Holy Week 2021 Online Devotional #2 “Now the Passover of the Jews was near…”
John 11:55 (NASB)
Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11;
The Triumphal Entry Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19 The Unique Perspective of the Gospel of John
Only the key events associated with Jesus’ last days are recorded in all four gospels. These key events include the Triumphal Entry, the Last Supper, the Garden of Geth- semane, Peter’s Denial, the first and second Trial Before Pilate, Jesus’ pathway to the Cross, the Crucifixion, and some of the details associated with the Resurrection and post resurrection appearances of the Risen Christ. Even when an event is included in all four gospels, there are still significant variations in the details of the event the gos- pel writers chose to record. There is even significant variation in the synoptic accounts of the resurrection in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Many of the details which are record- ed in John’s gospel tend to be unique to his historical record, in particular the Upper Room Discourse in John 14-17.
Key Old Testament Scriptures
Psalm 106:47-48 (NASB) *
“Save us, O LORD our God, And gather us from among the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name And glory in Your praise. Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, “Amen.” Praise the LORD!.”
Psalm 118:19-26 (NASB) *
“Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, And You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
O LORD, do save, we beseech You; O LORD, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD; We have blessed you from the house of the LORD.”
Zechariah 9:9 (NASB) *
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Key Terms (most words have a ‘field of meaning’ —> various translations)
“hosana” (Matt. 21:9 2x; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13) Greek #5614 (6x), NASB hôsanna, Hebrew origin; Hebrew #3467 and Hebrew #577; save, we pray:– Hosanna (6x)
cf. Hebrew #3467, e.g. Psalm 118:25 (209x), NASB yasha, to deliver:- the sense of “save now” Psalm 118:25 comes from the Hipil imperative tense of the verb hô·šî·ʿāh
cf. Hebrew #577, e.g. Psalm 118:25 (20x), NASB annah, I (we) beseech you:- alas (2), beg (1), beseech (7), earnestly pray (1), O (7), please (1)
Sunday, March 28
Holy Week 2021-2
Palm Sunday – The Triumphal Entry
Key Verses
The Triumphal Entry is one of the surprisingly few incidents associated with Jesus’ last days that is recorded in all four gospel records. John’s gospel, written later around A.D. 90, typically has a different perspective than the synoptic gospels — Matthew ~A.D. 60-65, Mark ~A.D. 50-55, and Luke ~A.D. 60.
Matthew 21:1-11 (NASB) *Records 2 fulfilled Old Testament prophecies (all caps) “When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.’ This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
‘SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, GENTLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A BEAST OF BURDEN.’’ The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them, and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their coats on them; and He sat on the coats. Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David;
BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!’ When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’
And the crowds were saying, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.’”
Mark 11:9-11 (NASB) *Mark identifies the “kingdom” as a renewal of David’s kingdom “Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!’ Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.”
Luke 19:37-38 (NASB) *Luke associates the enthusiasm with miracles Jesus performed “As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, shouting: ‘BLESSED IS THE KING WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!.’”
John 12:12-17 (NASB) *John associates this event with the celebration of Passover “On the next day the large crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, ‘Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, even the King of Israel.’ Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ‘FEAR NOT, DAUGHTER OF ZION; BEHOLD, YOUR KING IS COMING, SEATED ON A DONKEY’S COLT.’ These things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written of Him, and that they had done these things to Him. So the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify about Him.”