Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday - the beginning of Easter week. Today is an exciting day as we think about who Jesus really was and what he did.

Does anyone know what palm sunday is all about - or why we call it plam sunday?

There was something to do with palm branches.

2 Kings 9:13 - Jehu annointed king and the people spread their clokes on the ground

In the ancient world, when a king rode a stalion he was riding to war - but when he rode a donkey he was riding to peace.

The East Gate and the Return of the Messiah Neh. 3:29 "...the gate that looketh toward the east: And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east."

Ezekiel 44:1-3 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. And he said to me, "This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. Only the prince may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate, and shall go out by the same way

Jesus entered Jerusalem through the East gate around 30 A.D. (long before it was blocked by the Ottomans) as he came down from the Mount of Olives and entered the temple according to our understanding of Luke 19:28-48. He would have entered through the original gate in the wall which was destroyed with the city by the Romans in 70 A.D. Ezekiel says concerning this closed gate that the "Prince" (which the Messiah is often called throughout the Old Testament and Jesus is called in the New Testament) shall enter it again. Jesus, having entered the city, said that he would not be seen again until Jerusalem acknowledges him (Matthew 23:37-39).

Q - if Jesus was riding in a symbol of a king bringing peace - what peace was he bringing?

Q - Why do you think that within one week - those same crowds who were shouting hosanna, turned against Jesus and were calling for him to be crucified?

Q - what do most people expect God to do for them?

Q - do we let God be God, or do we force our expectations upon him.

Q - who has the greater wisdom and the greater authority in determining what is right and wrong? Us or God?