Jesus was troubled as he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the gospels say. And why not? The fear he felt so intensely in the garden was already seeping into his soul. 

He disturbed Jerusalem’s religious establishment by his words and actions; they noticed the people flocking to him and worried it would threaten the delicate balance they negotiated with the Romans who occupied their land. He had just raised Lazarus to life; his popularity was growing–one more reason for stopping him.

Entering the city, Jesus could see patrols of Roman soldiers brought in to keep peace during the Passover feast; he knew how harshly the Romans treated those who threatened their peace.

Yet, as he entered the city’s gates, crowds of people, ordinary people, greeted him with shouts of joy: “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” They scattered palm branches before him as he rode in on a donkey, carrying their hopes that God’s kingdom was coming.

Holy Week begins with this triumphal procession and it will take us into days of suffering and sorrow, when Jesus will be arrested, judged unjustly, scourged and beaten, made to carry a cross, and then die on a hill outside the city gates. 

But the journey will go on. Those who welcomed him on Palm Sunday were right. Death will not claim him. Rising from the dead, Jesus promises life to the world.