Palm Sunday
The day known as Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter Sunday. This is the first day of what is usually called Holy Week. In ‘Cracking open Easter’ we will look at the events of this week which are recorded in the Bible. Palm Sunday is the day Jesus arrived in Jerusalem in an unusual way.
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Jesus had become well known for performing miracles and teaching the people about God. When he arrived in Jerusalem the people came to meet him, shouting ‘Hosanna’, meaning ‘Save’.
They spread branches from trees on the road and that’s why we call it Palm Sunday.
Palm Sunday around the world
Palm Sunday is celebrated all over the world in various ways. In Roman times, the emperors used to give out small presents and palm branches to their friends and servants. In some countries today crosses are made from palm branches and decorated with flowers.
In some South American countries and in the Philippines, the people re-enact the entrance of Jesus to Jerusalem with the priest arriving at the church riding on a donkey. People greet him with palm branches and lay clothes on the ground.
Dig deeper
Before arriving at Jerusalem, Jesus sent two of the disciples ahead to the next village. He told them that there would be a donkey there with a colt and they were to untie them and bring them to him. It happened just as he said.
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born the prophet Zechariah predicted this day. He wrote about the King entering Jerusalem ‘riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’. You can read this in the Old Testament part of the Bible in Zechariah 9:9.
Zechariah 9:9
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
The Bible says
Matthew 21:1-3, 6-11
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.’
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 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.’