The following is an excerpt from Seasons of Worship: A Spiritual Calendar for the Church Today.
The first day of Holy Week is known as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It is the Sunday immediately preceding Easter Sunday, when the church remembers and celebrates the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, fulfilling the prophetic words of Zechariah.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
A group of people in Jerusalem laid their cloaks down in front of Jesus. Others grabbed palm branches and began waving them (a Jewish national symbol conveying the notion of victory over one’s enemies) as they hailed Jesus as king. Most in the crowd that day shouted praises toward Jesus, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt 21:9; echoing the words of the psalmist; Ps 118:25–26).
“ Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
This is a celebration! Shouts of praise, symbols of victory, and a kingly entrance. But we can’t stop at the waving of palm branches and not read any further. Luke shares with us the event immediately after Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem. The people are shouting praises, the Pharisees are upset, Jesus tells them that he won’t silence the crowd because if he does, the rocks will begin to shout praises, and then he looks over the city of Jerusalem and weeps. This is a deep, grieving cry. You see, Jesus knows the path that is set before him. The path that he has begun with this entrance. He knows that by the end of the week, the shouts of praise will turn to cries for his death. He sees the sin in the people’s hearts and their refusal to let him cleanse them. He knows that their shouts of “hosanna,” meaning “Lord, save us” are just words. They don’t really mean it. At least not in the sense that really matters—spiritually. In fact, their cries of “hosanna” are directing Jesus to the moment and place where he can fulfill their request—the cross. And so, Jesus weeps. And each step Jesus takes from this point forward takes him one step closer to the cross.
©2024 Steven D. Brooks, Wipf and Stock Publishers
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If you would like to read more about Palm Sunday and the Christian year, and it’s spiritual impact upon the lives of worshipers, you can find more in Seasons of Worship: A Spiritual Calendar for the Church Today by Dr. Steven D. Brooks.