In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
Jesus enters Jerusalem only once during his public ministry and then just before
his crucifixion. He does so on the back of a donkey rather than mounted on a
warhorse to demonstrate that he comes as the Prince of Peace and not as just
another Olympian military leader. While this may have pleased his disciples, it
threw the whole city…into an uproar (Matthew
21:10, Good News Translation, here and following).
Understandably. According to Matthew, Jesus immediately enters the Temple, chases out the moneychangers, overturns their tables, and condemns their unwitting devotion to Pluto (god of money) in the one national building dedicated to Yahweh (Matthew 21:12-13).