The Sunday of Palms and Willows
For centuries, northern countries from Russia to England have laid the catkins of the willow tree before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.
33
Roman Empire 27 BC - AD 1453
For centuries, northern countries from Russia to England have laid the catkins of the willow tree before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.
33
Roman Empire 27 BC - AD 1453
Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Day and the start of Holy Week, has been celebrated with willow branches in colder climes, including England, for centuries.
PALM Sunday commemorates the occasion when Jesus entered Jerusalem seated on a donkey, in deliberate fulfilment of the prophet Zechariah’s promise that one day Israel’s king would return to her capital in just that fashion.
His excited followers laid palm fronds in his path, and called him their King, crying “Hosanna to the son of David”.*
They believed he was going to drive out the Romans, and restore Israel to the glories of David’s reign a thousand years before.
Just days later, the cry had changed: “We have no King but Caesar!”** Soon, even as he poured out his life on the cross, there was silence. Only his mother and his friend John were by him in those last hours.
Where palms are plentiful, Christians have long brought them to church each year on this day, but as recently as Victorian times England followed the practice of more northerly countries from Romania to Russia, and the furry catkins of the willow were used instead.
See Matthew 21:9
** See John 19:15
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Why did Jesus choose to ride a donkey on his entry into his nation’s capital?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
The crowds hailed Jesus as their King. Jesus was crucified. The crowds did not call him their king any longer.