After - Day 1

On the Sunday before the death of Jesus, we know that he began his trip to Jerusalem, knowing that he would soon give up his life for us. When he was close to Bethphage, he sent a few disciples ahead, telling them to look for the donkey and its colt that had yet to be broken. They were instructed to untie the animals and bring them to Jesus.

As he sat on the donkey and made his way to Jerusalem, he was fulfilling the ancient prophecy that we find in Zechariah 9:9:

Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem Look, your king is coming to you.  He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.

The crowds welcomed him by waving palm branches in the air and shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

On Palm Sunday, Jesus and his disciples spent the night in Bethany, a town about two miles east of Jerusalem. This is where Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, lived. They were close friends of Jesus, and probably hosted Him and His disciples during their final days in Jerusalem.

I have always loved this story about Jesus coming into Jerusalem. I love it because it feels like something great and new is happening, and it is hard to believe that in just a few short days, they would be clamoring for his death rather than his reign.

It is incredible how quickly popular opinion moves away from Jesus in these moments and hours before his death. What do you think about this last week? Have you ever spent time contemplating what Jesus had to deal with that week, and what the disciples had to try and manage?

Jesus was popular, obviously, but this week he went viral! Have you ever had something go viral in your life?

A few years ago, when I first started to work at Crosswalk, I had a friend who lost his wife and unborn child. As he was in the NICU with his 23-week-old son, who only lived a few hours, he sang a song to the beat of the breathing machine. Another friend of ours posted it online, and it had a few thousand views by the following evening. Throughout the week leading up to the funeral, the video went viral, and we were very quickly initiated into the world of press interest and interview requests. Of course, we were not interested in any of it, but one of us had to take it on in order for us to be able to focus on taking care of our friend.

My bet is that even though they were used to the attention that Jesus would drum up, there was much more than they had ever had to deal with at this point. I can imagine that the disciples were scrambling to figure out what they were supposed to be doing in the midst of such viral attention.

1. What do you think you would do if there was such love heaped upon someone you had been following for a while? 
2. Would you have thought those prophecies about him dying were still on the table? 
3. How do you think Jesus felt as he went into Jerusalem that day?