April 14, 2019 | Luke 19:28-44 |
When Jesus visited Jerusalem on that day, it was the first day of Passover Week. Great numbers of Jews had traveled from all over the Roman Empire to celebrate this annual Jewish festival. A great crowd greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem responding to him with chanting, throwing their cloaks on the ground before him and waving of palm branches. They greeted him in a manner befitting a king, but before the week was out, the crowd would curse him as a criminal.
Jesus called his visit to Jerusalem that day a “visitation.” In the Greek, it has the sense of a formal visit or inspection by a dignitary. In English, the word “visitation” has the same meaning. On Palm Sunday we remember the visitation of the Son of God to Jerusalem.
In the gospel according to Luke, Jesus expressed His desire that the people of Jerusalem would have recognized His visitation to them as the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. We can recognize Christ’s visitation to us.