What Is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, recorded in all four Gospels (Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19), on the Sunday before His crucifixion. Jesus entered riding on a donkey while crowds spread palm branches and garments on the road, shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David." The entry fulfilled the messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. The crowd's expectations — of a political deliverer — and Jesus's actual mission — atonement through death and resurrection — were radically different, making the scene one of the most layered and significant in the Gospels.
It was a deliberate act. Every detail of the entry into Jerusalem was chosen. The donkey was not a convenience — it was a symbol. The route was not random — it was the road from Bethany over the Mount of Olives into the city, the approach the prophets had described. The crowd's response was not spontaneous — they were quoting a psalm they had sung at Passover for centuries.
Jesus knew what He was doing. The crowd thought they knew what He was doing. They were right and wrong at the same time — which is what makes Palm Sunday one of the most revealing and heartbreaking scenes in the Gospels.
Why a Donkey
The key to understanding Palm Sunday is Zechariah 9:9 — written approximately 500 years before the event:
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." (NKJV)
Jesus sent two disciples to find a specific animal — a donkey and its colt. Not a horse. In the ancient Near East, a king rode a horse when he came in military conquest. A king rode a donkey when he came in peace. By choosing a donkey, Jesus was making a declaration visible to anyone who knew the prophecy: He was entering as the messianic king — but not the kind of king who arrives with an army.
John 12:16 (NKJV) notes that the disciples "did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered." They were present for the entry, they participated in it, and they still didn't grasp its full meaning until after the resurrection. The significance of what was happening was operating on a level that took the Spirit's illumination to see clearly.
What the Crowd Was Shouting — and What They Meant
The crowds spread their garments on the road — a gesture of royal welcome, the same thing done for Jehu when he was proclaimed king in 2 Kings 9:13. They cut palm branches and waved them. And they shouted from Psalm 118:25-26 (NKJV): "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"
"Hosanna" means "save now" — a cry for rescue. "Son of David" was the primary messianic title — the one who would fulfil the covenant God made with David, restoring the throne and the kingdom. The crowd was welcoming what they believed was the political and military deliverer they had been waiting for. A Passover crowd in occupied Jerusalem, gathered at the feast that commemorated God delivering Israel from Egypt — and here comes someone they believe will do it again, but this time from Rome.
Mark 11:10 (NKJV) makes the expectation explicit: they shouted, "Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!" They were expecting a kingdom. They were not wrong that a kingdom was coming. They were wrong about what kind of kingdom it was and what the path to it looked like.
What Jesus Knew That the Crowd Didn't
Luke 19:41-42 (NKJV) records what happened as Jesus approached the city: "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.'"
He wept. Not from disappointment at the crowd's enthusiasm — the hosannas were reaching the right person. He wept because He could see what was coming and what would be missed. The city that was welcoming Him as a conquering king would demand His crucifixion by Friday. And in 70 AD, it would be destroyed by the Romans — the very power the crowd wanted Him to overthrow — because they had not recognised "the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:44).
John 12:23 (NKJV) gives Jesus's own frame for what the entry meant: "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified." His glorification would not be a throne in Jerusalem. It would be a cross outside the city wall, followed by an empty tomb. The disciples didn't understand that yet. The crowd certainly didn't. Jesus did.
Matthew 21:15 records that after Jesus entered the temple and healed the blind and lame — and the children were still crying "Hosanna to the Son of David" — the chief priests were indignant. The establishment saw the threat. The children saw the king. And Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2: "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise." The ones who were still saying the right thing about the right person were the ones no one was listening to.
The Week That Changed Everything
Palm Sunday is the beginning of what Christians call Holy Week — the final week of Jesus's earthly ministry before the resurrection. From the triumphal entry to the Last Supper to Gethsemane to the cross to the empty tomb, the week moves with an intensity that the Gospel writers felt and transmitted into their accounts.
The crowd on Palm Sunday got the person right. They got the moment right — "Hosanna, save now" was the correct prayer for the correct person. What they got wrong was the shape of the salvation they were asking for. Jesus came to save — not from Rome but from sin, not by military conquest but by substitutionary death, not to establish an earthly throne but to open a kingdom that would outlast every empire that ever flew a standard over Jerusalem.
Philippians 2:8-11 (NKJV) describes where the entry ultimately led: He "humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow." The throne came. The crown came. Not the way anyone expected. Not the way anyone would have chosen. But it came — and it is coming still.
FAQS
What is Palm Sunday?
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Author
Shafraz Jeal
Shafraz Jeal is the founder of By Design Ministry, created to help people discover Jesus, understand the Bible, and grow in faith. After encountering Christ in 2016, his life was radically changed, and that journey continues to shape everything he shares.
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