Readings for Palm Sunday: The Triumphal Entry and the Cleansing of the Temple in Matthew and Luke

 

Minerva Teichert, The Triumphal Entry

The True King Comes to Jerusalem

"On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." (John 12:12–13)

[Scroll down to the bottom of this post for my translations of the Palm Sunday texts]

Christians around the world begin their observance of Holy Week by marking Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem,[1] which, according to the relative time markers found in Mark, took place one week before Easter (see Appendix B). All four Gospels paint a similar picture of crowds—though perhaps these were just the excited, gathered disciples of Jesus—welcoming Jesus into the holy city with shouts of praise and the waving of tree branches as he descended the symbolically significant Mount of Olives. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 2004 and a member of the First Presidency from 2008 to 2018, wrote the following about this event: “Perhaps the disciples thought this was a turning point—the moment when the Jewish world would finally recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. But the Savior understood that many of the shouts of praise and acclamation would be temporary. He knew that soon He would ascend to the Mount of Olives and there, alone in Gethsemane, take upon Himself the sins of the world.”[2] Jesus’s knowledge of his coming suffering and sacrifice makes this event a fitting point to begin our formal observance of Passion Week.

While Jesus’s trial, suffering, and death lay ahead, the triumphal entry was one of the few times during his ministry when Jesus was recognized as the Messiah he actually was. Indeed, beyond its immediate significance, it was also a foreshadowing of his glorious return as King of kings and Lord of lords (see Rev 19:16). In this respect, the triumphal entry is the first of his acts in what we are calling the kingly portion of Holy Week that followed his anointing by Mary of Bethany.[3] A second act that exemplified his royal authority followed soon afterward, at least in Matthew and Luke, when Jesus ascended to the temple and demonstrated his authority there by casting out the merchants and moneylenders whom the temple authorities had allowed to set up their stalls and tables in the sacred courts. Both these episodes can be categorized as “prophetic signs” or symbolic, dramatic enactments in the tradition of Old Testament prophecy.[4] Drawing upon Zechariah 9 and Psalm 118, the triumphal entry illustrated that Jesus was the Son of David, the rightful king of Israel. Jesus’s actions in the temple, with an important reference to Jeremiah 7 and allusions to Zechariah 12‒13, were calculated to demonstrate that as the true king Jesus came to judge Israel, entering Jerusalem and the temple to assert his position, disputing the authority of those who had arguably usurped and wrongly exercised it.

With my daughter Rachel in the Jerusalem Palm Sunday procession on April 1, 2012

Palm Sunday is celebrated in many Christian churches as a chance to recall one of the few times Jesus' mortal ministry when he was recognized as the True King he really way, to demonstrate our acceptance as our King in our own lives, and to anticipate with joy his promised return when he will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. Since the fourth century, it has been celebrated with particular enthusiasm in Jerusalem, where pilgrims assemble at a church in Bethphage, where Jesus is believed to have mounted a donkey, and then process with singing and palm branches down the Mount of Olives as his followers did the week before Easter.

With Elaine and our son Samuel, April 2022

2023 Video and Pictures

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2025 Videos and Pictures

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Episodes for Personal Study

• Triumphal Entry (Mark 11:1–10; Matt 21:1–11; Luke 19:28–40; John 12:12–19)
• Jesus’s first lament over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44)
• Jesus and the temple (Mark 11:11; Matt 21:12–17; Luke 19:45–48)

Suggestions for Latter-day Saints

• If using an Easter wreath, light the purple candle.
• Read Mark 11:1‒11 and John 12:12‒19 together, perhaps using our translation from https://erichuntsman.com/Huntsman_holy_week_scripture_selections_translation.pdf
• Watch the Bible video, “The Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.”
• Read about and then sing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” (Hymns, no. 69) and perhaps “Hosanna” (Children’s Songbook, 66‒67).
• Watch the music video Tell Me the Stories of Jesus, arranged by Ryan Murphy and performed by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, noting the extra verse about the Triumphal Entry.
•  Discuss what it meant for Jesus to have been “the anointed king” and what it will be like when he comes again in glory.

