- Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. It initiates Holy Week, the last week of Lent.
- In many Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, Reformed, Presbyterian, and Anglican Churches, worship services on Palm Sunday include a procession of the faithful carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, olive, willow, and yew. The Sunday was often named after these substitute trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.
- In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection.
- Christian theologians believe that the symbolism is captured prophetically in the Old Testament: Zechariah 9:9 "The Coming of Zion's King – See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey". It suggests that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin.
- According to the Gospels, Jesus Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks and small branches of trees in front of him, and sang part of Psalm 118: 25–26 – ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord ....
- The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war.[1] A king would have ridden a horse when he was bent on war and ridden a donkey to symbolize his arrival in peace. Jesus's entry to Jerusalem would have thus symbolized his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.
This time of year also brings on the remembrance of the Resurrection and is the time for General Conference. I am sure getting excited for conference! There has been talk that some big changes are expected to be announced. Not sure the source of these rumors, but either way I am always excited for conference.
Another event that is remembered this week is Passover. This week will mark the first time I celebrate passover with my family. This is something I have always wanted to do and I have shared in past posts some great links that are LDS centered on how to best celebrate passover as a family. In years past I have wanted to do this, but have always remembered when it was too late. This year will be different!
In church news this week I found this article pretty exciting; President and Sister Nelson as well as Elder and Sister Holland are embarking on a world ministry tour where they will visit 8 cities. There is that number again. I have talked about quite a bit in this year's video messages. It continues to be an exciting year! :)
https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-global-ministry-tour-locations?cid=HP_FR-23-3-2018_dPAD_fMNWS_xLIDyL1-C_
No comments:
Post a Comment