“Hosanna! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Their joyful voices rang out across the valley as Jesus traversed the road which descended the Mount of Olives toward Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The crowd’s excitement and anticipation rose to a fever pitch as he drew near the gates of the city; their joyful praises offending the religious leaders. Surely, this is the hoped for Messiah, the one foretold by the prophets, the one who will restore the kingdom of Israel!
What must it have been like to be there that day? Let’s close our eyes and imagine the scene- our voices mingling with the crowd’s, our arms waving palm fronds, and our cloaks lining the road. What thoughts would be running through your mind and what emotions rising to the surface as you watched Jesus ride into Jerusalem that day?
Over the last three years this crowd of Jesus’ followers heard him declare the arrival of the Kingdom of God, watched him love the outcast and the sinner, and witnessed him heal disease, give sight to the blind, raise the dead and cast out demons. No wonder they were excited! I can almost hear their thoughts, “If this man can raise Lazarus from the dead, then I can’t wait to see what he does to the Romans!” But we know the story. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Jesus’ Passion, the week we now celebrate as Holy Week, the beginning of one very long, excruciatingly painful week for Jesus and his followers.
But there is time aplenty to remember all the events of Thursday and Friday as we walk through this Holy Week. Today on Palm Sunday, we join our voices in praise for the King has come and is coming! Take some time today to read the words of Psalm 118 and reflect on the things for which you would like to praise God.
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God and I will extol you.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
-Psalm 118:26-29
- from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55434 [retrieved April 12, 2025]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Museum_f%C3%BCr_Indische_Kunst_Dahlem_Berlin_Mai_2006_061.jpg. ↩︎
