Palm-Passion Sunday | Sixth and Final Sunday in Lent | Day Forty of Forty-five Days until Good Friday

All four writing evangelists confess that Jesus entered Jerusalem on the Sunday prior to Good Friday.  Their acknowledgments are located in Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:29-44, and John 12:12-15.  The accounts are essentially the same, with only minor variations.  The nuance heightens the imagination as one considers that each author has a specific audience to which he is writing for a peculiar purpose.  All agree, though, that Jesus shows up in the Holy City on the first day of that week.

John’s account is the only one that specifically mentions palm branches:  “So they took branches of palm trees…” (v. 13).  Matthew says “and others cut branches from the trees” (v. 8), while Mark says “and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields” (v. 8).  Both Matthew and Mark note they are spread on the road.  Luke’s account has no citation of any kind of plant; only “spreading their cloaks on the road” (v. 36).

Perhaps the Sunday before Good Friday is called Palm Sunday(sometimes “Palm-Passion Sunday”) because that sounds better than “Branch Sunday,” “Leaf Sunday,” or “Spreading the Cloaks Sunday.”

The four narratives also agree that Jesus comes into town riding a “donkey.”  In the ancient Near East, the donkey symbolizes peace.  Jesus comes to Jerusalem to wage peace by way of death – His death on the cross of Good Friday.  The donkey is also viewed as a beast of burden.  It is an animal that can carry a heavy load.  The donkey of Palm Sunday carries the Messiah or the Christ, God’s “Anointed One,” who will become sort of a “beast of burden” who carries the heavy load of humanity’s sin.  It is a weighty and painful burden to bear; but He is strong and can carry it.  Of course He is no beast.  Sadly, however, He is treated like a savage beast by the week’s end.  Jesus is the Savior of Burden.  And because He is, any human being can experience peace, which comes from Him.

Hopefully you will worship with other Christians in some specific location today.  You may see children, and adults, entering worship spaces waving palm branches as choirs and congregants sing.  You may hear one of these four gospel accounts read.  A preacher may proclaim a sermon about the significance of this day.  I’ll be doing that later this morning.

I hope you are made to realize, as a result of your worship, that the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s one and only unique Son, wishes to ride into your life and give you everlasting peace.  Yes.  Peace today and peace every day.

The children’s choirs of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, TX sing “Hosanna in the Highest” on Palm-Passion Sunday, March 29, 2015.  It is two minutes four seconds.

Worship on this Palm-Passion Sunday morning – the Sixth and Final Sunday in Lent – at Garden Lakes Baptist Church in Rome, GA will bring to a conclusion the Season of Lent and propel us into Holy Week.  My sermon concludes a series called “Community Authentically Focused on Christ Jesus the Lord.”  Taken from Luke’s account of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, the sermon is titled “A Journeying Community.”  There are two worship gatherings – 8:45 a.m. in The Chapel and 11:00 a.m. in The Sanctuary.  Bible Study for all ages is in between at 9:45 a.m.

Holy Thursday Worship at Garden Lakes will feature the Sanctuary Choir presenting Colors of Grace:  Lessons for Lent.  Holy Communion will be observed.  Worship begins at 7:00 p.m. on March 24.

Good Friday Worship at Garden Lakes will begin at 7:00 p.m. on March 25.  A Service of Shadows at The Cross will allow worships to experience the darkness of the first Good Friday in six movements based on the Gospel According to St. Mark.