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BACKGROUND NOTES (& OTHER NEAT INFO).
WHERE DOES THIS SCENE FIT INTO EASTER STORY?
Jesus's ride into Jerusalem on the back of a humble donkey more or less begins the Easter passion story. Then comes the Last
Supper, the retreat to the garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion, then resurrection.
WHERE IS BETHPHAGE AND THE MOUNT OF OLIVES (MAP)?
Footnotes in the NRSV/NOAB say Bethphage is a village just east of Jerusalem. The Mount of Olives is part of a ridge east
of the city. Here's a map of the area in ancient times, showing the ridge to the east: MAP OF ANCIENT JERUSALEM & ENVIRONS .
The site for the map link above also has a neat photo with more background on significant events that happened on and around
the Mount Olivet during and before Jesus's time.
Here's another link to that info: MOUNT OF OLIVES PICTURE + NEAT INFO .
WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT DONKEYS AND COLTS?
First of all, remember that this scene constitutes a very self-consciously staged procession.
FROM A LONG LINE OF ANNOINTED KINGS OF ISRAEL.
By riding into town on a humble beast of burden, Jesus evokes associations of David arranging to have Solomon approach on
David's "mule" the throne he is to inherit (1 Kings 1: 33).
COMES NOT ON A WAR HORSE.
Yet the fact that Jesus's mount is a humble donkey , as opposed to a king's or military leader's war horse, signals that he's
the king of a different kind of kingdom, that he comes in peace.
FULFILS PROPHECY.
Matthew makes sure readers 'get it' about Jesus representing the one to fulfil prophecy by citing the prophets in his gospel.
The line 'Tell the daughter of Zion, Look your king is coming to you,' comes from Isaiah 62: 11 which reads: 'Say to daughter
Zion, "See your salvation comes.'"
The line 'humble and mounted on a donkey,' comes from Zechariah 9.9, which says: "Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and
victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
MATTHEW GETS A BIT CARRIED AWAY.
The writer of the gospel of Matthew is so keen to prove that Jesus is the one and only Messiah that he goes a bit overkill
on the fulfillment of prophecy bit. Matt's gospel is the only one that has Jesus on a donkey AND a colt.
Matthew maybe needed a refresher course in parallelism in biblical Hebrew verse. I'm going to include here a bit of description
of this kind of verse, because it comes in handy for understanding other Bible passages. And sheds some light therefore on
the limits of literalism in the Bible.
PARALLELISM IN BIBLICAL HEBREW VERSE.
Here's Canadian writer and scholar Northrop Frye on the subject of Biblical parallelism in "The Great Code:"
"The unit of Biblical verse, parallelism, is of this returning kind. It is a unit of two (more rarely three) members, of which
the second completes the rhythm, but often adds little if anything to the sense. It is an admirable rhythm for conveying the
feeling of a dialogue initiated by God, which the reader completes simply by repetition...
"The later poetry of the Psalms and prophets follows the same conventions, though the difference from earlier verse is as
obvious to Hebrew scholars as the difference between Wyatt and Tennyson to us. Sometimes the fact that the second half of
the parallel couplet is not intended to add to the sense leads to misunderstandings. The Old Testament type of the event celebrating
Christianity as Palm Sunday, the riding of Jesus into Jerusalem on an ass, is an oracle in Zechariah 9.9... Mark, Luke and
John, reading this passage correctly as poetry, realize that only one animal is involved: Matthew, reading is more "literally,"
tries to get two into the act..."
No matter how you look at this scene, what all readers agree on is that through his entry to the city on this donkey, Jesus
respects and aligns himself, as the son of God, with prophecy and the scriptures, and sets himself up as the prince of peace.
HOSANNA
means 'Save us.'
WHAT DOES MESSIAH MEAN ANYWAY?
Says Frye in his book "Biblical and Classical Myths:"
"the imagery of the divine man, or the man with the divine destiny who is metaphorically identical with the tree of life,
runs all through the Bible, and accounts for a very central metaphor. That is the Hebrew word "Messiah," of which the Greek
equivalent is "Christ." And what that word means is "the anointed one," the person who has been confirmed as a royal figure
by an anointing ceremony which symbolically and metaphorically identifies him with the tree of life. That is, assuming that
something like olive oil or a vegetable oil or a tree oil of some kind would be used in an anointing ceremony...
