What the crowd did not know — what they could not yet see — was that the King they were welcoming was riding not toward a throne, but toward a cross. He knew it. Every step the donkey took was a step taken in full, clear-eyed awareness of what waited at the end of the week. And He rode in anyway. That is the breathtaking, staggering, world-changing truth at the heart of Palm Sunday.
In this article, we walk through all 40 Palm Sunday Bible verses — every account from all four Gospels, the ancient prophecies that foretold this day centuries before it happened, and additional scriptures that open up the full depth of what the triumphal entry means. Each verse is numbered so you can find what you need quickly. Let us walk that road together.
What Is Palm Sunday? (A Quick Biblical Overview)
Palm Sunday marks the day Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, welcomed by crowds who spread their cloaks and palm branches on the road before Him, shouting praises and hailing Him as King. It falls one week before Easter Sunday, marking the beginning of Holy Week — the final and most consequential seven days of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
The name comes from the palm branches the crowd cut and waved as He approached — a gesture reserved for welcoming royalty and military conquerors. In laying their cloaks on the road, the people were rolling out the ancient equivalent of a red carpet before a king. They were not wrong about who He was. They were simply wrong about what kind of King He had come to be.
They expected a military Messiah — someone who would overthrow Roman occupation and restore the throne of David through force. Instead, they got a King who rode not a warhorse but a humble donkey, fulfilling a prophecy written over 500 years earlier in Zechariah 9:9. A King who, even as the crowd cheered, wept over the city He loved — because He knew what was coming for them, and for Him.
Every detail of that day was intentional, prophesied, and deeply significant. Let us look at each Gospel account and discover what God preserved for us in His Word.
The Palm Sunday Story Across All 4 Gospels — What Makes Each One Unique
One of the most remarkable things about Palm Sunday is that all four Gospel writers felt compelled to record it — and each one noticed something different. Together, they give us a picture that is richer and more layered than any single account could provide on its own.
Matthew emphasizes fulfilled prophecy above everything else. Writing primarily to a Jewish audience, he wants them to see clearly that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Matthew alone mentions two animals — the donkey and her colt — reflecting the Hebrew parallelism of Zechariah 9:9. He also alone records that the whole city was shaken when Jesus entered, capturing a striking divide between the celebrating Galilean pilgrims and the bewildered Jerusalem locals.
Mark gives us the most concise, almost journalistic account. Scholars believe Mark’s Gospel carries the eyewitness voice of the Apostle Peter, which may explain its vivid, immediate details — the exact instructions Jesus gives, the precise moment the owners question the disciples, and the specific description of leafy branches. Mark is focused on one thing: who this Person is and what He has come to do.
Luke adds the most emotionally devastating moment in all four accounts — the one that, once you see it, you can never unsee. Luke alone records that Jesus, even as the crowd erupted in celebration around Him, stopped and wept over Jerusalem. Not a quiet tear — the Greek word is a word for loud, heaving, unrestrained sobbing. Luke also preserves the unforgettable declaration about the stones crying out.
John zooms out and gives us the broadest perspective. He alone tells us that the crowd included people who had witnessed the raising of Lazarus from the dead. He records the Pharisees’ despair — “Look how the whole world has gone after him!” — and crucially, he notes that the disciples did not fully understand what was happening until after the resurrection. Prophecy made perfect sense only in hindsight.
Four writers. Four perspectives. One perfect, unified story.
Palm Sunday Bible Verses from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 21:1–11)
Matthew opens his account on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem — the very place the prophet Zechariah said the Messiah would appear. Nothing in this story is accidental.
1. Matthew 21:1-3 — “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.'”
Notice the quiet confidence of Jesus here. He does not explain Himself or give the disciples a lengthy theological briefing. He simply says: go, untie them, tell them the Lord needs them — and it will work out. That kind of unshakeable certainty, in a man walking toward His own death, is breathtaking.
2. Matthew 21:4-5 — “This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: ‘Say to Daughter Zion, See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'”
Matthew stops the narrative cold to make sure we do not miss it — this is prophecy being fulfilled in real time. Written 550 years before this moment, Zechariah described it with breathtaking precision. The King would come not on a white horse of war, but on a donkey, the animal of peace and humility. Jesus was not improvising. He was fulfilling a divine script written centuries before His birth.
