Palm Sunday and a Cross

Palm Sunday begins Passion Week, which includes The Last Supper, Jesus’ Garden of Gethsemane experience, his crucifixion and his victory on Resurrection Sunday, or Easter.

Sources say Passion Week is so important that three of the gospel writers – Matthew, Mark and Luke – devote a full third of their contents to reporting this week, and the fourth gospel writer, John, dedicates the entire last half of his book to “the week.”

Jerusalem reportedly claimed a population of about 50,000 at the time of Jesus triumphal entry, but many had come to celebrate the Jewish Passover, and Jerusalem bulged with perhaps 150,000 people on Palm Sunday.

Here’s the paraphrased Palm Sunday story (Matthew 21:1-11, 14-17):

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them
right away.”

This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” (Zechariah 9:9).

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees (John 12:13 tells us they “Took branches of palm trees”) and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest!”

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.

“Yes,” replied Jesus. “Have you never read, 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’?” And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

Jesus had true followers, but the general crowd turned on him when influenced by leaders fearful of losing Rome’s favor. Johnny Cash sang “Jesus was a Carpenter,” which contains these words: “It was on a storming Sunday when he (Jesus) rode to old Jerusalem / And the palms they cast before him / Were the crimes they laid against him.”

Writer Bill Petro says the throngs threw down garments on the pathway to cushion Jesus’ ride – an Oriental custom still observed on occasions – as well as palm fronds, the symbol of triumph and the national emblem of an independent Palestine. Jewish religious officials feared Jesus would cause the Romans to destroy the Temple and their nation. Petro says there had been a dozen uprisings in Palestine in the 100 years previous to Palm Sunday. Most of those revolts were subdued by Roman force.

John 1:11 records, “He (Jesus) came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” The same crowds that were crying out “Hosanna” were crying out “crucify Him” five days later (Matthew 27:22-23).

I don’t want to be just a “Palm Sunday believer” – a person who’s happy to follow Jesus during good times but ready to disown the Lord when his popularity seems to fade and there are crosses to bear.

Ernest W. Blandly wrote the lyrics to “Where He Leads Me.” That old hymn contains these words: “I’ll go with Him through the waters…I’ll go with Him through the garden… I’ll go with Him to dark Calv’ry…(Refrain): Where He leads me I will follow / Where He leads me I will follow / Where He leads me I will follow / I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.”