When the Sun Rose

An Unexpected Entry

My leather sandals shuffle across the dry land as I hold up the side of my long tunic. Peter and James, leading the group, begin to veer off to the right. The rest of us follow. On the side of the worn-out, dusty path we walk on, is a huge, flat rock. Andrew places his items on the rock, so I suppose this is where we will take a little time off of our journey. A group in front of us, keeps going down toward Jerusalem. I tuck my long tunic underneath me and sit on the edge of the rock. The tunic itches the back of my ankle, and I notice a small bug bite. As the bite continues to itch, a small drop of blood emerges from the bite. My mind shifts back to the whole reason we are on this very journey now, Passover. I can only imagine the horror the Egyptians faced as they noticed their beloved Nile was turned to a bloody, ruined river.

I pull a blade of dry, brittle grass from the side of the rock and smear off the blood. As I throw the grass down, I notice two men walking out from the brush. One carries a short, brown rope used to tie animals together. I peer farther to see what animal is tied at the end. A miniature, four-legged donkey trots behind the men. His brown body walks strong and his ears are perched up high.

"It's a donkey," I whisper to myself. I can't help but smile. The men walk closer to us. Jesus steps off the rock and walks toward the donkey. The two men take off their cloaks and lay them across the donkey. Jesus sits on the animal.

    "We shall be heading into Jerusalem now," He says. Peter, now holding the rope, guides the donkey down the dusty, dry path. I gather my small belongings and follow after Jesus.

    As we approach the city, I hear many voices united together. They are all chanting something. It is very gentle and quiet now, but as we get closer, the volume increases.

"He's here! He's here," a tall, lanky man yells to the crowd jammed by the city gate. He takes his hands and pushes the people back to create an entryway.

"Hosanna to the Son of David!" The group chants. They all are holding something up in the air, but I can't tell what it is. My eyes focus, and I realize they are waving huge, green tree branches in the air. Across the dirt path, are cloaks that have been laid by the people.

I feel as if I am part of the royal family. To get this kind of treatment is... well, rather peculiar. Some people really do love Jesus and his work, and those people are always so welcoming, but others are not. Jesus remains seated on the donkey as people push their way to the front of the crowd asking, "Who is it? Who is this man?"

"This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee," one of the disciples behind me says. The people continue to wave their branches and praise Jesus. I watch him, and he doesn't wave like a king or kick the people when they come close to him. He genuinely wants to know these people. That's what makes me remember I am not a part of the current royal family.

As we get closer into the city, the people seem to just flock to Jesus. They all just come to simply touch him or have a conversation with him. People flood the streets, and it is taking a little longer than I anticipated to get to the Temple where Jesus will tell his stories. Jesus takes this time as an opportunity to talk to the people lined up on the streets. Now I'm noticing that each second that we stay here, our group seems to keep growing. We entered with about twenty to thirty followers, and now, I can not even fathom the number behind me.