I asked my teenage Sunday school class today if they understood what Palm Sunday was about. A bright young girl in the class answered that it was about the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. She was right, but when I asked her why we call it “Palm Sunday” she was not really sure.
Well, when Jesus did make his entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey the crowd greeted him by laying their cloaks on the ground along with palm branches. They also shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:1-11). This was an entry fit for a king. In fact, the people recognized him as the long-awaited Messiah who was to be a descendant of David. They praised Jesus as king and praised God that the Messiah had finally arrived!
Have you ever thought about this passage? On Sunday, the people were praising Jesus. By Friday, only six days later, the crowds were crying out to crucify him (Matthew 27:15-23). How did things change so quickly?
Many of us would like to think that we would not have been one of the crowd who cried out to kill Jesus. But who are we kidding? We would have been no different. Our opinions are usually determined for us by the crowds and leaders we have. We truly are like blind sheep who are carried along by every whim. Each of us, myself included, would have cried out “Crucify!” as well.
What amazes me is that Jesus knew this, but was still willing to die for those who hung him on the cross. The Creator of this world stepped into this world as a man and allowed mankind to slaughter him – all as an act of love for us. How can this be?
Theologically Speaking 
(I didn’t intend this response to be so lengthy. It just ‘grew’ as I thought on the beautiful redemptive at of Christ…as it related to your comment concerning His Messianic entry and His crufifixion days later. Feel free to ‘delete’ it.)
Beautiful post! Just a reminder…nothing concerning His death, burial, and resurrection was left to chance. But was orchestrated by the Father before the foundation of the world (Lamb slain before the foundation of the world). Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the remnant of Israel Isa 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Isa 6:11 Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
Isa 6:12 And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.
Ro 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Ro 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
Ro 11:10 Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
These Jewish leaders were used, by divine intervention, as the ones to cry ‘crucify him.’ “Give us Barabas.” That’s why from the Cross..Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’ Those who recognized him as Messiah were the decendents of the seven thousand left open to Grace. They were the ones who lovingly ‘prepared the way of the Lord and made His path straight.’
(Ro 11:4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Ro 11:5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. )
These who were left open to Christ are the Christian Jews seen today. The blinded are those who insist Jesus was not Messiah and who still look for Elias to come first. But Christ told them, ‘if you can hear it, John the Baptist was Elias, and you have done to him what you will.’
These blinded are the nation referred to in :
Mt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Chapter eleven of Revelations shows the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached to the blinded remnant of Israel for whom God is opening the eyes and eyes so they may experience, for the first time, The Gospel of the Kingdom…as well as experiencing, a little late, the incarnation of Christ. Through the two witnesses, Moses and Elias, they will hear, repent, and give glory to God. Immediately the earth begins to shake.
Re 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth
The record of God’s covenant people, which includes the Gentile redeemed, is one of the most touching and beautiful portions of scripture.
Ro 11:11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Ro 11:12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
Ro 11:15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
Ro 11:25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
Ro 11:26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
Ro 11:27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
Ro 11:28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
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Sometimes when I’m down and out, feeling defeated by sin, I envision myself pounding the nails into Jesus’ hands. It’s *my* sin that drove that nail. It’s *my* sin that slowly asphyxiated my savior. The guilt of sin takes me to the cross, and the cross takes it away. Because the penalty was paid. Hallelujah!
I never completely understood to correlation. How does murder make us freee of sins? How does killing your only son work for mankind? How does that work? To me, it has always been on par with taking your hat off during our national anthem. How does that removing a hat show respect? How does is a death the only way to prove something? Could God not figure out another way to make people see?
Also, why is Christ rising from the dead so important? The same day he rose many many others rose from the dead. In fact, the bible if full of people being brought back to life, sp this act is nothing special, it seemed ot have happened often?
These are the very things that I always questioned in church.
Aaron:
Here is the correlation. God created the world and it was good (without sin). Mankind rebelled against God and sinned. Our sin impacted all of God’s good creation by introducing death and decay. To remove sin and its affect, it had to be atoned for. Since mankind caused the problem, mankind had to make atonement. However, since all of mankind is sinful, there is no one who is worthy to make atonement. Therefore, the only sinless one (God) became man to be the atonement for the sins of mankind and free us from our own sin. That is why in the end (see Revelation 21) God makes all things new. He re-creates the world and it no longer has sin or its affects present. It is once again “good”.
Christ’s resurrection is important because it shows that Jesus’s teaching was authoritative, it shows that his sacrifice was accepted by God, and it shows that the curse of death has ended. While it is true that others are brought back to life, it is always God who does so. Plus, those others are brought back only to die again. Jesus is brought back to live forever as the firstfruits of all who have their sins atoned for through his death. All believers have faith that we too will be resurrected to live forever as Jesus was.