Holy Week Devotionals: Palm Sunday

Read Isaiah 50:4-9 and Matthew 21:1-11

By Associate Pastor of Youth and Missions/Outreach Lindsey Odom

As I read Matthew 21:1-11, I imagine Jesus on this road on Palm Sunday. The crowd is filled with exuberant emotion and shouting Hosanna. However, Jesus comes into Jerusalem with tears. It was one of only two times in all of scripture in which Jesus is reported to have shed tears. Like the prayer above says, “we know that Palm Sunday was not a walk in the park for Jesus as there was risk, there was fear, and there was the threat of violence.” Jesus entered the city with humility and courage, especially considering the political and prophetical ramifications of his triumphal entry. So, while Palm Sunday is a day of celebration, we know where the story is headed. Do not rush through the story this week. Sit in each day! For today we know that the Messiah has come. Alleluia!

Reflect…

• What thoughts, feelings, ideas, images, or memories arise as you read these two Palm Sunday passages (Isaiah 50:4-9 and Matthew 21:1-11)?
• How does understanding the political, prophetic, and religious tensions and ramifications of this Palm Sunday text change how you read or understand it?
• What might you do this Holy Week to honor Jesus and follow in Jesus’ footsteps?
• Listen to the Palm Sunday Prayer one more time.
  • The prayer reminds us that Jesus had a difficult journey ahead of him as he looks to the pain, the suffering, the darkness, the betrayals, and the cross that he knows awaits him. What would it look like for us to develop the courage to walk with Jesus and with one another more faithfully into trials that are yet to come?