Most of us have heard the story — even if we weren’t raised in a Sunday School environment. On Palm Sunday (as we now call it) Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Crowds cheered and lay branches and even their cloaks in the path. The excitement was spontaneous and contagious.
I recently learned that the donkey was a symbol of peace. Warriors rode horses as they went into battle, but when the war was over the conqueror rode home on a donkey, declaring a reign of peace. How significant that Jesus chose a donkey.
The gospels of Mark and Luke mention that the donkey had never been ridden. Think about that. Jesus rides into town on a skittish, unbroken colt, people shouting and flapping their coats. Kids waving branches. One would expect some pretty frisky behavior from an untrained animal.
But then, Jesus calmed all sorts of storms, didn’t he?
This begins a remembrance of the last week of Jesus’ life. I invite you to revisit it with me.
Read the book. See the movie. Attend church on Maundy Thursday for more of the story.
I’ll see you next Sunday for the rest of the story.
Gene and I had our first date on Palm Sunday. We attended church for the evening service at Banner Mountain.
It’s good that you are blogging about Jesus and Palm Sunday. Not many blogs include Him, but how we need to!
Thank you for sharing this. I’ll be looking for next Sunday’s post.
Beautiful post. I love the imagery. I remember one Palm Sunday when I was in grade school. The children’s choir processed down the aisles into the church waving large green palm leaves and singing a hymn that began, “Waving green palms, the throng moves on its way…” Good memory–Palm Sunday always brings me back to my roots. Thanks for adding to its meaning.