The donkey awakened, his mind still savoring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.

He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. “I’ll show myself to them,” he thought.

But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.

“Throw your garments down,” he said crossly. “Don’t you know who I am?”

They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.

“Miserable heathens!” he muttered to himself. “I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me.”

But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market place.

“The palm branches! Where are the palm branches!” he shouted. “Yesterday, you threw palm branches!”

Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.

“Foolish child,” she said gently. “Don’t you realize that without Him, you are just an ordinary donkey?”

Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ. Without him, all our best efforts are like “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and amount to nothing. When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people, but key players in God’s plan to redeem the word.

Palm Sunday is a Christian celebration that marks the beginning of the Holy Week leading to Easter Sunday. It commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entrance into Jerusalem when people laid down palms and branches before him as a sign of honor. In modern times, churches hold Palm Sunday services in which worshippers are given a palm branch or cross made from palm leaves. The celebration involves singing hymns, reading Scripture, and sometimes even a procession with the palms. Palm Sunday is a reminder of the selfless love Jesus showed by laying down his life for us, and it is a time to reflect on our own lives and how we can show that same love to those around us.

Palm Sunday is the day we remember and celebrate the day Jesus entered Jerusalem as Savior and King. As Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, a large crowd gathered and laid palm branches and their cloaks across the road, giving Jesus royal treatment. The hundreds of people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Palm Sunday is a moveable holiday that changes yearly based on Lent and the spring equinox. Many churches celebrate Palm Sunday by waving palm branches, singing traditional hymns, and making crosses out of palm fronds. But while this is a triumphal entry, it is Jesus’ first step toward His death.

This year, Palm Sunday will be on Sunday, March 24, 2024. Find more dates of Holy Week in 2024.

Many churches celebrate Palm Sunday. Maybe your church has children waving palm branches to help them connect to the story. But while this is a triumphal entry, it is Jesus’ first step toward His death.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,

2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.

3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”

4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

5 “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.

7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.

8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”

11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

word study from our friend and greek scholar Rick Renner Palm Sunday is the day we remember the “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem, one week before His resurrection, and following his glorious miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. It is referred to as Palm Sunday because of the palm branches that were laid on the road as Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem.

As Jesus approached this week, He knew what the week held. Yet, in Hebrews 12:2-3 (NKJV) it says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, because of the joy that was set before Him…His joy…the joy of His Father…our joy!

In John 12:12-15 (NKJV), it says, “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! ’ The King of Israel!” Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written: “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”

Earlier in that chapter, almost a week before Passover, Jesus attended a dinner. Those in attendance were a newly-resurrected Lazarus; Judas (a thief), and many others. Martha served the dinner, and Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with a very expensive, fragrant oil/ointment/perfume.

People gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover, and flocked to the house in hopes they would see Jesus and Lazarus. The Chief Priests and religious leaders were lurking nearby, and ticked off! They had already been plotting to kill Jesus and now they wanted to kill Lazarus as well.

The people waved the Palm branches (a symbol of Jewish nationalism), and laid them down as Jesus went by on a donkey. (The donkey symbolized the animal of peace vs. the horse, which symbolized of the animal of war). The people cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

The New Testament was written in Greek; the Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

Translators used a practice called “transliteration,” which means to convert a text from one script into another. The word “Hosanna” is not really a Greek word. New Testament writers transliterated this word by using Greek letters to make the sound of a Hebrew phrase: “Hoshiyana.” It actually means, “Save please!” “Save we pray!” It is a cry for help!

Save now, I pray, O LORD; O LORD, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!

(Ps. 118:25-26a NKJV)

Over time, the phrase “Hosanna”/“Hoshiya na” changed from a plea (“Help me please!” “Somebody save me!”) to a confident declaration (“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”) It became not just a cry for help but an exclamation of hope and praise! Instead of fear and panic, it became joy, relief, excitement and gratitude!

Some of you today just need to cry out, “Please help!” “Save me!” Some of you need to declare, “Thank you, Jesus…for coming to rescue me!” Know this: Jesus is on the way! Help is on the way! “Hosannah! Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord!”