Palm Sunday / Passover Lambs Taken Into Each House
Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”
Matthew 21:9 (NKJV)
Before entering Jerusalem for the final time, Jesus asked his disciples to bring him a donkey’s foal, also known as a colt. The disciples covered the colt with their clothes and set Jesus upon it. A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down palm branches from the trees and spread them on the road and waved them in the air. In those times, palm branches symbolized goodness and victory. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”
“Hosanna in the highest” means more than praise and adoration. The word hosanna in Greek, hōsanná is from Hebrew hôšîʿâ-nā and in Aramaic ʾōshaʿnā meaning ‘save, rescue, freedom, savior’.
Palm Sunday is the beginning of Resurrection Week; we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus was fulfilling one of the Messianic prophecies from Zechariah 9:9:
“Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The event, recorded in all four of the gospels, depicts a king coming in peace on a donkey; the crowd was aware of his teaching and miracles, where others asked who is this? Jesus knew the cross was coming and that the same crowd that was honoring him with hosannas would turn to crying “crucify him!” Even with all the prophecies, Israel had sadly missed their Messiah. Jesus also knew one day he would come in victory as King of kings on horseback, which is the way a king coming for battle rides, but for now the Prince of Peace came riding lowly on the foal of a donkey…
John gives us a glimpse of the spiritual significance of Palm Sunday in Revelation 7:9–10 (NKJV)
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Jenny McAlpine, Calvary Women
