Palm Sunday, Matthew 21:9 Wall Art

The entry into Jerusalem

Jesus rides a small gray donkey at the center of the painting, holding a rope rein in one hand and raising the other in greeting. He wears a cream robe under a rust-red mantle and a blue cloak, and a striped saddle cloth hangs beneath him. The donkey steps over green palm fronds laid across the path.

On both sides, men, women and children press in, many in head coverings, holding long palm branches high over their heads. One young man on the right is calling out with his mouth open. Behind the crowd rise the pale walls of the city with an arched gateway and a pair of dark cypresses. “Hosanna to the Son of David” is lettered above, with Matthew 21:9 below it.

What does Hosanna mean?

Hosanna comes from a Hebrew plea meaning “save, we pray,” found in Psalm 118, one of the psalms pilgrims sang as they went up to Jerusalem for the feasts. By the time of Jesus it had also become a shout of praise and welcome. The crowd adds “Son of David,” a title for the promised king from David's line. Matthew's full verse continues: “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.”

Matthew makes a point of the donkey. He explains that it fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, in which Jerusalem's king comes to her lowly, riding on an ass. A conqueror would arrive on a warhorse; this king comes on a working animal. Matthew speaks of branches cut from the trees and garments spread on the road; it is John's Gospel that specifies palm branches, which gave the day its English name.

The same week, some of the same streets would hear a very different crowd. That contrast is why Palm Sunday opens Holy Week in so many churches: in many Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran services, palms are blessed and carried in procession, and the Passion is read before the day is over.

Hanging it for Holy Week

This print brings the start of Easter into the house. Families put it up on Palm Sunday and keep it through Holy Week, and Sunday school teachers use it to tell the story to children, who tend to spot the donkey first. It also suits a church foyer or an entryway, fittingly, since it shows an arrival.