Palm Sunday, March 30th 33AD

The Triumphal Entry, what’s it all about?

Zechariah 9:9, John 3:1-7

What images or impressions are painted in your mind by Palm Sunday, the day of our Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on that donkey? No one who has been in church for more than a few years misses the fact that this is a very important day in the life of Jesus, and that it relates somehow to the following Friday and then Sunday the Resurrection. Perhaps what we remember most is Jesus being welcomed as the Messiah of Israel, and then a short week later, a once welcoming crowd turns bitter and angry crowd and cries out for him to be crucified! All those things are true, but are they the whole story of Palm Sunday? What is the connection between the donkey ride, Israel’s happy crowd, and the Friday of the cross 5 days later?