What is Palm Sunday?

The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem, fresco in the Parish Church Zirl, Austria.

Palm Sunday is the day Christians remember the "triumphal entry" of Jesus into Jerusalem, exactly one week before His death and resurrection. For many Christian churches, Palm Sunday, often referred to as 'Passion Sunday,' marks the beginning of Holy Week, which concludes on Easter Sunday.

Some 450-500 years earlier, the Prophet Zechariah had prophesied, "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey" (Zechariah 9:9).

Matthew 21:7-9 records the fulfillment of that prophecy: "They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 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!"

'The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem' mosaic by the Master of the Cappella Palatina in Palermo, Italy
(Greco-Byzantine workshop, gift of Roger II, c. 1150)

Jesus the Messiah, enters Jerusalem on a donkey, an animal of a man of peace. A conquering king would ride a horse. The people seem to have recognized the kingship, but not to have seen the emphasis on peace. Jesus Christ makes peace with God the Father by sacrificing Himself on our behalf; thus He has paid our debt and granted us peace with the Father.

The biblical account of Palm Sunday can be found in Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-44; and John 12:12-19.