April 6 Chapel

Palm Sunday:

Happy Holy Week Sisters! As Christians, this is such a special and important week. We hope that you take some time each day to read the Gospels and see what event happened each day. For those of you who didn't know, yesterday was Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week and one week before Christ rises from the dead! Here is a little recap and breakdown of Palm Sunday:

Palm Sunday occurs after Jesus raised Lazurus from the dead. Jesus had a large following at this time. Before Jesus enters the town of Jerusalem, when He was passing the Mount of Olives He tells two of His disciples, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.  If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” So, the disciples go and do this. In Zechariah 9:9 it says, “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey”. This shows the Old Testament prophecy coming true!

Many people came to Jerusalem for a festival and Jesus was on His way there, too. The large crowds gathered together and waved palm branches at Jesus. They set their cloaks down for Him and made a path for Him. In John 12:13 it says

“They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

“Hosanna!”

“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

In Luke 19: 37-38 it says,

“the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

A couple things to take note of in these verses. First, the word “Hosanna” translates to “Save Now”.  In church this past weekend, my pastor really broke down Palm Sunday and its meaning and I learned so much! Palm leaves were Israel's national symbol, so it would be like us in the US having the Bald Eagle as our symbol. The Palm Branches united Israel and told Jesus that Israel needed saving, now! Another important thing to note is that the Israelites were under the oppression of the Romans. The people cried out and “joyfully praised” because they saw that God was good and heard them and their cries for saving.

In verses 14-16 it says,

“Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written:

“Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion;

see, your king is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him”.

This shows that Jesus was and is the King, but He was going to save the people in a way they didn't expect! He was going to save them (and us) from our sins, long term. He wasn't just going to come in and overthrow the Romans, He was going to do something far greater—change the people from the inside out!

One thing I find completely amazing is how the prophecies in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah completely match up to what happened to Jesus. In this “Palm Sunday” and moments in the day, Jesus was glorified and the disciples saw the prophecies coming to life.

Most of the time, Palm Sunday focuses on what I wrote about above, but there is more to this special day! When Jesus enters the beautiful city of Jerusalem, Jesus says, “ As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it  and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Jesus knows and understands how special this day is and takes it in. He cries over His people because He knows his people don’t realize what He is really about to do.

For so long, the Israelites hoped for a great king to come save them, to come deliver them out of the hands of the Romans. Jesus, being Jesus, did the unexpected. He didn’t come to Jerusalem with violence to overthrow, He came with love and compassion. He might not have been the king that His people had hoped for or expected, but He was the king that his people truly needed.

Jesus is our Living Hope! And like the Israelites, we have a world of troubles and we need Jesus to come and “Hosanna” (“save now”).  The sovereign king the Israelites hoped for and needed was Jesus, even if they didn't realize it. Today, Jesus can be our hope too, the hope that He delivers us, loves us, and we get to be with Him one day! So as you reflect upon what happened on Palm Sunday, I hope it reminds you that Jesus Christ lovingly came down to save us in a way that wasn’t expected.

- Bella F.

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The Activity:

For our activity today, we wanted to do something artistic and you can be as creative as you want to be! We’re making Palm Branches. Whether you paint them, draw them, cut them out of paper,... You can do whatever you want as long as it reminds you of when Jesus came to save.

Here is an example Lauren H. made. Make sure to send us pictures of you and your Palm branches!!! We'd love to see what you create.

Also, you may know that this week is Holy Week, or Passion Week! We really want to emphasize how important this week is to us as Christians, so keep your eye out for more posts leading up to Easter.