Holy Week
For each of these special days I am posting sermons I have written and delivered in the past that sum up the essence of each day. This article looks briefly at those days and the meaning they have on our faith and our salvation. This article also looks at the Old Testament prophecies about these special days.
Palm Sunday
The week begins with Palm Sunday. This day is so named because of the honor paid to Jesus as he entered Jerusalem. He arrived on a colt of a donkey as people spread before him their cloaks and cut palm branches and spread them with the cloaks on the road. In those days, this was a great honor, usually reserved for royalty. The denizens were proclaiming Jesus as their king.
However, this king arrived in a manner not usually seen of royalty. Rather than a mighty horse, Jesus rides a donkey’s colt. Donkeys aren’t known for glamour (although they may have been a sign of prosperity on Old Testament times—see Judges 10:4). And this donkey would be less glamorous—for it was a colt and unridden.
Anyone who has attempted to "break" a horse knows that you don’t just get on the back of such an animal that has never been ridden and just start riding. That animal starts to buck and attempts to throw the rider off. Breaking such an animal takes several steps.
First, one usually places just the saddle, or even a saddle blanket, on the animals back. The animal will buck and toss trying to throw its weight, until it tires. Then a breaker tries to get the animal used to the presence of a human on its back.
Yet Jesus mounts an unridden colt and rides into town without incident. What an amazing display of power!
Zechariah prophesies this dramatic entry of Jesus into Jerusalem when he writes: "Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt." (Zechariah 9:9).
What the people chant is also of great note. "Hosanna" means "save us." No doubt this irritated the leaders of Jerusalem who felt they were the "saviors" of the people from the loathed Romans. "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" is from Psalm 118:25, 26. This statement is a statement that the people believe Jesus is the promised Messiah! "Blessed is the king of Israel" has significance not only because it would rub the leaders of Jerusalem wrong, as well as find any nearby Roman soldiers chuckling, but the fact that the term "Israel" is used focuses on the promises of God. Israel as a political entity ceased to exist centuries before.
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