Adventures in Faith: Palm Sunday

Our pastor actually preached about Palm Sunday a few weeks ago. He is taking the 5 Sundays before Easter Sunday to take us through the last week of Jesus before He was crucified...and well, that starts with Jesus entering the city on the back of a donkey (what we celebrate now as Palm Sunday). So that's where we started. It has been so good to study about Jesus' last week. So much of the 4 Gospels are devoted to chronicling the actions and words of the last week of Jesus. But most years it is Palm Sunday and then skip over everything in between and straight to Good Friday/Crucifixion and then Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead. There are so many lessons and fulfillment of prophesy between these 2 events that we should be paying attention too. 


Back to Palm Sunday. We studied Mark's account of the Triumphal Entry in Mark 11. I always thought it was kind of funny, that after walking all over the countryside, Jesus stops outside the city and tells 2 of the disciples to go and get a donkey from the city so He can ride into the city. Not just any donkey, "a colt, which no one had ever ridden" Mark 11:3. I'm sure the disciples were a little skeptical about the whole deal. I would have liked to hear their conversation as the walked to the the city! But sure enough, "they went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway." Mark 11:4. They brought the colt to Jesus. 
Why did Jesus need a colt? Were his feet tired? Did he break a sandal? 
Nope! Well, maybe, I wasn't there.
But I do know Jesus entered the city on the back of a colt to fulfill the prophesy found in Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!

Shot, Daughter of Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

righteous and having salvation,

gentle and riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 

ALL people in Jerusalem were very familiar with the Messianic prophesy. They all knew that The Messiah would ride into the city in this fashion. They got the message when they saw Jesus. Can you imagine being there! Seeing Jesus on that donkey! Knowing what the prophets had said years ago! I would shout HOSANNA too. Hosanna is a Hebrew word meaning "save us". What a beautiful sight to imagine and a beautiful word to say. 

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Hosanna in the highest!