Christians Celebrate Palm Sunday

Christians worldwide celebrate Palm Sunday, commemorating the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week, a week that would end with his death on Good Friday, then followed by Easter Sunday.

For followers of Jesus, this week marks the culmination of a lifetime of sinless obedience to God, and the final five days of a teaching ministry that even the billions who do not claim the name of Christ must readily acknowledge changed the world forever.

But what does the Bible say happened as these final events of Jesus’ life began to unfold? The Old Testament Zechariah had prophesied that Israel’s great king, the messiah, would come mounted “on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

From the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament:

And when he [Jesus] had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

—Luke 19:28–40 (ESV).

Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.