3. Matthew 21:6-8 — “The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.”
The crowd’s gesture was not spontaneous creativity — it was the ancient equivalent of rolling out the red carpet. When King Jehu was proclaimed king in 2 Kings 9:13, people spread their garments before him the same way. The people knew exactly what they were doing. They were crowning Him. They just did not know what kind of crown He would ultimately wear.
4. Matthew 21:9 — “The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!‘ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’
“Hosanna” literally means “Save us now” or “Save, we pray.” It is a cry of desperate hope directed at the one person the crowd believed could deliver them. They were quoting Psalm 118:25-26 — a psalm every Jewish person knew was associated with the coming Messiah. They simply did not yet understand that the salvation He came to bring was far greater than political freedom from Rome.
5. Matthew 21:10-11 — “When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.'”
The word “stirred” here is the Greek word seio — the same word used for an earthquake. The whole city shook. The Galilean pilgrims who had traveled with Jesus knew who He was. The Jerusalem locals were completely bewildered. Two groups, the same streets, the same moment — responding to the same Jesus in completely different ways. Some things never change.
Palm Sunday Bible Verses from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 11:1–11)
Mark’s account is lean and urgent — the way an eyewitness tells a story when still slightly breathless from having been there. There is a raw immediacy to it that makes every detail feel alive.
6. Mark 11:1-3 — “As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, Why are you doing this? tell him, The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'”
The fact that the colt had never been ridden is a detail only Mark and Luke preserve. An unbroken animal that had never carried a rider would normally be skittish and unmanageable in a crowd. Yet this one carried the Son of God calmly through the roaring streets of Jerusalem. Even creation was quietly submitting to its Creator.
7. Mark 11:4-6 — “They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.”
Two disciples walk up and begin untying someone else’s animal on a public street. Strangers question them. They answer with a single sentence: the Lord needs it. And the owners simply let them go — no argument, no negotiation, no scene. Jesus had prepared the way before they even arrived. He always does.
8. Mark 11:7-10 — “When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!'”
Mark’s crowd shouts something the other Gospel writers do not record: “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” They were thinking politically — expecting a restoration of the Davidic throne, an earthly kingdom, political power. Jesus was bringing something infinitely greater. The gap between what the crowd expected and what God was actually doing is one of the most poignant tensions in all of Scripture.
9. Mark 11:11 — “Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.”
After the parade, after the cheering, after the palm branches and roaring crowd — Jesus walked into the temple, looked around quietly, and went home. No fanfare. No proclamation. Just a King who had been celebrated choosing stillness over spectacle. He was preparing for what came next. And He knew exactly what that was.
Palm Sunday Bible Verses from the Gospel of Luke (Luke 19:28–44)
Luke’s account is the most emotionally complex of the four. It carries the highest joy and the deepest sorrow within the same passage — the exuberant celebration followed immediately by Jesus weeping over the city He is entering. To read Luke’s Palm Sunday account is to feel the full, unfiltered weight of what this day meant.
10. Luke 19:28-34 — “After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? say, The Lord needs it.’ Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them… As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ They replied, ‘The Lord needs it.'”
Luke alone tells us it was the owners — plural — who questioned the disciples. A small detail, but the kind that comes from careful, firsthand research. Luke was a physician and historian who interviewed eyewitnesses meticulously. These subtle differences between the Gospel accounts are not contradictions — they are the overlapping perspectives of people who were actually present on that road.
11. Luke 19:36-38 — “As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ‘Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!'”
Luke specifies that the crowd was praising God for all the miracles they had seen. This was not a crowd cheering an idea or a reputation — these were people who had personally watched the blind receive sight, the lame stand and walk, the dead come back to life. Their praise was not speculation. It was built on undeniable, firsthand evidence.
12. Luke 19:39-40 — “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you,’ he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.'”
