Monday of Passion Week: The Wrong Time

Though it’s Monday of Passion Week, I don’t want to move on from Palm Sunday just yet. There is an odd detail to the story we need to consider a little further.

Have you ever wondered why palm branches are such a feature on Palm Sunday? Why did the multitude choose to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem in that way?

John 12:12, 13 records what happened: “The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out, ‘Hosanna! “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!” The King of Israel!’”

From these two verses, we can do a bit of investigative work. We learn that the great multitude who welcomed Him was not in Jerusalem by coincidence. They “had come to the feast.” It was one of the pilgrim feasts in Israel that brought them to the city, and, perhaps, influenced the way in which they celebrated Jesus as King. With that in mind, let’s ask ourselves this question: Is there a feast that features palm branches in a significant way?

In Leviticus 23, you will find God’s guidelines for celebrating His feasts. If you look closer at the details, you will also find that one of them includes the use of palm branches. As God describes the Feast of Tabernacles, He says, “And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days” (Leviticus 23:40). Thus, the Feast of Tabernacles uses palm branches to rejoice before the Lord.

What is important about the Feast of Tabernacles? That is a very big question that we can’t answer here exhaustively. However, I will focus on one aspect of this feast. The prophet Zechariah declares that in the future it won’t be just the Jews who observe this feast, but all the nations (see Zechariah 14:16). Therefore, when the multitude welcomes Jesus with palm branches, they are declaring that He is not just the King of Israel and the King of the Jews, but also that He is the King of the world, King of the nations. The palm branch anticipates the adoration of nations for Jesus as King.

There is one problem with this theory, though. When Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, it’s not the time of year for the Feast of Tabernacles. That wouldn’t be for several more months. The feast that brings the multitude together in John 12 is Passover. The beginning of John 12 tells us that (along with many other places in the Gospels). Passover is the wrong time to use palm branches. So, why does the multitude use them?

What if their use of palm branches at the wrong time is an insight into God’s kingdom? What if it was not a mistake, but a revelation? What if they were declaring something we need to know?

If so, what would that insight be? Perhaps, the palm branch declares not only that Jesus is the global King, but also that His kingdom doesn’t always wait for the right time to show up. Perhaps, God wants us to know that He is willing to manifest Himself ahead of time to those who will welcome Him into their hearts.

You see, we know that at the end of the age, God will make His home among us: “And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Revelation 21:3). However, before that day of ultimate tabernacle comes, He has already committed to show up early for those who love Him: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him’” (John 14:23). The kingdom of God is coming, and the tabernacle of God is coming, too. But, if we’re ready to welcome Him now, the kingdom and the tabernacle will manifest in our lives today.

They chose the palm branch at the wrong time to show us the nature of God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ. In the future, it’s coming to flood the whole earth. Now, it’s here for those who love and obey God.

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Devotional by Pastor Micah Wood