Ideas, Traditions, and Activities for Younger Children

• Charles Colson et al., “Palm Sunday: Praising the King,” Christ in Easter, [1‒16]
• Janet and Joe Hales, A Christ-Centered Easter, 6, 18‒19, 26
• Wendee Wilcox Rosborough, The Holy Week for Latter-day Saint Families, 1‒7

Some Inspiring Art

• Carl Bloch, Cleansing the Temple
• Harold Copping, Hosanna to the Son
• James Tissot, The Foal of Bethphage, The Procession on the Mount of Olives, The Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem, and The Merchants Chased from the Temple
• Harry Anderson, Triumphal Entry
• Minerva Teichert, Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem
• Walter Rane, Triumphal Entry of Christ
• Liz Lemon Swindle, Triumphal Entry

Uplifting Music

• “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” (Hymns, no. 69)
• “Hosanna” (Children’s Songbook, 66–67)
• “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” (Children’s Songbook, 57), adding the additional verse about the Triumphal Entry (see https://hymnary.org/text/tell_me_the_stories_of_jesus_i_love_to), especially as arranged by Ryan Murphy on Teach Me to Walk in the Light
• BrookeFraser, “Hosanna,” especially as performed by Marantha! Music

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The Triumphal Entry: Mark 11:1–10; Matthew 21:1–9; John 12:12–19; Luke 19:41‒44 

The earliest account of the triumphal entry comes from Mark, which begins that Gospel’s “third act,” the climax in Jerusalem with what was, in effect, a prophetic enactment demonstrating that he was the true King of Israel. Matthew and Luke largely follow Mark’s version, but we have also provided Matthew’s account because of that evangelist’s particular use of the prophecies of Zechariah. The Johannine account also appears here because it is what gives Palm Sunday its name (see John 12:13). It also notes the effect that Jesus’ reception had on his opponents, galvanizing their violent opposition to him (12:19). Finally, Luke differs from the other Synoptics in that he adds a lament over Jerusalem by Jesus even as he approaches the city, adding a note of sadness or passion to an otherwise joyful episode.

See the discussion in Greater Love Hath No Man, 36–42.

Mark

11

¹When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethany and Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, he sent ahead two of his disciples, ²and he said to them, “Go to the village facing you, and right as you enter it, you will find a colt tied up, upon which a man has never sat. Untie it and bring it. ³If someone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it,’ and right away he will send it back here.” ⁴So they went and found the colt tied up near a doorway, outside in the street, and they untied it. ⁵Some of the people who were standing there said to them, “What are you doing untying the colt?” ⁶They said to them just what Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. ⁷Then they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks on it, and Jesus took his seat on it. ⁸Many people spread out their cloaks on the road, and others, after they had cut leafy branches in the fields, spread them out. ⁹And both those who were going ahead and those who were following kept crying,

“Hosanna!

Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord!

¹⁰                                            Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming!

Hosanna in the highest heavens!”

 

Matthew

In addition to refining the wording of Mark’s original material, Matthew also added the additional lines that appear in italics.

21

¹When they drew near to Jerusalem and had entered Bethany on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent out two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go ahead into the village that is facing you, and right away, you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her. After you have untied them, bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, you will say that the Lord needs them. Then right away he will send them.” ⁴This happened that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying,

⁵                      “Say to the daughter of Zion,

‘Look, your king is coming,

unassuming and having taken his seat on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”

⁶After the disciples had gone and done just as Jesus had ordered them, ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, laid their cloaks on them, and he took his seat upon them. ⁸Then a very large crowd spread their own cloaks in the road, and others cut branches from trees and began to spread them in the road. ⁹And the crowds that were going ahead of him and those that were following kept crying out, saying,

“Hosanna to the Son of David,

blessed is the one who is coming in the name of the Lord,

hosanna in the highest heavens!”

John

12

¹²On the next day a great crowd, which had come to the feast because they had heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³took fronds of palm trees, went out to meet him, and kept crying out,

 

“Hosanna!