The Pharisees wanted the noise stopped — they were threatened by it, embarrassed by it, afraid of what it was stirring up in the Passover crowd. But Jesus’ response is one of the most magnificent things He ever said. The worship of the King is so fundamental to the fabric of creation itself that if human voices were silenced, the very stones beneath their feet would crack open and shout. Some things cannot be stopped.
13. Luke 19:41-44 — “As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, ‘If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.'”
The crowd is cheering. The disciples are rejoicing. And Jesus — in the middle of His own triumphal procession — is weeping. Not quietly. The Greek word eklaio describes loud, unrestrained, heaving sobs. He was not crying for Himself. He was weeping for a city that was celebrating the wrong kind of salvation, that would miss its moment of grace. This is the King we celebrate on Palm Sunday: One who wept over the people who were about to crucify Him.
Palm Sunday Bible Verses from the Gospel of John (John 12:12–19)
John gives us the widest lens of all four accounts — zooming out to show the full scope of what was happening around Jesus from every direction. Writing after the resurrection, John can tell this story with the clarity of someone who now understands what it all meant.
14. John 12:12-13 — “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the king of Israel!'”
John alone specifies that the crowd went out to meet Jesus — they did not just line the streets and watch, they actively moved toward Him. And John alone identifies the branches as specifically palm branches, a symbol of national victory and pride in first-century Jewish culture. The crowd was making a deliberate, loaded statement. Whether they fully understood what that statement meant is another matter entirely.
15. John 12:14-16 — “Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: ‘Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.’ At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that these things had been done to him.”
This may be the most honest verse in the entire Palm Sunday story. The disciples did not understand. They were there, they saw it, they heard it — and they still did not grasp the full meaning of what was happening. It was only after the resurrection, looking back through the lens of the empty tomb, that everything clicked into place. Faith does not always come with immediate understanding. Sometimes the clarity comes later.
16. John 12:17-18 — “Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had performed this sign, went out to meet him.”
John gives us a detail the other Gospel writers leave out entirely: among the crowd coming to meet Jesus were people who had witnessed or heard directly about the raising of Lazarus — a miracle that had taken place just days earlier in Bethany, barely two miles from Jerusalem. The news of a dead man walking out of his tomb was still electrifying the city. No wonder the whole place was shaking.
17. John 12:19 — “So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!'”
The Pharisees, in their despair and frustration, accidentally said something profoundly and permanently true. Two thousand years later, in every nation on earth, in hundreds of languages, people are still going after this Man who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Their attempt to contain Him has failed more spectacularly than they could have ever imagined.
Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled on Palm Sunday
One of the most powerful arguments for Jesus being exactly who He claimed to be is not simply what He did — it is that what He did had been written down in precise, verifiable detail centuries before He was born. Palm Sunday was not an improvised moment. It was the fulfillment of a divine plan set in motion long before any of the participants took their first breath.
Zechariah 9:9 — Written approximately 520 BC
18. Zechariah 9:9 — “Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The most direct Palm Sunday prophecy in all of Scripture, written roughly 520 years before Jesus rode into Jerusalem. It specified not just that the King would come to Jerusalem, but exactly how He would come — not on a horse of war, but on a donkey, the animal of peace and humility. Both Matthew and John quote this prophecy directly in their accounts. This was planned by God long before any of the participants were born.
Psalm 118:25-26 — The Hosanna Psalm
19. Psalm 118:25-26 — “Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you.”
The word “Hosanna” that the crowd shouted on Palm Sunday came directly from verse 25 of this Psalm. Every Jewish person in that crowd would have recognized these words instantly. They were not inventing a new chant — they were reciting a Messianic psalm at the Person who had come to fulfill it, and to answer it in a way none of them expected.
Isaiah 62:11 — The Announcement of the King
20. Isaiah 62:11 — “The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth: Say to Daughter Zion, See, your Savior comes! See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”
Written by Isaiah approximately 700 years before Palm Sunday, this verse is woven into Matthew’s account as part of the tapestry of fulfilled prophecy. Two prophets — Zechariah and Isaiah — writing centuries apart, both pointing with remarkable precision to the same single moment on that road into Jerusalem.
