Today is the start of Holy Week and traditionally today is known as “Palm Sunday”. It is named after the palm branches that were laid on the road as Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a Donkey. The account of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem is an interesting one because of all the various motives portrayed in the passage, but in my view, the important message for us to grasp here is not of the expectation of those who greeted him (as we will explore below), but of God as Jesus pursuing His desire to dwell with man and abide in them as His temple.

The story starts with Jesus travelling to a place called Bethany to visit His friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Jesus was about to begin his journey that would lead to calvary. He chooses to visit Bethany one last time to be with those he considered his friends. The story starts with Jesus wanting to abide with those he calls his friends, and it is this motive that I believe is a message we can learn from in this season.

To understand what exactly was happening in this passage you need to understand the historical context in which the story takes place. Israel was under Roman occupation and governed by a group of leaders called the Sanhedrin. The people of Israel were looking to the coming of the Messiah which they believed to be a warrior king like David that would liberate them from Rome and restore the glory of Israel. The most important thing in the Israelite world was the temple built by King David’s son, Solomon, but many had believed that the glory of God had departed from the temple. They looked to a prophecy spoken by the prophet Ezekiel 5 centuries earlier that talked about the glory of God leaving the temple via the east of Jerusalem due to corruption in leadership and the temple: “The glory of the Lord went out from the threshold of the house (the temple) and stopped above the cherubim. The cherubim . . . rose from the earth in my sight as they went out . . . They stopped at the entrance of the east gate of the house of the Lord; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them” (Ezek. 10:18-19) From there the glory went and stopped over the mount of Olives. Later in the prophetic writings of Ezekiel, it talks of a time when the glory of God would return to the temple from the east and then the temple would be reconsecrated: “Then he brought me to the gate, the gate facing east. And there, the glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east; the sound was like the sound of mighty waters; and the earth shone with his glory” (Ez. 43:1-2). They looked to the coming of their Messiah, the rightful warrior King and the coming of the glory of God from the east of Jerusalem. 

There was a prophetic word the Israelites held onto during this time of waiting for their coming King and it was from Zechariah 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

righteous and having salvation is he,

humble and mounted on a donkey,on a colt,

the foal of a donkey.

From Bethany, Jesus and his disciples went to the mount of olives east of Jerusalem and told two of his disciples to “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

With the proclamation of the Lord in need of a Donkey and riding into Jerusalem from the east, you can imagine the excitement of the people of Israel. They had heard about this Jesus of Nazareth who proclaims himself to be greater than the temple, fulfilling the prophecies, preaching the Kingdom of God and healing the sick, and here he comes riding on a colt from the east just as prophesied, coming into Jerusalem just like the Ark of the covenant (where the glory of God dwelt) with his disciples, just like king David, taking off their robes for Jesus to ride on. They shouted “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

The motive of the Warrior King and the one who comes to restore the temple might further be emphasised with the laying down of palm leaves. There is no clear evidence in the old testament for why they would do this. There are however two accounts of Palm leaves used by the Israelites in the writings of the Jewish Apocrypha in 1 and 2 Maccabees 

1 Maccabees 13:51

“… the Jews entered it (the citadel at Jerusalem) with praise and palm branches… because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.”

and then again in 2 Maccabees 10:7

“carrying ivy-wreathed wands and beautiful branches and also fronds of palm, they offered hymns of thanksgiving to him who had given success to the purifying of his own holy place (the temple).”

The only recorded use of palm in celebration for the Israelites was for liberating the Israelites in battle and cleansing the temple. It is possible that in laying down palm leaves as part of the celebration of welcoming Jesus into Jerusalem they were signifying that this was part of their prophetic expectation for what Jesus was there to do. 

Indeed their prophesied Messiah had come and he came as the glory of God from the east and went to the temple. The book of Mark records that Jesus entered the temple, looked around and returned to Bethany for the night, abiding with his friends again.

The next day Jesus returned to Jerusalem and again entered the temple, but this time he drove out all who sold and bought in the temple and “he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

Jesus had begun, as the returning glory of God, to cleanse his temple from the same thing that drove the glory away, corruption. Jesus then started to heal the sick and blind as a sign of the glory of God that was present. When the angry Jews asked him for a sign as to why he was doing this he answered: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”. Jesus was of course not talking about the physical temple as his desire was never to abide in a building of stone but to abide with his creation as His temple. Jesus was saying here that the rededication and restoration of the temple will not be one of stone but one of flesh. After this Jesus returned to Bethany and abided with his friends again.

Jesus came so that he can restore all that kept us from Abiding with Him. All throughout the ministry of Jesus he abided with people, he abided in Nazareth for 30 years, he abided with disciples, he abided in the houses of Pharisees and tax collectors and what He was doing was calling us back to the reality of the garden where mankind abided with God the Father. 

The very first words of Jesus recorded in the book of John are: ”what do you seek?”. The norm of the day was to look for a warrior King, a victory, a restored kingdom, and a rededicated temple. Jesus asked the disciples of John this question and instead of seeking what was the norm of their day, they asked His where they can abide with Him.

Israel sought a physical temple for God to dwell in, but Jesus sought to dwell in man. They expected a warrior King Like David, instead, they received a suffering servant riding on a donkey. They expected a messiah to liberate them from the oppression of Rome, instead, they got a saviour who liberated them from the principalities of darkness that was behind the oppression of man. They expected a war, instead, they got a servant who washed feet and died on a cross. They expected the restoration of the glory of Israel, instead, they got the restoration of the glory of God to all creation. Indeed the ways of God can seem upside down to man, so it also seems to the powers of darkness: 

“It is a glorious phrase of the New Testament, that ‘he led captivity captive.’ 

The very triumphs of His foes, it means, he used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to sub-serve his end, not theirs.

They nailed him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to his feet. 

They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne. 

They flung him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King of Glory come in.

They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy.

They thought they had defeated God with His back to the wall, pinned and helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God Himself who had tracked them down.

He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.”

James Stewart (1896–1990) 

Palm Sunday declares Jesus as King riding into Jerusalem, the coming of the prince of peace, the coming of the glory of God, The son of David come to claim the throne, and the restoration of his true temple, it just looked different.

This holy week, are we welcoming Jesus as king into our hearts? Will we be that place of abiding? Are we ready to receive him, even if it looks different from our expectation? As the king comes, are we receiving his with shouts of Hosannah?

Have a blessed Holy Week and abide with Christ as we journey with Him to Calvary

A son, friend and lover of grace, Israel is a graduate from Bethel church in Redding, California and a former residential member of the Community of St Anselm under the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is passionate about teaching people about the healing power of God and demonstrating the love of the father through it. He has taken a message of Good hope to various nations and is now based in South Africa where he is the site pastor for Father’s House Cape Town.

follow him on Instagram @israelfouche