Palm Sunday is the beginning of what is known as Passion Week. It was on Palm Sunday, around 2000 years ago, that Jesus was at the height of his popularity. Crowds were thronging to him, and as he rode into Jerusalem on the back of a borrowed colt, the crowd waved palm branches (which is where we get the name Palm Sunday) and declared: “Hosanna, Hosanna, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
These where not just shouts of affirmation to any other celebrity personality; these were messianic declarations. The people were publicly declaring that they believed he was the Messiah; the long waited One, the one spoken of by the prophets.
The religious authorities had not only become jealous of his growing popularity and influence with the people, they thought his claim to be the Son of God was religious blasphemy and punishable by death. It was a loophole in their religious law that allowed them the opportunity to build a case against him; their jealousies and insecurities inspired them to devise murderous plot.
A lot happens between that first Palm Sunday and the following Sunday which is famous for the resurrection of Jesus.
He had seven days to live, and how he spent those last seven days, tells a lot about who he was as a person and a lot about the mission of God in our world.