Additional Palm Sunday Bible Verses and Scriptures for Reflection
Beyond the four Gospel accounts and the Old Testament prophecies, Scripture gives us additional verses that deepen our understanding of Palm Sunday — its themes of kingship, worship, humility, and the salvation the triumphal entry was pointing toward. These are passages worth returning to throughout Holy Week.
21. Psalm 24:7-8 — “Lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”
Written by David a thousand years before Palm Sunday, this psalm reads almost like a prophetic preview of the triumphal entry. The question “Who is this King of glory?” perfectly echoes the bewildered Jerusalem crowd asking “Who is this?” The answer has not changed in three thousand years.
22. Psalm 118:19-24 — “Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord… The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.”
Jesus quotes from this very Psalm in the days following His entry into Jerusalem, applying “the stone the builders rejected” directly to Himself. The same crowd shouting Hosanna from this Psalm would soon call for His crucifixion. The stone would be rejected. And then it would become the cornerstone of everything God was building.
23. Philippians 2:10-11 — “…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The Jerusalem crowd bowed the knee before Jesus in a limited, partial, misunderstood way on Palm Sunday. One day, every knee in all of creation will do what that crowd only partially accomplished — bow fully, knowingly, and completely before the King who rode in on a donkey and rose from the dead.
24. Revelation 7:9 — “After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”
This verse from Revelation is the ultimate Palm Sunday — the one that has not happened yet but absolutely will. A crowd too vast to count, from every nation on earth, holding palm branches before the throne of the Lamb. The worship that began on that dusty Jerusalem road will not end until the whole redeemed creation stands before the throne of God.
25. Zechariah 14:4 — “On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem…”
Jesus descended from the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday. According to Zechariah, He will return to that exact same mountain at His second coming. His first arrival brought Him to a cross. His second arrival will bring Him to an eternal throne. Same mountain. Same King. An entirely different ending.
26. Isaiah 9:6-7 — “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.”
The Palm Sunday crowd glimpsed something true but saw it incompletely. They knew He was a King. They did not yet know He was the Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Palm Sunday was not the wrong celebration — it was an incomplete one. The full picture required the cross, the tomb, and the resurrection.
27. Matthew 21:15-16 — “But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise?'”
The most unlikely worshippers on Palm Sunday were the children. The religious experts were offended. The children were unself-consciously praising. Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 to validate exactly the kind of unguarded, whole-hearted worship the children were offering — the kind that does not filter itself through status, sophistication, or self-consciousness.
28. Luke 19:10 — “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Spoken by Jesus just before He began His final journey toward Jerusalem, this single sentence is the mission statement of Palm Sunday — and of the entire week that followed. Every palm branch, every waving cloak, every Hosanna on that road was pointing toward a cross. And He rode toward it willingly, because this — saving the lost — was exactly why He came.
29. John 12:23-24 — “Jesus replied, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.'”
Spoken during the same events surrounding Palm Sunday, these words reveal what Jesus knew was coming and why He was walking toward it willingly. The triumphal entry was not the moment of His glory — the cross was. The seed had to fall into the ground and die before it could produce a harvest. Easter Sunday was the first fruit of that harvest.
30. Psalm 8:2 — “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.”
This is the Psalm Jesus quoted when the children praised Him in the temple courts on Palm Sunday. The chief priests were silenced not by argument or authority, but by the praise of children. It was fitting. God has always ordained that the simplest, most vulnerable voices would confound the proud and the powerful.
31. 2 Kings 9:13 — “They quickly took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, ‘Jehu is king!'”
When the Palm Sunday crowd spread their cloaks on the road before Jesus, they were drawing from a deep well of Jewish royal tradition. This verse records the same gesture being made for King Jehu centuries earlier. The act of spreading garments was a deliberate, culturally understood declaration of kingship — and the crowd on Palm Sunday knew exactly what they were doing.
32. John 12:32 — “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Also spoken during the Palm Sunday events, this is Jesus speaking plainly about what the triumphal entry was ultimately pointing toward — not a throne, but a cross. To be “lifted up” was a reference to crucifixion. The crowd heard a promise of glory. Jesus was describing His death. And yet He was right on both counts — the cross was both His deepest suffering and His greatest glory.