Blessed is the one who is coming in the name of the Lord,

the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Then Jesus, after he had found a young donkey, took his seat on it, just as it is written,

¹⁵                    “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion,

Look, your king is coming,

sitting on the foal of a donkey.”

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and they had done these things for him. ¹⁷The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead kept testifying. ¹⁸It was for this reason that the crowd went out to meet him, because they had heard that he had performed this miraculous sign. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to each other, “Do you see that you are not accomplishing anything? Look, the world has gone after him!”

Luke

19

⁴¹Yet as he approached, when he saw the city, he grieved over it, ⁴²saying, “If you, even you, had realized on this day what would have brought you peace! But as it is, it has been concealed from your eyes. ⁴³Because the days are coming upon you when your enemies will throw up a siege-work around you, and encircle you, and press you hard on every side, ⁴⁴and they will raze you to the ground and your children with you, and they will not leave one stone on top of another within you because you did not recognize the moment of your visitation.”

For a discussion of these passages, see my original Palm Sunday post at https://huntsmanseasonal.blogspot.com/2017/04/palm-sunday.html      

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Jesus and the Temple (Mark 11:11; Matt 21:12–17; Luke 19:47–48)

Mark’s account has Jesus enter Jerusalem, ascend to the temple, and simply look around before returning to Bethany to spend the night. While Mark delays his discussion of the temple incident until the next day for symbolic reasons, Matthew, paralleled by Luke, places Jesus’s cleansing of the temple directly after the triumphal entry, using it to demonstrate his authority to judge its so-called authorities, alluding to the prophecies of Jeremiah and again to Zechariah in the process. Matthew adds the details that Jesus followed the cleansing of the temple with miraculous healings, which led children to praise him as the Son of David.

See the discussion in Greater Love Hath No Man, 36–42.

Mark

11

¹¹Then he entered Jerusalem and came into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, because it was already evening, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

Matthew

21

¹⁰When he had entered Jerusalem, the entire city was in commotion, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet, Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee!” ¹²And Jesus went into the temple and cast out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves. ¹³And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a lair of bandits!’”

¹⁴Then the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵Yet when the chief priests and the experts at the law saw the amazing things that he was doing and [heard] the children in the temple crying out and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. ¹⁶So they said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus said, “Yes indeed! Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and those who are nursing I have prepared praise?’” ¹⁷After he had left them, he went out of the city to Bethany, and he spent the night there.

Luke

19

 ⁴⁷Now Jesus was daily teaching in the temple. The chief priests and the experts the law, however, kept seeking to destroy him, as did the leaders of the people. ⁴⁸Nevertheless, they could not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

 

Carl Bloch, The Cleansing of the Temple

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[1] Gulevich, “Palm Sunday,” Encyclopedia of Easter, Carnival, and Lent, 431‒41; Huntsman, God So Loved the World, 7‒9.

[2] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “The Way of the Disciple,” Ensign, May 2009, 75.

[3] Huntsman, God So Loved the World, 133‒35, and chapter 1, page 31, above.

[4] John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 837, 844; Thomas A. Wayment, “The Triumphal Entry,” in From the Transfiguration through the Triumphal Entry, ed. Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Thomas A. Wayment, vol. 2, The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006), 399‒400.

Palm Sunday

Harry Anderson (1906-1996), Triumphal Entry

See my new Palm Sunday post, which includes my own translation of the texts and pictures and video clips from this year's celebration in Jerusalem! 

Christians around the world begin their observance of Holy Week by marking Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem,  which, according to the relative time markers found in Mark, took place one week before Easter (see Appendix B). All four Gospels paint a similar picture of crowds—though perhaps these were just the excited, gathered disciples of Jesus—welcoming Jesus into the holy city with shouts of praise and the waving of tree branches as he descended the symbolically significant Mount of Olives. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve since 2004 and a member of the First Presidency from 2008–2018, wrote the following about this event:

Perhaps the disciples thought this was a turning point—the moment when the Jewish world would finally recognize Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah. But the Savior understood that many of the shouts of praise and acclamation would be temporary. He knew that soon He would ascend to the Mount of Olives and there, alone in Gethsemane, take upon Himself the sins of the world (“The Way of the Disciple,” Ensign, May 2009, 75).

