What is the point of the Palm Sunday entrance into Jerusalem?

Think of the big spectacular parades held in the USA. Name them: Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, 4th of July Parades all over America. The point of all these parades is to celebrate a holiday and its people. Americans love a celebration.

The Jewish people of Jesus’ day were no different. Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem happened at the beginning of the Passover festivities.

Passover celebrated the last of the plagues in Egypt when God brought the Israelites out of slavery. The Passover was so named because the angel of death passed over the doors of the Israelites that were marked with the blood of the sacrificial, perfect lamb. The Egyptians couldn’t get the Israelites to leave fast enough after their firstborn sons were slain in each household. Even Pharaoh’s firstborn son wasn’t saved.

When Jesus came into Jerusalem, many people were there for the festivities.

You know how crowds can be. A group of many highly emotional people can infect everyone around them with their excitement, anxiety, anger, emotion. There’s a reason it’s called mass hysteria. People get caught up in the emotion exhibited in the crowd. This happened twice during that holy week of approximately 33 AD.

At the beginning of the week, Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding a donkey, fulfilling prophecy concerning the Messiah in Zechariah 9:9.

¹² The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;
    see, your king is coming,
    seated on a donkey’s colt.”

¹⁶ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.

¹⁷ Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word.

¹⁸ Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.

John 12:12-18 (NIV)

Thoughts about this passage: 1) conquering heroes rode stallions into cities, not donkeys, 2) this took place after Jesus raised Lazarus from his grave, with some of these people having attended that miracle in nearby Bethany, 3) where did people find palm branches. short of stripping trees bare?

Another crowd of people were watching, but had a different perspective.

¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” John 12:19 NIV

Luke’s gospel records this: ³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁸ “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”^[b]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke19:37-40 (NIV)

John 11 gives this insight into the situation after the resurrection of Lazarus:

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵² and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. ⁵³ So from that day on they plotted to take his life. (John 11:45-53, NIV)

Additional thoughts about Palm Sunday. 1) It was an announcement of Jesus’ intentions. He was the Messiah that came on a donkey into Jerusalem. 2) The action in this parade came from the watchers who waved palm branches and cried out, greeting him as the Messiah. 3) The religious establishment wanted the crowd to be quiet. 4) Jesus told them the rocks would cry out if the people were silenced. 5) The Pharisees looked to put Jesus to death.

What can we take from this? Palm Sunday was a radical announcement of the mission of Jesus. He’s no longer telling people to not say anything about his signs and miracles.

It’s on! The purpose of Jesus’ life on earth was about to be fulfilled.