The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–11)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (on Matthew 21:1–11) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxi.html

On the colt yielded up by its owners, and the lesson to the disciples:

And think not this a little thing which was now done, for who was it that wrought with the owners of the beasts that they refused not, but yielded them? By this also He instructs His disciples that He could have restrained the Jews, but would not; and further teaches them that they should grant whatever is asked of them; for if they who knew not Christ, now granted this, much more it becomes His disciples to give unto all.

On why the King is mounted upon an ass, and not upon a horse:

To me it seems that He was mounted upon the ass, not only because of the mystery, but to give us a lesson of wisdom, teaching us therein that it needs not to be mounted on horses, but that it is sufficient to employ an ass, and be content with that which is necessary. But enquire of the Jews, what King has entered Jerusalem mounted upon an ass? They can name none other, but this one only.

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St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444)

Commentary on the Gospel of Luke, Sermon 130 (on Luke 19:28–40) Source: trans. R. Payne Smith, Library of Fathers, 1859. Public domain. Full text: https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cyril_on_luke_12_sermons_124_134.htm

On the King who goes up to Jerusalem for the Passion that is the salvation of the world:

As long then as it was fitting that He should traverse the country of the Jews, endeavouring to win by lessons and admonitions superior to the law many to the grace that is by faith, He ceased not so to do: but inasmuch as the time was now at length calling Him to that Passion which was for the salvation of the whole world, to free the inhabitants of the earth from the tyranny of the enemy, and abolish death, and destroy the sin of the world, He goes up to Jerusalem, pointing out first to the Israelites by a plain fact, that a new people from among the heathen shall be subject to Him, while themselves are rejected as the murderers of the Lord.

On the ass rejected and the untried colt accepted:

The ass then was rejected, for Christ rode not thereon, although it had been broken in already, and practised to submit itself to its riders: but He took the colt, although it was untrained and unproved in carrying a rider, and in yielding to the reins. For, as I said, He rejected the synagogue of the Jews, although it had once borne a rider in the law, nor was obedience a thing to which it was untrained: still He refused it as aged, and spoiled, and as having gone astray already into wilful disobedience to God over all: but He accepted the colt, a people, that is, taken from among the Gentiles.

On the children with palm branches (John 12:13):

But another of the holy Evangelists has mentioned, that children also, holding aloft branches of palm trees, ran before Him, and, together with the rest of the disciples, celebrated His glory; so that by their means also we see the new people, gathered from among the heathen, represented as in a painting.

On the stones that would cry out (Luke 19:40):

For it is impossible for God not to be glorified, even though those of the race of Israel refuse so to do. For the worshippers of idols were once as stones, and, so to speak, hardened; but they have been delivered from their former error, and rescued from the hand of the enemy.

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Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–254)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 21:1–11) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxi.html

(Origen is quoted with care; the typological readings below are not among the speculations later condemned in 553.)

On Bethphage, the place of the priests:

Whence Bethphage is interpreted, The house of the Shoulder; for the shoulder was the priest's portion in the Law.

On the loosing of the bound, and the sending back to preach:

Whence also, when He ascended into heaven, He gave command to His disciples that they should loose sinners, for which also He gave them the Holy Spirit. But being loosed, and making progress, and being nourished by the Divinity of the Word, they are held worthy to be sent back to the place whence they were taken, but no more to their former labours, but to preach to them the Son of God, and this is what He signifies when He says, "And straightway He will send them."

On the twofold cry of Hosanna:

Or when they say, "Hosanna to the Son of David; Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord," it is the dispensation of Christ's humanity that they set forth; but His restoration to the holy places when they say, "Hosanna in the highest."

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Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

The Harmony of the Gospels (on Matthew 21:4–7) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxi.html

On the she-ass named only by Matthew:

In this quotation from the Prophet, there is some variety in the different Gospels. Matthew quotes it as if the Prophet had expressly mentioned the she-ass; but it is not so quoted by John, nor in the Church-copies of the translation in common use.

On why the two accounts of the animals are no discrepancy:

The other Evangelists say nothing of the ass. And if Matthew had not mentioned the colt, as they do not mention the ass, the reader ought not to have been surprised. ... For there is no discrepancy where both circumstances may have occurred, though one only related one, and another; how much less then where one mentions both, though another mentions only one?

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St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 21:5–9) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxi.html

On the ass as the synagogue and the colt as the Gentile people:

By the ass which had been under the yoke, and was broken, the synagogue is understood. By the ass's colt wild and unbroken, the Gentile people; for the Jewish nation is towards God the mother of the Gentiles.

On Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:

For it signifies that the coming of Christ is the salvation of the world, whence it follows, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."

On the multitudes before and behind:

When He says, "The multitudes that went before and that followed," He shews that both people, those who before the Gospel, and those who after the Gospel, believed on the Lord, praise Jesus with the harmonious voice of confession.

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St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 310–367)

Commentary on Matthew (on Matthew 21:7–9) As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xxi.html

On the ass and the colt as the twofold calling:

Or by the ass and the colt is shewn the twofold calling from among the Gentiles. For the Samaritans did serve after a certain fashion of obedience, and they are signified by the ass; but the other Gentiles wild and unbroken are signified by the colt.

On the song of praise as a confession of His power to redeem:

The words of their song of praise, express His power of redemption; in calling Him the Son of David, they acknowledge His hereditary title to the kingdom