33. Zechariah 9:10 — “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
The verse immediately following the Palm Sunday prophecy in Zechariah reveals the nature of the King’s kingdom — not military, not political, but a kingdom of peace extending to every nation on earth. When Jesus rode in on a donkey, He was embodying this verse completely. His kingdom would not be built with swords. It would be built with the cross and the Gospel going to the ends of the earth.
34. Psalm 118:1 — “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
The opening verse of the very Psalm the Palm Sunday crowd was quoting. Before the Hosannas, before the royal welcome — comes this foundational declaration: God is good, and His love endures forever. That love is what sent Jesus down that road into Jerusalem. That love is what kept Him on the cross when He could have called ten thousand angels to His rescue.
35. Matthew 21:12-13 — “Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ he said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.'”
Immediately following the triumphal entry, Jesus walked into the temple and overturned the tables. This was not a loss of composure — it was a deliberate, prophetic act. The King who had just been welcomed as a royal guest immediately went to work cleansing His Father’s house. Palm Sunday was not the end of the story — it was the beginning of a week of confrontation, sacrifice, and ultimately, redemption.
36. Isaiah 53:3 — “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.”
Written 700 years before Palm Sunday, Isaiah 53 describes the Suffering Servant with haunting accuracy. The crowd that welcomed Jesus with palms and Hosannas on Sunday would, by Friday, be largely silent as He was led to the cross. The transition from Palm Sunday to Good Friday is one of the starkest in all of Scripture — and Isaiah saw it coming centuries before it happened.
37. Psalm 22:1 — “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?”
Jesus would quote these very words from the cross just five days after His triumphal entry. The same voice welcomed with Hosannas on Sunday would cry out in agony on Friday. Palm Sunday and Good Friday cannot be understood without each other. This Psalm, written by David, had always been pointing to that Friday on Golgotha.
38. Romans 5:8 — “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Palm Sunday set the final act in motion. He was welcomed by people who would abandon Him, and He came anyway. He rode toward a cross He did not deserve, for people who deserved exactly that — and He came anyway. That is the love Romans 5:8 is describing. Not love that waits for us to get it right. Love that comes to us exactly as we are.
39. Hebrews 12:2 — “…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Jesus rode into Jerusalem for the joy set before Him — not the joy of the crowd’s applause, but the joy of completing the mission, of purchasing the redemption of everyone who would ever believe. The cross was not a defeat. It was the price He was willing to pay for the joy of bringing us home. He could see Sunday from Friday. He could see the resurrection from the cross.
40. Revelation 19:11-12 — “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.”
On Palm Sunday, the King came on a donkey — humble, peaceful, riding toward a cross. In Revelation 19, He comes on a white horse — triumphant, glorious, every wrong made right. Palm Sunday is the first coming. Revelation 19 is the second. The crowd on that dusty Jerusalem road waved palm branches for a King they only partially understood. One day, the whole redeemed creation will bow before Him in full knowledge of exactly who He is. That day is coming.
What Palm Sunday Means for Us Today
There is a question Palm Sunday has been asking every generation of believers since that first Sunday on the Mount of Olives — and it is worth sitting with honestly: Which part of the crowd are you?
Some in the crowd were the enthusiastic palm-wavers — genuinely excited about Jesus, genuinely hopeful, genuinely sincere. But their faith was conditional. They wanted a King who would improve their circumstances. When the week unfolded in ways they had not expected, many of them went quiet.
Some were the Pharisees — watching from the edges, threatened by the whole thing, trying to maintain control of something that was clearly beyond their control. Their hearts were hardened not by lack of evidence but by an unwillingness to surrender what recognizing Jesus as King would cost them.
And some were like the disciples — present, devoted, confused, not fully understanding what was happening, but staying close to Jesus anyway. Trusting that clarity would come, even when it did not come today.
The question Palm Sunday asks us is the same one it asked them: Are you willing to follow a King whose plans do not match yours? Are you willing to worship Someone whose ways are higher than your ways — even when those ways lead somewhere painful before they lead somewhere glorious?
