It’s common in lots of churches on Palm Sunday handy out palm branches. Some churches will just provide you with a palm branch while others may form it right into a palm cross. You may wonder what the importance of the palm is, and yes, there’s a greater intending to what it represents. While handing out the palm is nice, it’s the why behind it that’s of greater importance. If you might be given a palm cross, it’s a symbolic connection to how the last week of Jesus’ life began and the way it ended.
What Is Palm Sunday?
Palm Sunday marks the start of Holy Week, which many consider a very powerful week in all of Christianity. The first day of this week is Palm Sunday, where we remember the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Five days before his death, Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. As Jesus entered the town, many individuals lined the streets and laid palm branches in his path. They did this while shouting praises to God and hailing Jesus as King of the Jews.
“The next day the good crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his method to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to satisfy him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who is available in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!’” (John 12:12-13)
While they were celebrating the arrival of their king, the strategy Jesus used to make that arrival was not the norm. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Typically, when kings are celebrated on this fashion, they’d parade in on an imposing horse or an excellent chariot to the adoration of those around them. This was a show of their strength and leadership. However, Jesus selected a humble donkey. He was also showing his strength and leadership, but not in the best way most individuals would have deciphered. Horses often were symbols of war, but donkeys were symbols of peace. Jesus rode in as king and was about to bring a kingdom that might not come through force, but through sacrifice.
What Is the Significance of Palm Branches?
Palm branches were an emblem of triumph, victory, peace, and prosperity. As the people were waving their branches and laying them within the road, there was great expectation of what their conquering king would soon gain for them. Yet there was a disconnect because Jesus was restoring a kingdom, just not in the style a lot of them thought he would. This results in incredible irony within the story. The ones who were shouting blessings upon and declaring Jesus king in only just a few days would shout to crucify him. Jesus comes into Jerusalem hailed as king and days later dies the death of a criminal on a cross.
What Is a Palm Cross?
A palm cross is just a cross created from a palm branch or leaf. It symbolizes two events that happened within the last week of Jesus’ life on this earth: the triumphal entry, where he’s hailed as king, and the cross, where he was crucified. I’m wondering if there couldn’t be two greater ironies happening in such a brief time frame.
3 significant truths concerning the palm cross:
1. Palms represent peace
While palms are sometimes related to peace, the cross was anything but peaceful. To die by execution on a cross was some of the agonizing ways to die. This was a slow and excruciatingly painful death. Some historians note that the typical person would take between 24 to 72 hours to die. Many would die from dehydration or asphyxiation. What a tremendous contrast between the palm and the cross.
2. Palms represent victory and triumph
While the cross was brutal, one thing it achieved was it gave us a way of redemption back to the Father. Jesus’ death on the cross made atonement for our sins. Isn’t it amazing that the very individuals who were beating Jesus, mocking him, and nailing him to that cross were the identical ones whose sins were being placed on Jesus in order that they could find forgiveness in the event that they put their trust in him? Yet it goes beyond that because though I used to be not in that crowd that day (neither were you), and I didn’t mock, beat, or pound the nail, my sins (and yours) were placed on Jesus too. We were just as guilty as everyone in that crowd, and since of Jesus’ sacrifice, we are able to find the identical forgiveness they may if we put our trust in Jesus.
3. Palms may signify prosperity
One thing more palms represents is prosperity. By prosperity, I don’t mean you’re going to get a much bigger house or a better-paying job. Those things are nice, but they’re temporary and that shouldn’t be why Jesus died on the cross. If anyone tells you that, please ignore them and in case your pastor preaches that, run quickly from that church. The prosperity Jesus won for us on the cross means we now have an everlasting inheritance waiting for us when our days on this earth are done.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us latest birth right into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that may never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:3-4).
This inheritance shouldn’t be about material things, but everlasting life that may never be taken from us. If you might be given a palm branch or a palm cross on Palm Sunday this 12 months, let it remind you of the everlasting victory that was won for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
What Do You Do with a Palm Cross?
What must you do with the palm or palm cross for those who receive one this 12 months? In some church traditions, the palm cross is seen as something that’s blessed. For full transparency, I don’t share that belief (I’ll explain), but there remains to be value in what the palm cross represents.
While the symbolism of a palm cross is meaningful, the true power lies in the actual cross of Christ—not within the physical symbols we use to recollect it. These reminders, just like the palm cross, point us to the incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us, but they don’t carry any power of their very own.
Even so, many individuals cherish their palm crosses in other ways. Some place them inside their Bibles, using them as bookmarks or special keepsakes. Others display their palm crosses of their homes as a each day reminder of the triumph and sacrifice of Jesus. Some churches take the old palm branches from previous Palm Sundays and burn them to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday, which is a way of tying the entire church calendar together. Whether or not you select to maintain your palm cross, a very powerful thing to recollect is what it represents. We have victory in Jesus due to his ultimate sacrifice on the cross. That is something price remembering, and if a palm cross helps you do this, then all the higher.
“When you were dead in your sins and within the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Col. 2:12-15).
Want to make your personal palm cross?
Read this text for a tutorial!
Learn more concerning the meaning and significance behind the Easter holiday and Holy Week celebrations:
What is Lent? and When Does Lent Start?
What is Ash Wednesday? and When is Ash Wednesday?
What is Palm Sunday?
What is Maundy Thursday?
What is Good Friday? and When is Good Friday?
What is Holy Saturday?
What is Easter? and When is Easter Sunday?
Easter Bible Verses
The Resurrection of Jesus
Easter Prayers
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Kara Gebhardt