Jesus’ knowledge of his coming suffering and sacrifice makes this event an event a fitting point to begin our formal observance of Passion Week. By studying the events of Palm Sunday individually, reading them together with our families and friends, and establishing our own traditions for the day, we can enter Holy Week intentionally, using it as a time to come to know our Savior better, appreciate his atoning sacrifice and resurrection more, and look forward with confidence and joy to his glorious return.

 

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Episodes for Personal Study

• Triumphal Entry (Mark 11:1–11; Matt 21:1–11; Luke 19:28–40; John 12:12–19)
• Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem in Luke (Luke 19:41–44)
• Jesus Cleanses the Temple (Matt 21:12–17; Luke 19:45–48)

See my Readings of Palm Sunday or my entire collection of Holy Week translations.

I have gathered all of the gospel accounts into one convenient document, which has been formatted in a "reader's edition" and organized day-by-day: http://erichuntsman.com/documents/HolyWeekReadings.pdf

Some may find useful my own fresh translation of the texts, excerpts appearing below and the full document available at https://erichuntsman.com/Huntsman_holy_week_scripture_selections_translation.pdf

Suggestions for Families

• If using an Easter Wreath, light the purple candle
• Read Mark 11:1‒11 and John 12:12‒19 together
• Watch the Bible video, “The Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.”
• Read about and then sing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” (hymn no. 69) and perhaps “Hosanna” (Children’s Songbook, 66‒67).
• Watch the music video “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” arranged by Ryan Murphy and performed by the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, noting the extra verse about the Triumphal Entry.
• Discuss what it meant for Jesus to have been “the anointed king” and what it will be like when he comes again in glory.

 

Ideas, Traditions, and Activities for Younger Children

• Charles Colson et al., “Palm Sunday: Praising the King,” Christ in Easter, [1‒16].
• Janet and Joe Hales, A Christ Centered Easter, 6, 18‒19, 26.
• Wendee Wilcox Rosborough, The Holy Week for Latter-day Saint Families, 1‒7.

 

Some Inspiring Art

• Carl Bloch, “Cleansing the Temple.”
• James Tissot, “The Foal of Bethphage,” “The Procession on the Mount of Olives,” “The Procession in the Streets of Jerusalem,” and “The Merchants Chased from the Temple.”
• Harry Anderson, “Triumphal Entry.”
• Minerva Teichert, “Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem.”
• Walter Rane, “Triumphal Entry of Christ.”
• Liz Lemon Swindle, “Triumphal Entry.”

For lovely images and blocks of scripture quotations that nicely supplement what I am doing on this blog, please see the blog of my friend Chad Emmett, Beit Emmett, Holy Week: Palm Sunday.

With my daughter Rachel in the Jerusalem Palm Sunday procession in 2012

With Rachel and Elaine at the Bethphage Church, 2011

We had the wonderful opportunity of being in Jerusalem for Palm Sunday in 2012 and then again in 2022 and 2023.  This year, and no doubt in subsequent years, we will look at pictures and video clips of our experience there, remembering what it was like to celebrate with fellow Christians from all around the world. 

The traditional Anglican collect for Palm Sunday:

Almighty and everliving God, in thy tender love for the human race thou didst send thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Christ our Lord, who lives and reighs with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

On the Mount of Olives, April 2, 2023

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Brief Discussion of the Events of the Sunday before Easter

See the longer treatment in God So Loved the World, 7–15.

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

The church at Bethphage, which marks the spot where Jesus mounted the donkey

John 12:1 reports that Jesus came to Bethany, outside of Jerusalem, six days before Passover. By conventional reckoning, this would have been on the last Saturday of Jesus’ mortal ministry. While there he enjoyed a supper with Lazarus and Martha, during which Mary entered and anointed his feet. While this event is usually associated with a similar anointing recounted by Mark and Matthew later in the week (see the Wednesday post), John may have intended the symbolism to function differently: two figures were regularly anointed in ancient Israel, kings and priests, and the events of the next day seem to emphasize Jesus’ role as the true king of Israel.