The crowd shouted “Save us now” — and He did. Just not the way they expected. He saved them from something far worse than Rome. He rode toward a cross none of them could yet see, with their names written on His heart. And He would do it again, in a heartbeat, for you.
Frequently Asked Questions About Palm Sunday
Why do we call it Palm Sunday?
The name comes directly from John 12:13, which records that the crowd took palm branches and went out to meet Jesus. The palm branch in first-century Jewish culture was a symbol of victory, triumph, and national pride. By waving palms before Jesus, the crowd was treating Him with the honor due a conquering king. The name has endured for two thousand years, and for good reason.
Is Palm Sunday mentioned in all four Gospels?
Yes — Palm Sunday is the only event in Jesus’ public ministry, outside of the crucifixion and resurrection, recorded in all four Gospels. Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19 all preserve accounts of the triumphal entry, each with its own unique details and emphasis. The fact that all four writers felt compelled to record this moment underscores how central it was to the memory of the early church.
What does “Hosanna” actually mean?
“Hosanna” comes from the Hebrew “Hoshiana,” meaning “Save now” or “Save, we pray.” It is a cry of urgent, desperate hope directed at someone believed to have the power to deliver. The crowd was quoting Psalm 118:25 — a psalm long associated with the coming Messiah. What is remarkable is that in crying out for salvation, they did not realize just how literally their prayer was about to be answered — not through political deliverance, but through the cross.
Why did Jesus ride a donkey and not a horse?
The choice of a donkey was deeply intentional and theologically loaded. In the ancient Near East, kings rode horses when going to war and donkeys when coming in peace. By riding a donkey, Jesus was making an unmistakable statement: His kingdom is not built on military force. He was also fulfilling Zechariah 9:9 to the letter, which specifically prophesied the Messiah would come “lowly and riding on a donkey.”
Did the same crowd that cheered on Palm Sunday call for His crucifixion on Good Friday?
This is one of the most commonly asked Palm Sunday questions, and the answer is more nuanced than a simple yes. Biblical scholars note that the Palm Sunday crowd was largely made up of Galilean pilgrims. The Good Friday crowd calling for crucifixion appears to have been a different group — largely Jerusalem locals stirred up by the chief priests. That said, the broader spiritual lesson remains: enthusiasm for Jesus does not automatically produce faithfulness to Jesus.
How should Christians observe Palm Sunday today?
Palm Sunday is one of the most ancient observances in Christian history, dating to at least the fourth century. Many churches distribute palm branches, read the triumphal entry accounts aloud, and begin special Holy Week services. But beyond the church service, Palm Sunday invites a deeply personal question: How am I welcoming Jesus into my life right now? Not as the King I wish He were — but as the King He actually is? The most meaningful Palm Sunday observance is not the palm branch in your hand — it is the surrender happening in your heart.
Conclusion
Picture that road one more time. The dust. The noise. The palm branches arcing through the air. The cloaks spread on the ground. The voices of thousands rising together in a cry that had been waiting centuries to be spoken: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!
And in the middle of it all — a King on a donkey, descending the Mount of Olives with the quiet, deliberate calm of someone who knows exactly where He is going and exactly why. Not swept up in the celebration. Not riding on the crowd’s energy. Moved deeply — moved enough to weep — but not by the applause. Moved by love. Moved by the weight of what lay ahead. Moved by the names of every person He was about to die for.
Every one of the 40 Palm Sunday Bible verses we have walked through together carries that moment at its center. Matthew shows us the King fulfilling ancient prophecy with breathtaking precision. Mark shows us a humble King who quietly took stock of the temple and went home to rest. Luke shows us the King who wept even as the crowd cheered. John shows us a King whose disciples did not understand — until the resurrection made everything clear. And the additional scriptures show us that this story does not end on that road. It ends in Revelation 19, with a King on a white horse, returning in glory, every wrong finally made right.
The palms are gone. The road is quiet. But the King is alive — risen, reigning, and coming again.
May this Holy Week bring you close to the One who rode in for you. May the Hosannas you sing be more than tradition — may they be the cry of a heart that knows it needs saving and has found the only One who can.
He came. He suffered. He rose. He is coming again.
Happy Palm Sunday.
