He forbade the demons, whom he cast out from those possessed by them, to divulge that they knew who He was, that they knew that He was the Son of God. Almost always He also forbade those healed by Him to divulge about the miracle.

When Saint Peter confessed Him as Christ, the Son of God – the Messiah, then Christ said to him: "Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed these things unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." The Apostles knew, but the Apostles were also commanded not to divulge to anyone that He was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.

Thus, everything that had existed before, as it were, stood in some contradiction with the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. Never before had we seen the Lord except walking on foot; here they saw Him sitting on an ass for the first time. He had never been seen to shy away from all honors, but now He accepted them.

What did it mean? Why has the way the Lord Jesus Christ acted changed now? Why had He never before, in three and a half years of His preaching, allowed anyone to divulge that He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world? Why did He Himself never speak about this?

Why? Because the time had not yet come to reveal it to the people, because it was not the right time for Him to reveal Himself as the Messiah.

What would have happened if He had rushed to reveal His messianic dignity? You know how fiercely the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees fought against Him. Could they have tolerated then, at the beginning of the Savior's earthly activity, that He proclaimed Himself the Messiah?

No, by no means! This would only increase their hatred and enmity against Him, and would lead to an early, untimely death at their evil hand. Then, before the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, the time had not yet come to declare Him to be Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah.

And now it's here. The Lord knew when to reveal His dignity as Christ to all the people, and the Lord's entry into Jerusalem had just that purpose: to reveal Jesus as Savior, Son of God, and Messiah.

How, in what form, was this great work accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ? Not with great glory, not with the glory that the Messiah would have received if He had been what the Jews believed and expected Him to be; if the purpose of His coming had been only to reign forever over the people of Israel, to place them above all other nations, and to become an earthly king.

After all, the Saviour said at Pilate's trial in response to Pilate's question whether He was a king: "You say... My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).

If He had sought the kingdom of this world, if He had desired to be the Messiah, the great king that the people of Israel had been waiting for, then, of course, He would not have entered Jerusalem in such a poor, humble form.

Were there not a great number of rich and noble people among those who believed in Him, among those who deeply revered Him, who could, at His first hint, furnish the entrance to Jerusalem as if it were the entrance of a king: give magnificent horses, chariots that would accompany crowds of people, as they accompanied great generals in Rome, who won glorious victories over their enemies? They were awarded the so-called triumph. This triumphant procession was full of great glory, full of brilliance. The triumphant stood on a luxuriously decorated chariot drawn by four magnificent horses, holding high his proud head, crowned with a laurel wreath, and received from everywhere signs of admiration and glorification. The troops marched ahead with thunderous music. And behind the chariots were the chained kings and leaders of the kingdom that the triumphant had conquered.

And could the Lord Jesus Christ have made His entrance in this way? Oh no, oh no!

All earthly glory is insignificant and vanishes like smoke, and all those who were honored with a triumph in Rome have long been forgotten by people. There is another glory, immeasurably higher than the glory of triumphants: there is the glory of valiant humility, meekness, and virtue, for these great spiritual qualities are immeasurably higher than all the merits of military and civil and all human glory, insignificant before the glory of the meek, humble, full of love and virtues.