This becomes apparent in all four gospel accounts, where, on the last Sunday of Jesus’ life, he entered Jerusalem in triumph. John, for instance, notes the following:

On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt." These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him. (John 12:12–16).

Painting of the triumphal entry in the Bethphage church

 

The four gospel accounts differ only slightly. The Synoptics, for instance, give greater detail as to how Jesus obtained the donkey on which he rode during his triumphal procession. Luke depicts it as a triumphal approach to Jerusalem, with Jesus stopping some distance from Jerusalem to mourn and lament the city from afar before he entered the holy city (19:41–44).  While a donkey does not seem to modern readers to be a very regal mode of transportation, one must remember that it was commonly the conveyance of Old Testament kings, especially David. The waving of tree branches (only John mentioned that they were palm fronds) is often associated with Sukkot, the autumn festival of Tabernacles that commemorated the wandering of the children of Israel in the wilderness. Once in the Promised Land, however, it became above all a harvest festival, but it was also associated with the coronation of the Israelite king and in the intertestamental period developed messianic connections.

 Watch the clip above to see Palm Sunday on the Mount of Olives in 2012

Reflection

Palm Sunday is a good opportunity not only to recall one of the rare moments in Jesus’ ministry when he was recognized for the king he was. Depending upon the timing of Passover and the day that Jesus was crucified, this Sunday could have been "fifth day before Passover" when the Paschal Lamb was selected for Passover and set apart for the Lord, giving special significance to crowd’s recognition of Jesus on this day—they may have been welcoming him as a hoped-for king, but in reality he had come as the Lamb of God who would die for them.

Coming down the Mount of Olives with Jerusalem awaiting us across the Qidron Valley

Palm Sunday at the BYU Jerusalem Center in 2023

Only John gives a reason why the Jerusalem crowds seemed so united in welcoming Jesus as the possible Messiah: they had heard about the great miracle that he performed in raising Lazarus (John 12:17-12), which of course foreshadows Jesus’ own conquest of death. This explicitly connects the Triumphal Entry to Jesus' resurrection. It also, however, gave further cause for opposition. John 12:19 notes that "the Pharisees therefore said among themselves, ‘Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the whole world is gone after him.’" Earlier they and the "chief priests" had, as a result of the raising of Lazarus, already begun to take counsel about how they could put Jesus to death (John 11:47-53).

Consequently, Palm Sunday is also an occasion to look forward to Jesus Christ's final, triumphal return when all the world will recognize him as Lord and King.  Having conquered death, he will, in due course, return to Jerusalem—and all the earth—in glory.

And [they] brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. (Matthew 21:7-11)

Samuel and Rachel with our Easter creche on Palm Sunday in 2010

Our Easter creche Holy Week 2014

The joy of the triumphal entry is perhaps best expressed in our modern hymn, "All Glory Laud and Honor."

    All glory, laud, and honor

    To thee, Redeemer, King,

    To whom the lips of children

    Made sweet hosannas ring.

    Thou art the King of Israel,

    Thou David’s royal Son,

    Who in the Lord’s name comest,

    The King and Blessed One.

    The company of angels

    Are praising thee on high,

    And mortal men and all things

    Created make reply.

    The people of the Hebrews

    With palms before thee went;

    Our praise and love and anthems

    Before thee we present.

    To thee, before thy passion,

    They sang their hymns of praise;

    To thee, now high exalted,

    Our melody we raise.

    Thou didst accept their praises;

    Accept the love we bring,

    Who in all good delightest,

    Thou good and gracious King. (Hymn 69)

Giving Palm Sunday in Jerusalem a distinctly LDS flavor!

