Isaiah 6:8 NLT Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Easter Lesson #01 – What is Palm Sunday?
The events and meanings that took place in this Palm Sunday passage are some of the most important events and meanings in God‘s perfect plan.
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Palm Sunday is the day we celebrate the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, one week before His resurrection, Matthew 21:1-11.
As Jesus entered the holy city, He neared the culmination of a long journey toward Golgotha. He had come to save the lost, Luke 19:10, and now was the time—this was the place—to secure that salvation. Palm Sunday marked the start of what is often called “Passion Week,” the final seven days of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
As Jesus ascended toward Jerusalem, a large multitude gathered around Him.
This crowd understood that Jesus was the Messiah; what they did not understand was that it wasn’t time to set up the kingdom yet—although Jesus had tried to tell them so, Luke19:11-12.
The crowd’s actions along the road give rise to the name “Palm Sunday”: “A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road”, Matthew 21:8. In strewing their cloaks on the road, the people were giving Jesus the royal treatment—King Jehu was given similar honor at his coronation in 2 Kings 9:14. John records the detail that the branches they cut were from palm trees in John 12:13.
Some 450 to 500 years prior to Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, the prophet Zechariah had prophesied the event we now call Palm Sunday: “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! / Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! / See, your king comes to you, / righteous and victorious, / lowly and riding on a donkey, / on a colt, the foal of a donkey”, Zechariah 9:9. The prophecy was fulfilled in every particular, and it was indeed a time of rejoicing, as Jerusalem welcomed their King. Unfortunately, the celebration was not to last.
The crowds looked for a Messiah who would rescue them politically and free them nationally, but Jesus had come to save them spiritually. First things first, and mankind’s primary need is spiritual, not political, cultural, or national salvation.
Even as the coatless multitudes waved the palm branches and shouted for joy, they missed the true reason for Jesus’ presence. They could neither see nor understand the cross. That’s why, “as [Jesus] approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. “The days will come upon you when your enemies . . . will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you”, Luke 19:41-44. It is a tragic thing to see the Savior but not recognize Him for who He is.
There is coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, Philippians 2:10-11. The worship will be real then.
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Let’s go forth and tell the people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s go forth and build up the Kingdom of God according to His Word. Let’s go!