My dear mother was super athletic and as a young person was involved in many sports.  She was quite good at those sports.  With marriage and children her sports remained important, but she was now the avid fan.  My brother received “the athletic gene” (I did not).  Attending his football games was so much fun, watching him play defense on his high school team, was as exciting as watching my quiet, rather shy mother come alive in the stands.  Cheering, encouraging, sometimes even shouting.  Her enthusiasm was contagious.

        Cheering.  Shouting.  What did Palm Sunday look like? Palm strewn pathways leading into Jerusalem.  The Passover Festival was beginning, folks were preparing and anticipating.  Jesus and the disciples had left the Mount of Olives and were among the crowds headed to Jerusalem.

Zechariah 9:9 states, “ All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Tell ye the daughter Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek and sitting on an ass and a colt the foal of an ass.’ “ Jesus’ entry was on a donkey, its meaning being a King coming in peace. (Riding a horse would have signified a King arriving for war. Shouts were heard, hosia-na, in Hebrew meaning “save us.”

        Cheering and shouting, like my mother’s enthusiasm for sports and the crowd cheering the arrival of Jesus, draws attention and then more participants.  The beginning of Holy Week and what Jesus knew to be the “beginning of His end on earth,” drew a crowd growing anxious to witness His healings and hear His teachings.  News traveled; the interest heightened.

        We know our Savior, His unconditional love for us and His story, but perhaps we can also relate to the exuberance the crowd felt. 

Cheers.  Smiles.  Hope.  Save us.

Jill