In view of this year's Hosanna Shout in General Conference, watch my students sing "The Spirit of God"

Handel's Messiah and Holy Week

Written in London in 1741 and first performed on April 13, 1742, in Dublin, Ireland, Messiah has become one of the most well-known and loved works of choral literature. The first part, with the addition of the Hallelujah chorus from the second part, is commonly performed at Christmastime, but the work as a whole was first performed during Lent, the period of preparation leading up to Easter. Indeed, the second part of the oratorio focuses on Jesus’ sacrifice; the third centers on the Resurrection and his future return as King to rule and reign, which accords closely with the priestly and kingly themes of Jesus’ last week (God So Loved the World, 108).

As a result, some of the great choruses of the third part, though intended by Handel to look forward towards the Lord's future return in glory, nonetheless fit into discussions of the first half of Holy Week, when many of Jesus' actions actually anticipate what will happen at the Second Coming. This has been particularly on my mind this year (2014) as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has been preparing to sing the whole Messiah as our Easter concert next week, and yesterday it dawned on me that the later chorus "Lift Up Your Heads, O Ye Gates" (no. 33) reflects the Triumphal Entry theme of Jesus as king:

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors;
     and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is the King of glory?
     The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors;
     and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is the King of glory?
     The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory (see Psalm 24:7-10).

 JESUS CLEANSES THE TEMPLE

James Tissot, Merchants Chased from the Temple

In Matthew and Luke, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, he proceeds directly to the temple, where, in a familiar scene, he cast out the moneychangers and those who were selling sacrificial animals in its outer courts. Mark delays this scene until Monday for symbolic and literary reasons, while John had recorded a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of his ministry (John 2:13–25). Either there actually were two different cleansings, or John had moved it to the front end to illustrate that Jesus was always sovereign—he always had the authority and right to do what he did. For theSsynoptics, however, the cleansing can be directly connected with a royal interpretation of the Triumphal Entry. From the time of Solomon until the destruction of the First Temple by the Babylonians, the temple had been, in effect, a royal chapel adjacent to the king’s palace. There he was coronated and "adopted" as a son of YHWH (see Psalm 2:7), a clear type and foreshadowing of how Christ was not only the rightful king but also the actual Son of God.

Reflection

If one connects the Triumphal Entry with Jesus’ eventual return, the cleansing of the Temple can be seen as the eventual "cleansing of the earth" and especially Jerusalem and the establishment of Jesus’ reign there.

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Marking Palm Sunday

Not only does Palm Sunday commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry and celebrate his kingship, it also marks the opening of Holy Week. By intentionally making it different than the usual Sunday by what we read, listen to, discuss, and do, we set the tone for the subsequent days, preparing us to focus on the final events of the Savior’s life and commemorate more meaningfully his atoning sacrifice and resurrection at the week’s end. As Elder Uchtdorf has observed, “It is fitting that during the week from Palm Sunday to Easter morning we turn our thoughts to Jesus Christ, the source of light, life, and love.”[1] §

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[1] Uchtdorf, “The Way of the Disciple,” 75.

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For Further Reading

Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan, The Last Week, 1–30. 

Trevan Hatch, A Stranger in Jerusalem, 128–131, 189–190.

Eric D. Huntsman, God So Loved the World, 7–16.

Amy-Jill Levine, Entering the Passion, 21–44.

Julie M. Smith, The Gospel according to Mark, 601–611.

Thomas A. Wayment, “The Triumphal Entry,” From the Transfiguration through the Triumphal Entry, 398–416.

Easter Quicklinks

Preliminary Materials

Ideas for Celebrating Easter  | A Working Chronology  |  The Raising of Lazarus | The Symbolism of Jesus as Anointed King and Priest: The Anointing in John 

The Passion Week and the Resurrection  

 Palm Sunday  |  Monday  | Tuesday  |  "Spy" Wednesday:  |  Holy or "Maundy" Thursday  |  Good Friday  |  Saturday  |   Easter Sunday

Palm Sunday in Provo, 2013!

Before a fireside of Jerusalem Center alumni on the Last Week of the Savior's life, we gathered for our very own Palm Sunday procession!