The Journey of Holy Week: Palm Sunday

Mark 11:1-11 
It is Sunday morning, the ninth day of Nisan. Jesus and his disciples, along with thousands of other pilgrims and festival-goers, ascend to the top of the Mount of Olives, where they catch their first glimpse of Jerusalem. It is an awe-inspiring sight. Herod's temple, one of the largest manmade structures in the world, lies just before them. The temple mount, with its enormous platform, is almost a city unto itself. These temple courts, especially the vast open court of the Gentiles where Jesus would often teach, could hold many thousands of pilgrims. From the top of the Mount of Olives, Jesus will ride into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. It will take him down past the Garden of Gethsemane, across the Kidron Valley, then up the slope of Mount Zion to the Golden Gate, the eastern entrance of the temple mount, where many expected the Messiah of Israel would enter.

It is a beautiful day. The subtle fragrance of desert flowers infuses the cool, and breeze on this bright morning. By the time Jesus begins his royal procession to the eastern gate, great crowds realize something momentous is happening. They bring their cloaks and they cut palm branches to pave his way—society and nature falling before the new king.

But for anyone expecting a typical royal procession, this would have seemed a strange sight. Riding on the back of a donkey seemed more like the entrance of a lowly shepherd than a mighty king destined to return Israel to the glory days of Solomon's empire. And despite all the excitement, Jerusalem's reception of Jesus is certainly not one of unanimous welcome. The festival crowd's reaction is tumultuous, expressing everything from joyful adoration to curiosity, doubt to outright hostility. But for many of his followers, it seems the tide is turning. These were miracle days, when anything seemed possible.

Jesus and his followers aren't the only ones arriving in Jerusalem that day. On the other side of the city, Pilate, the Roman prefect of Judea, is arriving from the west with a thunderous procession of horses, soldiers, and weapons. They are there to oversee the great festival and to discourage any form of political uprising. And they have the power to punish and kill anyone who disrupts the peace.