Palm Sunday, Christians celebrate the triumphal entry into Jerusalem by Jesus Christ. This was a week before His death and resurrection. Some call this “Passion Sunday”. It marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.
Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44 and John 12:12-19 all record Jesus entering Jerusalem and the crowds greeting Him by waving palm branches and covering His path with palm branches.
Zechariah 9:9 predicted this about 500 years before Christ entered Jerusalem. “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The people greeted Jesus not as the spiritual Messiah who would take away the sins of the world, but as a potential political leader who would overthrow the Romans. Their shout “Hosanna” meant “save now.”
Palm branches symbolized goodness and victory. They were depicted on coins and important buildings. Solomon carved palm branches into the walls and doors of the temple (1 Kings 6:29). At the end of the Bible, people from every nation raise palm branches to honor Jesus (Revelation 7:9).
Today, many Christian churches distribute palm branches to worshipers on Palm Sunday. The people remember Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, praise Him for the gift of salvation, and look expectantly to His second coming.
Jesus came into our hearts the day we accepted Him as Lord and Savior of our lives. I can still see this day in my mind’s eye as if it happened yesterday. Remembering this day gives me joy and new hope that He still loves me and will come back soon to receive me as one of His own. The fear of death is removed for me as I know the second I die, I will be with Christ in a new spiritual body. I’ll be free from the sin, pain and suffering of this life. Palm Sunday can be a personal experience in each of our hearts as we remember the power of His Resurrection, not just today, but every day of our lives.
If you have not asked Him into your heart, today is the perfect day of “Salvation”. He is the triumphant coming King and He desires to have fellowship with you as those He has redeemed from the power of sin and death.