20 - Palm Sunday

Readings and Gospel

Lectionary for this day - This has all the readings and Gospel

Matthew 21:1-11 - At the Procession with Palms (The Entry into Jerusalem)

• More information

Isaiah 50:4-7 - Salvation Through the Lord’s Servant

Philippians 2:6-11 - Plea for Unity and Humility

• More information

Matthew 26:14-27:66 - story from the betrayal by Judas up to the story of the guard at the tomb

• Read the footnotes (Chapters 26 and 27) for a deeper explanation.

Who / What / Where is...?

Matthew

• He was a tax collector. He was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

  • • 12 Apostles - the first 12 people that Jesus called to follow Him.

Bethphage

• A village that can no longer be certainly identified. Mark mentions it before Bethany (Mark 11:1), which suggests that it lay to the east of the latter. 

• Somewhere between Jerusalem and Bethany.

Mount of Olives

• Also called Mount Olivet

• The hill east of Jerusalem that is spoken of in Zechariah 14:4 as the place where the Lord will come to rescue Jerusalem from the enemy nations.

• A mountain ridge east of and adjacent to the old city of Jerusalem.

Zion

• Jerusalem

• Sometimes pertains to the land of Israel

Hosanna

• The Hebrew means “(O Lord) grant salvation”; see Psalm 118:25, but that invocation had become an acclamation of jubilation and welcome. 

 In the highest

• Probably only an intensification of the acclamation, although Hosanna in the highest could be taken as a prayer, “May God save (him).”

Son of David

• A descendant of David

Isaiah

• His name means "God is Salvation".

• Isaiah is one of the prophets in the Old Testament -- around 742 BC to 701 BC, and it may have continued even longer, until 687 BC. He appeared at a critical moment in Israel’s history. 

• More information here.

Paul

• A Jew and a pharisee. He was educated by Gamaliel, a notable teacher of Jewish law.

• A Roman citizen.

• He first persecuted Christians. After Jesus appeared to him, he became a Christian and was responsible for the conversion of many Gentiles. More information.

Philippians

• People of Philippi, which is in today's Greece

Judas Iscariot

• One of the 12 apostles

• He betrayed Jesus.

Rabbi

• A teacher of scriptures

Gethsemane

• The Hebrew name means “oil press”.

• Designates an olive orchard on the western slope of the Mount of Olives.

Two sons of Zebedee

• James and John, apostles of Jesus

Caiaphas

• High priest from A.D. 18 to 36

Sanhedrin

• The word is a Hebraized form of a Greek word meaning a “council,” and refers to the elders, chief priests, and scribes who met under the high priest’s leadership to decide religious and legal questions that did not pertain to Rome’s interests. Jewish sources are not clear on the competence of the Sanhedrin to sentence and to execute during this period. (Source: USCCB)

Blasphemed

• the punishment for blasphemy was death by stoning (see Leviticus 24:10–16). According to the Mishnah, to be guilty of blasphemy one had to pronounce “the Name itself,” that is, Yahweh.

Pilate

• Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea

More

Dig deeper into this Sunday's Readings and Gospel with teachings from Brant Pitre.

Saints