{"id":12017,"date":"2010-03-28T01:13:11","date_gmt":"2010-03-28T06:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=12017"},"modified":"2010-04-03T23:18:57","modified_gmt":"2010-04-04T04:18:57","slug":"palm-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2010\/03\/palm-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"Palm Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_12018\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12018\" style=\"width: 293px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12018  \" title=\"Triumphal Entry, Anderson\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Anderson.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Anderson, &quot;Triumphal Entry&quot;\" width=\"293\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Anderson.jpg 550w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Anderson-300x232.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 293px) 100vw, 293px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12018\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Harry Anderson, &quot;Triumphal Entry&quot;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Palm Sunday<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Matt 21:1\u201317; Mark 11:1\u201311; Luke 19:28\u201348; John 12:12\u201319<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li> Triumphal Entry (Matt 21:1\u201311; Mark 11:1\u201311; Luke 19:28\u201340; John 12:12\u201319)<\/li>\n<li>Jesus Cleanses the Temple (Matt 21:12\u201317; Luke 19:41\u201348)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For Further Reading: Thomas A. Wayment, &#8220;The Triumphal Entry,&#8221; in F<em>rom the Transfiguration to the Triumphal Entry<\/em>, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ 2, edited by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006), 398\u2013416.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12019\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12019\" style=\"width: 318px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12019\" title=\"Triumphal Entry, Ranes\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Ranes-242x300.jpg\" alt=\"Walter Rane, &quot;The Triumphal Entry of Christ&quot;\" width=\"318\" height=\"394\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Ranes-242x300.jpg 242w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Ranes-826x1024.jpg 826w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12019\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter Rane, &quot;The Triumphal Entry of Christ&quot;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2010\/03\/for-the-saturday-before-holy-week-the-symbolism-of-jesus-as-anointed-king-and-priest\/\" target=\"_blank\">yesterday&#8217;s post<\/a>, Mary\u2019s anointing of Jesus in John 12:1\u20133 can be taken as representing a regal anointing, in which case the events of the next day emphasize Jesus\u2019 role as the true king of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>This becomes apparent in all four gospel accounts, where, on the last Sunday of Jesus\u2019 life, he entered Jerusalem in triumph. John, for instance, notes the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, &#8220;Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.&#8221; And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, &#8220;Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass\u2019s colt.&#8221; These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. (John 12:12\u201316).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The four gospel accounts differ only slightly. The Synoptics, for instance, give greater detail as to how Jesus obtained the donkey on which he rode during his triumphal procession. Luke depicts it as a triumphal approach to Jerusalem, with Jesus stopping some distance from Jerusalem to mourn and lament the city from afar before he entered the holy city (19:41\u201344).\u00a0 While a donkey does not seem to modern readers to be a very regal mode of transportation, one must remember that it was commonly the conveyance of Old Testament kings, especially David. The waving of tree branches (only John mentioned that they were palm fronds) is often associated with <em>Sukkot<\/em>, the autumn festival of Tabernacles that commemorated the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Once in the Promised Land, however, it became above all a harvest festival, but it was also associated with the coronation of the Israelite king and in the intertestamental period developed messianic connections.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12020\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12020\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12020\" title=\"Triumphal Entry, Orrente\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Orrente-300x260.jpg\" alt=\"Pedro Orrente, &quot;The Entry into Jerusalem,&quot; c. 1620\" width=\"300\" height=\"260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Orrente-300x260.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Orrente.jpg 466w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12020\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pedro Orrente, &quot;The Entry into Jerusalem,&quot; c. 1620<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Reflection<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Palm Sunday is a good opportunity to recall one of the rare moments in Jesus\u2019 ministry when he was recognized for the king he was. But depending upon the timing of Passover and the day that Jesus was crucified, this Sunday could also have been &#8220;fifth day before Passover&#8221; when the Paschal Lamb was selected for Passover and set apart for the Lord, giving special significance to crowd\u2019s recognition of Jesus on this day\u2014they may have been welcoming him as a hoped-for king, but in reality he had come as the Lamb of God who would die for them.<\/p>\n<p>Only John gives a reason why the Jerusalem crowds seemed so united in welcoming Jesus as the possible Messiah: they had heard about the great miracle that he performed in raising Lazarus (John 12:17-12), which of course foreshadows Jesus\u2019 own conquest of death. This explicitly connects the Triumphal Entry to Jesus&#8217; resurrection. It also, however, gave further cause for opposition. John 12:19 notes that &#8220;the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, \u2018Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the whole world is gone after him.\u2019&#8221; Earlier they and the &#8220;chief priests&#8221; had, as a result of the raising of Lazarus, already begun to take counsel about how they could put Jesus to death (John 11:47-53).