Palm Sunday. What's so great about that?

I've often wondered about that day of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Did He love the feel of the morning sunshine and feel honored by people's shouts of acclaim? Or did He think ahead to the end of the week when He would be tortured?

Somewhere along the route, He stopped and gazed over Jerusalem laid out below Him with the gold-domed temple gleaming in the sun. And He wept over it, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matthew 23:37)

It doesn't sound happy, does it? He went on to describe the horror and destruction that would happen to it when the Romans would destroy the city forty years later (see Luke 19:41-48).

My own opinion is that this entire week would have been incredibly sad for Jesus. He knew what would happen when he got to Jerusalem.

Or that triumphal entry with all the cheering crowd, the palm fronds and cloaks thrown across the road in front of the donkey might have been one of his last happy moments until He would rise from the dead a week later.

I don't know. I hope you'll accompany me as we go through this week with Him. We'll share those last days with Him, cheer with the crowds, weep over Jerusalem. Share the confusion of the disciples. Share the joy and then the anger of the crowds.

Come with us. Cheer Him today as he rides the donkey to Jerusalem.