THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY: ANY SIGNIFICANCE?
(Text: Luke 19:28-40) Palm Sunday, the annual celebration before Easter Sunday commemorates the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The event happened on the first day of the Passion Week. The name "Palm Sunday" comes from John 12:13, "They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, 'Hosanna?'" (NIV).
The celebration started around 3rd-4th century AD. However, does the event have any significance for us today? Can we learn any lesson from it?
This event demonstrates humility and peace by Jesus (verse 30). Jesus opted to enter Jerusalem on a donkey (see Matthew 21:2), not a horse. Donkey and colt symbolize humility and peace while horse is usually associated with power and war. The outcomes of His option were honor and glorification (verses 37, 38; John 12:19).
The Christian message is not of force or domineering, but a message of peace (see Ephesians 6:15), because "...everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (Luke 18:14 NIV).
The event amplifies total surrender (verse 35). The owners surrendered the colt to the strangers that came to untie it. Likewise, the colt allowed itself to be used by Jesus to ride on it. We should also be ready to surrender our possessions and even ourselves totally for the Master's use.
