The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.
John 12:12-16
Pray: through your scriptural imagination
In the second week of Lent, Abraham and Sarah modeled expectant joy, which trusts in God’s promises so deeply that it rejoices in them before they’ve even been fulfilled. On Palm Sunday, as Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, many people thought that their promised king had arrived. They weren’t wrong, but they weren’t exactly right, either. Jesus rode into the city in full knowledge of what would happen next. The celebration of Palm Sunday was just a shadow of the resurrection joy that was coming.
March 25 is also the annual feast of the Annunciation, when we remember Mary’s consent to God’s plan. Contemplate the events of Palm Sunday as though you are standing in Mary’s place in the Jerusalem streets. Make the scene come alive in your imagination, going through your senses one at a time: Where are you in the crowd? Can you see your adult child Jesus from where you are? Who is next to you? Are you hot or cold? What does the ground feel like under your feet? What can you smell? What words are you pondering? Notice the quality of joy that you may feel unfolding as you reconstruct the biblical scene from the perspective of Jesus’ mother.