“Matthias, there was much that was puzzling about that week, even to those of us who were closest to him. None of us had any stomach for going up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover that year, for we knew that the chief priests and the Sanhedrin had agreed to put Jesus to death, after he had raised Lazarus, because they feared that all men would soon believe in him if he were allowed to continue working his miracles.”

“John, why did Jesus enter the city, on that first day of his last week, riding on a lowly ass, of all animals?”

“As our party neared Bethpage, on our journey to Jerusalem for the Passover, Jesus sent two of us ahead to secure for him an ass, saying that it was necessary that he ride one into Jerusalem in order that the prophet’s words be fulfilled.”

“Did any of you understand what he meant?”

“None of us. We were not as proficient in the words of our prophets as Jesus. Only later, much later, did we learn that Zechariah had written, ‘Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass.…’ ”

“Was Zechariah describing the Messiah?”

“Yes, he who was to come to free the people from Alexander, more than three hundred years ago.”

“Since Alexander died with the entire world in his hands, I take it that Zechariah’s liberator never came. Then Jesus, riding upon an ass, intended this to be a sign to the people that he was entering Jerusalem as their Messiah? That makes no sense at all. If you and the other apostles did not understand the sign, how could Jesus expect the rural and uneducated crowds on the road to recognize it?”

John shrugged his thin shoulders. “Other than his words that the prophecy should be fulfilled, Jesus did not explain his reasoning to us, nor did we ask.”

“And yet some of your party, according to what I’ve been told, apparently attempted to incite the crowd along the way by shouting, ‘Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ Doesn’t that acclamation have special significance for all Jews?”

“It does. It is a prayer to the anointed king, the Messiah, for salvation and deliverance, and it is as old as our people.”

“But if none of you recognized the significance of Jesus’ riding on an ass, who was shouting the Messiah acclamation from your group?”

“Peter, and with his encouragement the rest of us soon joined in, at first softly and then louder and louder.”

“You did more than that, didn’t you? I’ve been told that some of you also threw your garments and the fronds from palm trees in his path as if he were visiting royalty. Did all this commotion cause the crowd to fall in behind Jesus for a triumphal entry into the city?”