The events of Palm Sunday (see following scripture) are so very rich in theological importance, I thought it might be good to try and put them in perspective. That may sound quite presumptuous on my part, but I am aware that many people do not tie the different events of the day together. There is a preface to the events of Palm Sunday in The Gospel according to Apostle Saint Matthew 20:17-19: Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be
betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn
Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” Note: Jesus is to be betrayed TO the chief priests and TO the scribes. While this is obviously a reference to the act of betrayal of Judas, it is--in a larger sense--Christ's prophecy of a much more massive betrayal. For Christ does not say, "The Son of Man will be greeted with cheers of 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord'. For Christ knew that those (the multitudes) who would greet Him as King would turn against Him in His hour of need before the chief priests and Pilate. This is an integral part of understanding how Christ allows Israel and Rome to convict themselves. Also, Christ answers the question of the ages: "Who killed Jesus?" For it is those IN AUTHORITY who hand Christ over to "the Gentiles" (The Romans) to MOCK, SCOURGE and CRUCIFY Him. Not only are Israel and Rome "co-conspirators" in BLASPHEMY, TORTURE and MURDER, but THE MULTITUDES take an active part in crying out for this to happen...the very same multitudes who had cheered His entry into Jerusalem are now those who JEER. Virtually EVERYONE killed Jesus. So, can anyone conceive that Christ Jesus took any joy from the greeting of the multitudes, except for the fact that their praise was perfected by The Father? NEXT we see Christ in The Temple, and He is NOT there to win popularity points. Anyone who understands anything about politics knows what a great force money can be in the decisions of politicians. So, as Christ chased the money changers out of the temple AND then began healing the blind and the lame, He made himself an enemy to "the monetary powers" which the money changers represented AND the religious leaders OF AUTHORITY who had now ceased being religious and instead embraced POLITICS. Certainly Christ (from what He prophesied) knew that these forces would quickly turn the good will of the multitudes against Him. Still, just as Christ submitted to The Father, the hand of St John the Forerunner and His own creation (the waters) at Theophany, Christ also submitted Himself to the very praise which would eventually seal His fate. Thus we can see that, as much as we rejoice on Palm Sunday, we are also remembering the beginning of the end, an end which Christ knew to be a certainty even before He entered the gates of the city.

Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry
Matthew 21:1-17 NKJV (also Mark 11, Luke 19, John 12)
Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.
"Loose
them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you
shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send
them.”
All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
"Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘ Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.
They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.
And
a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut
down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“ Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘ Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’
" Hosanna in the highest!”
And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”
So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Then
Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought
and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers
and the seats of those who sold doves.
And He said to them,
“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”
Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
But
when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He
did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to
the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him,
“Do You hear what these are saying?”
And Jesus said to them,
“Yes. Have you never read,
‘ Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?'"
Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.
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