Palm Sunday

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord- the King of Israel!"
John 12:13

When a celebrity visits our towns or cities today, we often wave flags, and shout "Hurray!" The people of Israel, around 33 A.D. were not well off and spoke a different tongue. Instead of flags, they plucked the long, graceful palm leaves off nearby trees and waved them as a tribute to Jesus.

They shouted, "Hosanna!", an exclamation of praise and joy, to Jesus as he passed by.

Jesus had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Passover. The Jews honored this day every year, remembering how the Lord, through Moses, had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

In preparation for this particular Passover, Jesus found a young donkey and rode on its back over the dusty road into the city. The Bible describes how the people met him on the way, greeting and acclaiming him enthusiastically with their palm leaves and their voices.

Almost everyone had heard, and many had witnessed, the miracles Jesus had performed. He had cleansed lepers, healed the sick, raised the dead, calmed storms, changed water into wine, cast out demons, and fed thousands with five loaves of bread and two fish. He sought no recognition, but lived in a humble manner, walking the dusty roads of Israel with his followers, teaching the people who flocked to hear him with power and authority.

Although no one but Jesus was aware of it, this Passover celebration was different. It was the last one he would celebrate on earth with his friends. Only five days later, on Good Friday, he would be crucified on a hill outside of town, Mount Calvary. The very same people who praised him on Palm Sunday, would call out for his death a few days later.

By many of his words and deeds, Jesus had angered the religious authorities of the day. The chief priests and Pharisees ordered the people to observe many rigorous laws. They prescribed ritual washings and called for other onerous and precise observances. Jesus followed not the letter, but the spirit of the law. He taught the most important law was to love God and neighbor.

When Jesus' enemies saw the people rallying around him and proclaiming him king of Israel, they became desperate to get rid of him. Judas, one of Jesus' Apostles, Judas Iscariot, was willing to cooperate with them.

On Good Friday, Pontius Pilate, who at that time was Roman governor of Israel, asked this same crowd of people what should be done with Jesus. Provoked and encouraged by the religious authorities, they shouted out, "Crucify him!"

Christians celebrate Palm Sunday because it was the one occasion on which Jesus received the praise and honor due him by the people he loved. Even though they, as we often do, might turn their backs on him later, we identify with their moments of praise and joy in his presence.

On Palm Sunday Christians around the world will be heard singing and praying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord", in many different lands and tongues.