I Was Just Thinking … About Jesus’ Triumph on Palm Sunday

Shortly before the day that we now call Palm Sunday, Jesus walked into the village of Bethany and raised his friend, Lazarus, from the dead. This event did not go unnoticed. Word spread. This sign, as John’s gospel labels Jesus’ miracles, was the capstone of a series of signs that began when he turned water into wine three years earlier. So, when Jesus and the crowd of disciples with him left Bethany to walk to Jerusalem on the first day of Passover Week, the crowds already in town were primed for his arrival. They reasoned that if he could raise the dead, they could count on him to deliver them from the death grip of Rome. “They took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him,” shouting lines from the king’s victory psalm (John 12:13; cf. Psalm 118:24–25).

Jesus couldn’t continue. He stopped the procession and sent someone to fetch a donkey. He may have been the Christ who had recently accomplished his greatest miracle, but at this point, he was the Christ who needed to pass his biggest test. A few days earlier, after his lunch with Zacchaeus, he had explained to his disciples that he was like a nobleman who needed to attend the high king and be invested with his own crown (Luke 19:11 ff.). But now he needed to present an object lesson that demonstrated a part of God’s plan that the crowd was ignoring and that affirmed his faithfulness to all the Father had given him to do.

We should understand that Jesus didn’t object to their celebration! Some Pharisees told him to quiet the people, but he answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:40). Jesus deserved their adulation. But he wanted them to rejoice that he was on his way to receive the crown and that he would return to establish peace in the world and to release them from the grave (Zechariah 9:9–12). To accomplish all of this, he would need to prove his righteousness, that is, his faithfulness to God. He would do this by following through with the Father’s plan. This meant he had to put himself in a situation from which God would need to rescue him. Going to the cross as an innocent man was how he would accomplish this.

We celebrate Palm Sunday today because on it, Jesus passed his biggest test yet. He overcame his severest trial so far, with Gethsemane yet to come. He remained faithful to the Father’s will for his life in the face of the powerful cries of the enthusiastic throng. We all love to be praised, especially when we deserve it. Jesus did. But Jesus loved the Father’s praise even more. And this is what he wants for us as well. It wasn’t easy for him to resist the crowd’s adulation. He said, “Now my soul is deeply afflicted!” He heard the crowd around him, and he saw the cross ahead of him. Fortunately for us, his response was, “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:28). Then, just as at Jesus’ baptism, the Father broke through with a vocal affirmation, so that we would be encouraged to love eternal life with the Father as much as he did. Humility had to precede victory. Fortunately for us, it did! So now, because Jesus succeeded in this trial, we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses. Therefore, we can confidently approach the throne of grace and expect to receive mercy and grace to help us remain faithful when we are tested and tried as well (Hebrews 4:14–16).