<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, Palm Sunday is also an occasion to look forward to Jesus Christ&#8217;s final, triumphal return when all the world will recognize him as Lord and King.\u00a0 Having conquered death, he will, in due course, return to Jerusalem\u2014and all the earth\u2014in glory.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>And [they] brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. (Matthew 21:7-11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12177\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12177\" title=\"Easter card pic\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Easter-card-pic-300x183.jpg\" alt=\"Samuel and Rachel on Palm Sunday, 2010\" width=\"300\" height=\"183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Easter-card-pic-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Easter-card-pic-1024x626.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Samuel and Rachel on Palm Sunday, 2010<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The joy of the triumphal entry is perhaps best expressed in our modern hymn, &#8220;All Glory Laud and Honor.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>All glory, laud, and honor<br \/>\nTo thee, Redeemer, King,<br \/>\nTo whom the lips of children<br \/>\nMade sweet hosannas ring.<br \/>\nThou art the King of Israel,<br \/>\nThou David\u2019s royal Son,<br \/>\nWho in the Lord\u2019s name comest,<br \/>\nThe King and Blessed One.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The company of angels<br \/>\nAre praising thee on high,<br \/>\nAnd mortal men and all things<br \/>\nCreated make reply.<br \/>\nThe people of the Hebrews<br \/>\nWith palms before thee went;<br \/>\nOur praise and love and anthems<br \/>\nBefore thee we present.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>To thee, before thy passion,<br \/>\nThey sang their hymns of praise;<br \/>\nTo thee, now high exalted,<br \/>\nOur melody we raise.<br \/>\nThou didst accept their praises;<br \/>\nAccept the love we bring,<br \/>\nWho in all good delightest,<br \/>\nThou good and gracious King. <\/em>(Hymn 69)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Matthew and Luke, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he proceeds directly to the temple, where, in a familiar scene, he cast out the moneychangers and those who were selling sacrificial animals in its outer courts. Mark delays this scene until Monday for symbolic and literary reasons, while John had recorded a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:13\u201325). Either there actually were two different cleansings, or John had moved it to the front end to illustrate that Jesus was always sovereign\u2014he always had the authority and right to do what he did. For the Synoptics, however, the cleansing can be directly connected with a royal interpretation of the Triumphal Entry. From the time of Solomon until the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians, the temple had been, in effect, a royal chapel adjacent to the king\u2019s palace. There he was coronated and &#8220;adopted&#8221; as a son of YHWH (see Psalm 2:7), a clear type and foreshadowing of how Christ was not only the rightful king but also the actual Son of God.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus\u2019 rebuke of the temple authorities, that they had made his Father\u2019s house \u201ca den of thieves\u201d (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46), may explain part of His anger.\u00a0 The term \u201cthieves\u201d here comes from the Greek <em>l?istai<\/em>, which not only means \u201crobber\u201d or \u201cbandit,\u201d but also \u201crevolutionary\u201d or \u201cinsurgent.\u201d \u00a0The temple leadership in this period was notoriously corrupt, so his rebuke may not have been just of the moneychangers and the merchants themselves but also of the temple leadership who was allowing, and perhaps profiting, from what might have been necessary activities. For over two centuries the high priests had been political appointees rather than coming from the appropriate priestly family.\u00a0 Consequently, Jesus\u2019 rebuke of the leadership as \u201cinsurgents\u201d might suggest that he was unmasking them as false authorities who had usurped power over the sanctuary and were misusing their assumed positions.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_12021\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-12021\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12021\" title=\"Cleansing Temple Cavallino\" src=\"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Cleansing-Temple-Cavallino-300x221.jpg\" alt=\"Bernardo Cavallino, &quot;Christ driving the traders from the temple,&quot; c. 1645\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Cleansing-Temple-Cavallino-300x221.jpg 300w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Cleansing-Temple-Cavallino.jpg 414w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-12021\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bernardo Cavallino, &quot;Christ driving the traders from the temple,&quot; c. 1645<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong><em>Reflection<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If one connects the Triumphal Entry with Jesus\u2019 eventual return, the cleansing of the Temple can be seen as the eventual &#8220;cleansing of the earth&#8221; and especially Jerusalem and the establishment of Jesus\u2019 reign there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palm Sunday is a good opportunity to recall one of the rare moments in Jesus\u2019 ministry when he was recognized for the king he was. But depending upon the timing of Passover and the day that Jesus was crucified, this Sunday could also have been &#8220;fifth day before Passover&#8221; when the Paschal Lamb was selected for Passover and set apart for the Lord, giving special significance to crowd\u2019s recognition of Jesus on this day\u2014they may have been welcoming him as a hoped-for king, but in reality he had come as the Lamb of God who would die for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":12018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corn"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/Triumphal-Entry-Anderson.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12178,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12017\/revisions\/12178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}