Day 1: Sundown Saturday to sundown Sunday.
Palm Sunday
In case you didn’t know, Palm Sunday begins what is known to the Christian church as Holy Week. The week before Easter. And it starts officially on this day. For those of you that have been following along since Friday – welcome back!
Believe it or not, many churches will go through the day without even mentioning the significance of Palm Sunday or the events leading up to Christ’s death. It seems to be a Day or a Tradition that has gotten a bit lost in recent years.
If you attend a church or have been in a Palm Sunday service where they wave palm branches you have experienced the pageantry and anticipation that the day can bring. Perhaps you’re not fully aware of the significance of this tradition or where the symbolism actually came from. So here’s a bit of scoop.
On the Sunday before Christ’s crucifixion, Jesus walked the 2 miles in from Bethany and rode a donkey over a palm-branch pathway into Jerusalem. This was but one of many coming fulfillments of prophecy. This one was spoken by the prophet Zechariah.
(which was written hundreds of years before this event) FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.
Here’s the significance of that move: In biblical times, (especially in this era of Roman rule) kings and nobles would parade in a procession, riding on the back of a donkey. The donkey was a symbol of peace; and riding it was a symbolic gesture that proclaimed peaceful intentions. When a king or dignitary was arriving in victory or triumph, people would lay palm branches in his path to signify the victory of the king.
Here is how it played out for Jesus:
John 12:12-15
On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.” Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it.
The people of that day lived in a period where there legally was no king but Caesar. So, here they were, in a packed city preparing for the Passover, touting a new king. One they believed was their long awaited Messiah. Not Caesar. You gotta know, this didn’t go over very well with the dignitaries.
After that Triumphal Entry, as we call it, Jesus went into the Temple, threw over the money changers tables, freed the sacrificial doves and healed the blind and the lame. And that was just on Sunday!
Having had a very full day, Jesus returned Sunday evening to the place that brought him comfort: the home of his friends Mary, Martha & Lazarus, in Bethany.
See you for Monday’s rundown…
S.
verses for today:
Matt. 21: 1-17
Mark 11:1-11
Luke 19:28-46
John 12:12, 13
