranged by the disciples’ own efforts.

14. Then he mentions the reason the crowd went to meet Jesus, which was to bear witness. This was done by the multitude, who was with him at the resurrection of Lazarus, when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead, gave testimony of him: for that reason also the people came to meet him. For Jews demand signs (1 Corinthians 1:22). Now this was a clearer and more marvelous sign than the others; thus, Christ performed it last in order to impress it more forcefully on their memory.

15. Then when the Evangelist says, the Pharisees then said among themselves: do you see that we accomplish nothing? Behold, the whole world is gone after him, he describes the reaction of the Pharisees, who were enraged because their plans were frustrated. Thus they say, do you see that we accomplish nothing? The Pharisees said this out of envy, as if to say: “We are not having any effect,” that is, in our evil intentions; “we have failed to stop him”: but evil men and seducers will grow worse and worse: erring, and driving into error (2 Timothy 3:13).

    But why were they enraged at the blind crowd? Because the whole world has gone after him through whom the world was made. This was a sign that the whole world would one day follow him: we will live in his sight. We will know and we will follow the Lord (Hosea 6:3). Chrysostom, however, thinks that these words were said by the Pharisees who had come to believe, but they were spoken privately for fear of the other Jews. They said this to stop the persecution of Christ. It is as if they were saying: “No matter what snares you lay, he will grow in stature, and his glory will increase. Why then not stop your plotting?” This is practically the same as the advice of Gamaliel (Acts 5:34).