The Triumphal Entry of Jesus

This free Palm Sunday Bible lesson, Jesus’s Triumphal Entry, will teach preschool and elementary students about the celebration of Jesus riding into Jerusalem as a King the week before He was crucified.

FOCUS BIBLE PASSAGE: Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:28-40; John 12:12-19

This lesson comes from the Seeds of Truth Elementary Bible Curriculum that is free to anyone looking for ideas to "plant seeds" into the hearts of children as they are learning about Jesus. Find more details HERE.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeds of Truth podcast, where seeds of biblical truth are planted into the hearts and minds of listeners so they can grow into a relationship with Jesus. I'm your host, Miss Dana. Thank you for joining me today. Let's get started. Welcome back, friends. And today our Bible story is going to be all about Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on the day that we celebrate, known as Palm Sunday. This was a week before Jesus was crucified on the cross. So this is a week before our Easter Sunday celebration. So the true story of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem is recorded in all four of the gospel books. Remember, our four gospel books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And the gospel books tell us about Jesus' life and ministry here on the earth whenever he came to live as a man. They also tell us about Jesus' death, his burial, and his resurrection. Resurrection means raising back to life. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He was buried in a tomb, but the good news is that he was raised back to life. He didn't stay dead and he didn't stay buried in the tomb. He rose back to life. So our story begins with Jesus sending two of his disciples to a nearby town to find a mama donkey and her donkey colts or her baby. Mark chapter 11, verse 2 through 7 says, He said to them, Go to the village ahead of you. Just as you enter it, you will find a donkey's colt tied there. No one has ever ridden it. Untie it and bring it here. Someone may ask you, Why are you doing this? If so, say the Lord needs it, but he will send it back here soon. So they left. They found a colt out in the street. It was tied at a doorway. They untied it. Some people standing there asked, What are you doing? Why are you untying that colt? They answered as Jesus had told them to. So the people let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus. They threw their coats over it. Then he sat on it. So Jesus riding on a donkey was a fulfillment of a prophecy from the Old Testament. Remember, fulfillment means to come to pass or to be completed or to finish a task. And prophecy is something that was spoken of before it happened. Prophets were spoken to by God and told things that would happen in the future. So when a prophecy is fulfilled, it means that something happened that we were told would happen before it happens. In the Old Testament book of Zechariah, we can read a prophecy about the king riding into the city on a donkey. Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9 says, People of Jerusalem shout, see, your king comes to you. He has won the victory. He is humble and riding on a donkey. He is sitting on a donkey's colt. The book of Zechariah was written about 600 years before the birth of Jesus, but is still so correct in what it says about Jesus. So let's think about why do you think Jesus rode a donkey instead of a horse? Typically, we might think of a horse being more fit for a king to ride on, but at this time, donkeys were often ridden by rulers during times of peace. Now, a young donkey or a horse that has never been ridden, like the one that Jesus rode, will not like someone riding on its back. So it will try to buck the person off. But this baby donkey that Jesus rode had never been ridden before, but the baby donkey carried Jesus calmly into Jerusalem. And we learn about this in the book of Colossians. So the book of Colossians, chapter one, verse 15 through 17 says, The Son, talking about Jesus, is the exact likeness of God who can't be seen. The Son is first, and he is over all creation. All things were created in him. He created everything that can be seen and everything that can't be seen. He created kings, powers, rulers, and authorities. All things have been created by him and for him. Before anything was created, he was already there. He holds everything together. This verse that I just read to you is talking about Jesus and how he is creator. Jesus has total authority over all of creation because he is the creator. And the fact that Jesus rode the donkey that had never been ridden and it was not out of control shows us further that Jesus is the king that we know he is. So as Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the people did something we might think of as strange, but was actually part of their culture. So we read in Matthew chapter 21, verses 6 through 8. And it says, The disciples went and did what Jesus told them to do. They brought the donkey and the colt, they placed their coats on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their coats on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And then we learn about this in the book of 2 Kings in the Old Testament. So this is an Old Testament passage about when a king rode into a city. It says, The officers quickly grabbed their coats, they spread them out under the king on the bare steps of the house. Then they blew a trumpet. They shouted, Jehu is king. So this is speaking of one of the Old Testament kings and the custom that the people would lay down their coats or lay down something for the king to walk on. So it was part of the culture in welcoming a king to lay down something for the king to walk on. So the people when Jesus walked, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, those people were showing that they believed that Jesus was the king they had been waiting on because they laid down their coats and they laid down palm branches. That was a sign of a king's entrance. The book of Mark, chapter 11, verses 9 and 10 tells us about how the people thought that Jesus was coming to be a king to rescue them from the power of earthly rulers. And they didn't realize that he was going to save them from their sins by dying on the cross just a few days from the time he rode into Jerusalem. Mark 11, 9 through 10 says, Those in front and those in back shouted, Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David. The words that people were shouting as Jesus rode into Jerusalem had a deep meaning. The word Hosanna means save now. And many of the other words are the same words that were written in Psalm 118, 25 through 26 from the Old Testament, which would have been written many years before Jesus was born as a man. And those words are Lord, save us, Lord, give us success. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. From the temple of the Lord, we bless you. So this is just evidence of the Old Testament of our Bible and the New Testament of our Bible coming together to point to Jesus. Now, the Pharisees, remember, are the religious leaders. They were the Jewish teachers who followed God's law or the law of Moses, but they didn't believe that Jesus was the promised king. Luke chapter 19, verses 39 through 40 tells us that some of the Pharisees in the crowd spoke to Jesus. Teacher, they said, tell your disciples to stop. I tell you, he replied, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out. So the Pharisees were worried that Jesus' entry into the city and the people shouting for him as king would upset the Romans who ruled in the area at that time. Remember, the Pharisees didn't believe that Jesus was the king. So Jesus told the Pharisees that if the people don't shout out, then the rocks or the stones will. It is possible for this passage to have many meanings, but the most likely is that Jesus is saying that there is a lot of reason for the people to praise him and they shouldn't be silenced. So if the people aren't shouting praises, then something else will. Please help us to understand the gift that you offer to us and help us to make good choices in our lives. We love you and we pray all of these things in Jesus' sweet name. Amen. Thank you so much for listening today, and until next time, God bless. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Seeds of Truth Podcast. For more free Bible resources, visit Seeds of Truth Ministries dot com.