Sunday April 13, 2025 - Palm Sunday
The beginning of Christian Holy Week (also know as Passion Week)
Holy Week or Passion Week -- so called because it is the week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday in which the Christians commemorates Jesus Christ's suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection on the third day.
The Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. It is the beginning of Holy Week. It celebrates Jesus' triumphant
entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. Great crowds of people thronged the streets waving palm branches to
welcome Him. The people shouted "Hosanna" and laid their cloaks and palm branches from the nearby trees in His path.
Notes:
Jesus enters Jerusalem riding a donkey rather than a horse which signifies the peacefull nature of his
entry.
People are expecting a king and surrender themselves to his authority by taking their cloaks off and
laying it on the ground.
The Palm branches signify the expectation of a military victory of their king over the occupying Romans.
Jesus is entering Jerusalem to bring Peace and forgiveness to the world by taking the sin of the world upon
Himself - a Spiritual King. People are seeking a worldly and physical king.
Gospel of Matthew 21:1-11,14-17
As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 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. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away." This took place to
fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding
on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' " The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the
donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
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!" When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and
asked, "Who is this?" The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." The blind and the lame
came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things
he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what
these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read," 'From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise'?" And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
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