Matthew 20-22

In the Bible study I led last night I touched on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the last week of his ministry(Matt 21:1-11).  I wonder what the Romans thought of this procession?  Did they even notice it?  Maybe the soldiers couldn’t distinguish the “royal procession” from the usual pre-Passover crowds making their way into the city.  We have the perspective of the Gospel writers but not from those disinterested Romans who were stationed in this “primitive” part of the empire with the purpose of ensuring the flow of taxes to Rome.  Jesus attracted crowds, but in this case the multitudes were already present for the Passover celebration.  Maybe the Roman soldiers had grown accustomed to the incomprehensible shouts in Aramaic whenever the crowds gathered in Jerusalem.   Since the Romans didn’t act I believe they could not distinguish how God was unfolding the final days of his plan of redemption from the rest of the day’s events.  Maybe they were preoccupied with the insurrection in which Barabbas was involved.  Maybe there were new troops arriving who needed to be oriented to the “strange behavior” of the Jews.  Even though Matthew says the whole city was in an uproar none of the Gospel writers mentioned a Roman response to the clamor.  I wonder what Pilate was doing five days before Jesus would stand in his court room?  I wonder when Herod Antipas arrived in the city for his version of celebrating Passover? 

Stuart