Matthew 21:7

The amazing nature of how the New Testament was put together is revealed in the smallest details. Here in the account by Matthew of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus, we see a telling piece of evidence that Matthew indeed was an eyewitness to the event. He tells us that Jesus not only rode on a young colt but that that colt was accompanied by a mare donkey. The other Gospel writers do not mention this additional animal in the procession. Matthew does, and we suspect that the added animal was there to induce the young colt to cooperate in this magnificent but humble event. But the point I’m making is that this element of detail could only have been added by someone who was not simply retelling a story that he’d been told but who had been there as an eyewitness himself. I thank God for these little “signature strokes” in the Scriptures that give us confidence that what we have in our hands is truly a witness from the ages. This is one of the reasons I’m so grateful that God gave us not one Gospel but four Gospels, so that we could see the realities of the life of his son recorded in history from different points of view that complement each other and enrich each other at the same time. If God was uncertain about the historical testimony of his son, he wouldn’t have given us four different versions of it. They confirm, not contradict, the truth of the life of Jesus.