Palm Sunday Feast
The Sunday that opens Holy Week. Jesus comes down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowd spreads branches and shouts Hosanna (Matthew 21:9) - the same crowd that will be in the city five days later.
When it falls
The verses for the day
- 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.Matthew 21:9
- Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he {is} just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. {having...: or, saving himself}Zechariah 9:9
- Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed {is} the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.John 12:13
The moment in the Bible
The entry into JerusalemMatthew 21:9Read the passage → The place
Jerusalem is the holiest city in Judaism and Christianity, central to the biblical narrative. King David captured it and made it his capital, and his son Solomon built the First Temple there. It was the site of Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and the birth of the Christian church at Pentecost. The city has been destroyed and rebuilt multiple times throughout history.
The Mount of Olives is a mountain ridge east of Jerusalem with profound significance in Jesus' life. He often went there to pray, delivered the Olivet Discourse about end times, and spent his last night in the Garden of Gethsemane at its base. Jesus ascended to heaven from this mountain, and Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would return there.
