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Palm Sunday


In the Common English Bible (CEB), Mark 11:1-2 and 7-10 reads:

When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus gave two disciples a task, saying to them, "Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here . . . They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it. Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields. Those in front of him and those following were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!"

These verses describe Jesus' triumphal entry, and are the fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, which says that a king unlike any other who has ever been will ride into Jerusalem on a colt. The point of this celebration is that Jesus is king. But as we see over and over in Mark, the crowds don't understand Jesus' mission. They thought he'd be a king like David--the greatest king Israel ever had.

So, you probably have two questions: The first one is probably: What does Hosanna mean? Fred Craddock says that the term "Hosanna" originally meant "save us."

The second question: Why are these people laying down their coats as Jesus rides by them? Some of these people were poor, and their coat was all they owned. In essence, they were laying everything down for Jesus. They were giving all they had to Jesus. They were letting go and giving control to Jesus.

The truth for us in these verses is that we need to lay down our plans and how we try to control our lives. That means, instead of pursuing what we want and what we think will make us happy or complete, we pursue God's dream for our lives.

In case you haven't figured it out yet, God rarely gives us what we want. Instead, he gives us what we need. So why don't we skip some headaches and submit to God?

This means we need to lay down control. This crowd is proclaiming Jesus is king. They are handing control over to him. How often do we try to control our lives and make things happen?

Remember, Jesus calls us to follow him. That means that we have to trust where he is leading us. We need to give Jesus control. The point of these verses is that we're still called to give our everything to Jesus. Because it is only when we lay down everything before him that we find everything in him. Have you laid your life down before Jesus?


If you need to lay your life down, here is an invitation. Here is the link to Sunday's sermon.


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