Matthew 21:5
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): The four Evangelists all notice this triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, five days before his death as if to testify the prophecy concerning it: “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, and upon a colt the foal of an ass,” Zechariah 9:9.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): Now observe here―how His coming is described. When a king comes, something great and magnificent is expected, especially when he comes to take possession of his kingdom―but there is nothing of that here: Behold, he cometh to thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass. When Christ would appear in His glory, it is in His meekness, not in His majesty. His temper is very mild. He comes not in wrath to take vengeance, but in mercy to work salvation. He is meek to suffer the greatest injuries and indignities for Sion’s cause, meek to bear with the follies and unkindness of Sion’s own children. He is easy of access, easy to be entreated.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): He was the very King of meekness.
ROBERT HAWKER: Behold! how distinguished from every other king, is Zion’s king. No trumpets, no gorgeous apparel, no courtly attendants, but as the Lord himself was meek and lowly, every accommodation corresponded to the humble appearance! Such was, and is, Jesus!
MATTHEW HENRY: As an evidence of this, His appearance is very mean, sitting upon an ass, as creature made not for state, but for service―not for battles, but for burdens; slow in its motions, but sure, and safe, and constant. The foretelling of this so long before, and the care taken that it should be exactly fulfilled, intimate it to have a peculiar significancy, for the encouragement of poor souls to apply themselves to Christ. Sion’s King comes riding, not on a prancing horse, which the timorous petitioner dares not come near, or a running horse, which the slow-footed petitioner cannot keep pace with, but on a quiet ass, that the poorest of His subjects may not be discouraged in their access to Him. Mention is made in the prophecy of “a colt, the foal of an ass;” and therefore Christ sent for the colt with the ass, that the scripture might be fulfilled, Matthew 21:1-4.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): You know, it is difficult to be a man of power and yet to be meek—to be a king and able to order things after your own will and yet be lowly—to be master of all and to suffer with patience the scoffs and reproaches of those who are not worthy to be put among the dogs of your flock. But our Master had all things delivered to Him by God, yet He was so meek as to endure all manner of contradiction of sinners against Himself. He allowed sinners to spit in His face, to pluck His hair and scourge Him cruelly—this is matchless and unparalleled meekness and lowliness of heart! Yet such was Jesus Christ—as God Almighty, and as Man most lowly. Having an infinite mediatorial power, with all things delivered to Him, yet our Redeemer was “meek and lowly in heart.”
A. W. PINK: Meekness is the only virtue which will keep the affections and passions in their proper place. Meekness is the only grace which makes one submissive to God—and pleased with all that pleases Him…Supremely it was exemplified by Christ, who declared, “I am a worm, and no man,” Psalm 22:6, which had reference not only to His being humbled into the dust, but also to the fact that there was nothing in Him which resisted the judgments of God, John 18:11: “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” He was “led―not dragged―as a lamb to the slaughter.”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): You see it in the whole of His life. You see it in His reaction to other people, you see it especially in the way He suffered persecution and scorn, sarcasm and derision―His attitude towards His enemies. But perhaps still more His utter submission to His Father, show His meekness. He said, “The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself,” and “the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” Look at Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. Look at the portrait of Him we find in Philippians, where Paul says He did not regard His equality with God as a prerogative at which to clutch or something to hold on to all costs. No, He decided to live as a Man, and He did. He humbled Himself, became as a servant and even went to the death on the cross.
A. W. PINK: When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He was buffeted, He threatened not.
C. H. SPURGEON: By many, to return evil for evil has been judged to be the more manly course.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: Courage was the supreme virtue of the Greek pagan philosophers. And that was why you see they regarded the meekness taught by Christian faith, as weakness―courage, and strength, and power―those were the things they believed in.
ROBERT LEIGHTON (1611-1684): Men think meekness poor and mean―nothing more exposed to contempt than the spirit of meekness―it is mere folly with men. That is no matter; this overweighs all their disesteem, “A meek and quiet spirit is with God of great price,” 1 Peter 3:4. And things are indeed as He values them, and no otherwise―yea, it is the King’s own fashion: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls,” Matthew 11:29.
MATTHEW HENRY: He is meek not only as a Teacher, but as a Ruler; He rules by love. His government is mild and gentle, and His laws not written in the blood of His subjects, but in His own.
H. A. IRONSIDE (1876-1951): The world will never understand the value of this―Theodore Roosevelt said once, “I hate a meek man.” He probably did not realize that the boldest man, the most utterly unafraid man ever seen on earth, our Lord Jesus Christ, was in the fullest sense a meek man. Meekness is not inconsistent with bravery, and enables one to suffer and be strong when the world would “turn aside the way of the meek,”Amos 2:7.
A. W. PINK: So far from being weakness―as the world supposes―meekness is the strength of the man who can rule his own spirit under provocation, subduing his resentment under wrong, refusing to retaliate. But meekness must not be confounded with weakness. True meekness is ever manifested by yieldedness to God’s will, yet it will not yield a principle of righteousness or compromise with evil. God-given meekness can also stand up for God-given rights: when God’s glory is impeached, we must have a zeal which is as hot as fire―Remember how Christ, in concern for His Father’s glory, made a whip of cords and drove the desecrators out of the temple, John 2:15. Meekness restrains from private revenge, but it in nowise conflicts with the requirements of fidelity to God, His cause, and His people.
C. H. SPURGEON: Now, Christian, who is your model of a man? There is but one model of a Christian, and that is the Man, Christ Jesus.
