April 2023

This, then, is Palm Sunday, the beginning of the final week of Jesus’s ministry on earth, and the day of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. It was Passover week. Multitudes were arriving in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. The significance of the timing will become apparent as the Passion of Christ unfolds.

Herewith the description of that long ago Sunday from the Gospel of John:

The Passover, a Jewish holy day, was near, and many country people arrived in Jerusalem several days early so that they could go through the cleansing ceremony before the Passover began. They wanted to see Jesus, and as they gossiped in the Temple, they asked each other, “What do you think? Will he come for the Passover?” Meanwhile the chief priests and Pharisees had publicly announced that anyone seeing Jesus must report him immediately so that they could arrest him. John 11:55-57 TLB

Six days before the Passover ceremonies began, Jesus arrived in Bethany where Lazarus was—the man he had brought back to life. A banquet was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus sat at the table with him. Then Mary took a jar of costly perfume made from essence of nard, and anointed Jesus’ feet with it and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with fragrance. John 2:1-3 TLB

The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city, and a huge crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him, shouting, “The Savior! God bless the King of Israel! Hail to God’s Ambassador!”  Jesus rode along on a young donkey, fulfilling the prophecy (Note 1) that said: “Don’t be afraid of your King, people of Israel, for he will come to you meekly, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”  (His disciples didn’t realize at the time that this was a fulfillment of prophecy; but after Jesus returned to his glory in heaven, then they noticed how many prophecies of Scripture had come true before their eyes). John 2:12-16 TLB

Note 1: Zechariah 9:9

Easter2023, 5/40

As Jesus approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, He sent two of the disciples and said, “Go into the village ahead of you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”  So those who were sent left and found it just as He had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” “The Lord needs it,” they said.  Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it. As he was going along, they were spreading their clothes on the road. (Note 1)

Now He came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the entire crowd began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!”  (Note 2)  Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out.”

As He approached and saw the city, He wept for it, saying, “If you knew this day what would bring peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days will come on you when your enemies will build a barricade around you, surround you, and hem you in on every side. They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”  Luke 19:29-44  CSB

Note 1: This fulfilled the words of the prophet Zechariah of some 500 years earlier: “Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey – riding on a donkey’s colt.”  Zechariah 9:9 NLT

Note 2:  The Gospel of John expands on the majesty of this procession. They “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  The King of Israel!”  John 12:13 NKJV

Easter2023, 4/40

Passover was near and the Jewish people were on their annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  Jesus, too, neared the city.  But His Jerusalem was to be unlike any other.

Along the way Jesus and His apostles stop in Bethany to visit long time friends, including, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.   Events unfold that foreshadow Jesus’s coming Passover experience.

While sharing dinner with friends, Jesus is anointed with expensive perfume.  Some in the assembly think it an outrageous waste – 300 dinarii!  Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial.  You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.” John 12:7-8 NLT

Jesus knew that His final journey to Jerusalem would begin the following day.  Cue the donkey:

Rejoice, O people of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!

Look, your king is coming to you.

He is righteous and victorious,

yet he is humble, riding on a donkey –

riding on a donkey’s colt. Zechariah 9:9 NLT

Easter2023, 3/42