Palm Sunday is About the King

"That's not right!" my daughter blurted out while I was reading Mark 11 to her. She ran to her room and back, flipping through the pages of one of her children's Bibles. "See," she said. "They didn't put the palm branches on the road; they waved them in the air like pom-poms."

Mark 11:8 set this emotional concern into motion. The verse reads, "Many people spread their clothes on the road, and others spread leafy branches cut from the fields" (CSB). In that passage, the citizens put their clothes and the branches on the road for Jesus' donkey to walk on like a red carpet. They were honoring the king. Matthew 21:8 says the same thing. Luke 19:36 says they spread their clothes on the road but doesn't mention the branches. John 12:13 says they took palm branches and went out to meet Jesus. It doesn't tell if they waved them or put them on the ground, but given the testimony of Mark and Matthew, they likely laid them on the road.

At that moment, my daughter desperately wanted her children's Bible with pictures of people waving the palm branches to be correct. That's what tradition had painted in her mind, but that picture doesn't accurately reflect the biblical moment. And most of us have a portrait of Palm Sunday like my daughter's painted in our traditions too.

Too often, we miss the majesty of the biblical story for the palm branches. Jesus is the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 which says, "Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Note the crowd's boldness--albeit fleeting, but still profound brass. In front of Pilate, the Roman Governor, and King Herod, the masses shouted these words to Jesus: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord -- the King of Israel!" (John 12:13). Indeed, they believed Jesus was coming to overthrow those leaders, and in ways more profound than they ever could have imagined, Jesus did. The focus of the story is not the donkey. It's not the coats on the road. And it's not the palm branches.

The palm branches are much like the towel and bowl Jesus used to wash his disciples' feet (John 13:1-20). They are props in a story full of significance and meaning. However, the context helps us get beyond tradition to the applicable purpose.

When Jesus got up to wash the disciple's feet, it wasn't an out-of-the-ordinary ceremony. It was customary that the lowly servants washed guests' feet because sandaled-feet got gross on the dirty roads. And because they didn't sit on chairs but instead reclined like a family on a picnic blanket, their feet were not hidden under a table. The shocking moment was not that Jesus did a special ceremony but that the divine Lord of Earth and Heaven did the task of a low servant. When Jesus explained that he is our example, he called his disciples to humble themselves and serve others, even in the lowest of jobs.

Parading around waving palms is much like hosting a foot-washing service. It's not inherently a bad thing to do, but it might cause people to miss the point of the biblical account. Eyes might note the palms while missing the King of Kings.

When the people put their clothing and palm branches out before Jesus, it was like rolling out the red carpet for their King. They were honoring Jesus and humbling themselves before their King. Sadly, those same people completely changed their minds less than a week later when they yelled, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" (Matthew 27:22-24). I wonder if there were still pieces of palm branches in the streets while Jesus was being led from the garden to the garrison and then from the courts to the cross?

When teaching the Bible, it can be dangerous to say, "be like those people." Be like David, except not when he had an affair, killed a man to cover it up, raised terrible kids, or counted his army to marvel at his own kingdom. Be like the people crying "Hosanna!" in the streets and laying coats and palms at Jesus' feet, but don't be like them when they demanded the thorn-crowned King of the Jews be crucified. Instead, seek to understand the principle of the Scripture and live by that. Seek to see King Jesus as the central figure and the entire point of Palm Sunday. See King Jesus as the better David, the perfect King to sit on the throne forever.

Rather than having a foot-washing ceremony, seek ways to humble yourself and serve others often. And rather than waving a palm branch around in the air like a pom-pom, think about how you can usher Jesus into your life as your King. Does your worship honor your King? Does your obedience to the King show the world you are a citizen of Jesus' Kingdom? How can you surrender your own kingdom construction to build our Lord's Kingdom? How can you metaphorically roll out the red carpet for King Jesus this Palm Sunday?

This King, our King, went to a Roman cross in your place. He hung naked on a cross between two criminals. Mocked and scorned, he died. Of course, you weren't facing a sentence of Roman punishment. No. You and your sins were before the judgment of a holy God, and the penalty was an eternal death sentence. But Jesus didn't die because they called him King in the streets a week before. He didn't even die because they nailed him to a cross. Our King died under the crushing wrath of judgment on sin. If you profess faith in Jesus Christ and obey him as your King, he has traded his righteousness for your sin, and Jesus mortified your sin on the cross. Then on the third day, he left the grave. Your sin stayed there. This is why we celebrate Easter. And for the Christian, every day is Easter.

Is Jesus your King?