Palm Sunday 2011
April 17, 2011 by Lillie
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” ~ Matthew 21:1-11 (ESV)
Lord, the crowds hailed Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday humbly riding on a donkey, yet soon they were calling for His death. May I honor and worship Him forever as the crowds did only for a short time. In His name. Amen.
Today is the start of Holy Week. Let’s honor and worship the world who died and risen to save us.
Lill,
I’m off to church in half an hour.
Hi Lill,
It is so sad that the people who welcomed Jesus we’re also the same people who cried that He may be crucified. Let us not be like them. Let us welcome Jesus in our lives everyday and may He live in our hearts forever.
With love,
Jan
Jan,
We crucify Jesus anew when we try to control our own lives rather than give it to Him.
I agree with you Lill. And that is a sad truth even Christians sometimes forget to remember.
Jan,
Our fallen, sinful nature will always keep us falling short of the glory of God until we are in Heaven.
Yes. Good thing God’s forgiveness is always right there the moment we truly repent…
All I can say to that, Jan, is Amen!
Holy Week is started. Eat less, pray more…
Mattew,
For many of us, that is good advice for any time…especially Holy Week.
I sang in the choir of Mirfield Parish Church for several years. We had a procession around the church every Palm Sunday. The vicar would present the congregation and choir with a cross made from palm leaves.
We choirboys would place our palm leaf crosses in the back of our dark red hymn books to keep the crosses pressed. You could tell how many years that each choirboy had been in the choir by the thickness of the hymn book and the bits of palm sticking out from the back of the hymn book.
Russell,
We make our own palm crosses. Although I haven’t done so in several years, I used be there on the Saturday before Palm Sunday turning out not-so-pretty palm crosses. On Palm Sunday, we begin the service in the prayer garden outside the church. The priest blesses the palm crosses, and the acolytes hand them out to parishioners as we process into the church. But we don’t collect ours from year to year. We take them back to the parish the following year to be burned to create the ashes for Ash Wednesday.
It is referred to as Palm Sunday because of the palm branches that were laid on the road as Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem. Palm Sunday was the fulfillment of the Prophet Daniel’s “seventy sevens” prophecy: ” Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.”
Thanks for your input, Polly.