"The identification of the Messiah with the tree of life remains fairly consistent throughout the New Testament. I say New
Testament, because in the Old Testament the word "Messiah" simply means a legitimate ruler, whose right to rule has been confirmed
by some anointing ceremony, whether real or assumed... But by the time of Jesus, with the Maccabean victory still fresh in
the Jewish mind, there was a good deal of speculation about a figure called the Messiah, and that figure is of the type that
theologians call eschatological: that is, a figure concerned with the ending of history and the evolution of man out of time
into some other kind of existence entirely."
COULD THE CHEERING CROWD REALLY HAVE BEEN ALL THAT BIG?
Wm. Loader presents some interesting ideas in one of his "First Thoughts," which can be found on the web on Text This Week.
"An actual entry with some shouts of praise doubtless occurred," Loader writes, "but would have been sufficiently lost in
the Passover crowds as not to warrant the military's attention, who would have been swift to put an end to what could have
seemed like a potential disturbance."
WHERE ARE THE KIDS IN THIS STORY? DOES THEIR PRESENCE MATTER?
Loader also points out that the triumphal entry is bracketed by the healing of blind men and later cries of Hosanna by the
children. The Messianic form of address 'Son of David' shouted out by them has been shared by the Canaanite woman of Matt
15. "Matthew uses acclamation by outsiders, marginalised and little ones, to shame Israel for its failure to acknowledge [Jesus]
as 'the Son of David' of Jewish hopes... Without [the children] the entry story is ambiguous, a potential disaster, which
realises itself in every generation in the name of piety. A radically subverted model of power exercised in compassion challenges
the temple system and Rome in its day and their equivalents in our own, around us and within us." (Find full text of Loader's
article at this link: LOADER ON PALM SUNDAY .)
SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PAGEANTRY.
In this episode, it seems to me, Jesus manifests himself more as the 'flesh' in the Word Made Flesh that defines him. That's
what makes this incident more dramatic and pageant-like than accounts of his more verbal, thoughtful sayings and sermons.
To understand a bit more about the nature of drama, let's turn to the master, Wm Shakespeare.
In 'The Tempest," Shakespeare's last play before he retired to his mansion back in Stratford upon Avon, the lead character
Prospero seems focussed on the perspective of all human activity as role playing. A professor of mine referred to this focus
in Shakespeare as the 'metadramatical.' Near the end of Act 4, after a dazzling masque celebrating the forthcoming marriage
of his daughter Miranda to Prince Ferdinand, Prospero says to Ferdinand:
"You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
As if you were dismayed: be cheerful, sir.
Our revels are now ended. These our actors
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped tow'rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep..."
And then of course this play ends with Prospero's famous epilogue where he begs the audience to free him with a prayer, to
"release me from my bands/With the help of your good hands."
How Shakespeare combines the physical gesture of hands meeting in prayer with the act of clapping, highlighting its significance
in the theatre as a interactive role played by the audience, thus demonstrating and releasing the transformative power of
the combined gesture -- that's metadramatical. That's secular spoken word incomparably enmeshed with human form. That's that
sort of thing that's going on in Jesus's entry to Jerusalem.
TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW.
Now we can perhaps better appreciate what Frye says about Christ's entry, in a piece called "Baccalaureate Sermon," in "Northrop
Frye on Religion:"
"Jesus is recommending, as you see, a considerable amount of disillusionment... Today is Palm Sunday, and the story of Palm
Sunday tells how Jesus rode in triumph into Jerusalem among the plaudits of a crowd he knew would be shrieking for his death
before the week was out. A man with any pride would have been ashamed to accept the homage of so fickle a crowd: but Jesus
accepted the homage because it was right at that moment, however wrong the people who offered it were going to be in a few
days. That was not taking thought for the morrow, on a level of detachment that you and I would hardly be capable of; perhaps
if we were capable of it we could save the world."
INCREDIBLE POETRY.
Who can improve on the above lines from 'The Tempest." Unless it's to go an see a superior production of the play!
MEMORABLE MUSIC.
For Easter music, naturally we think of Handel's Messiah. Canadian singer/songwriter Jane Siberry does a lovely light treatment
of the aria, 'How beautiful are the feet' on her CD, "Shushan the Palace." This piece has for me that calm in the eye of the
storm quality that I think Christ's entry on the donkey, bringing the ultimate message of peace, also shares. To hear a
sample of Jane's version of this piece, click here then scroll down to Shushan the Palace, then over to 'How beautiful are
the feet:' JANE'S 'HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET'
Jane's album features great liner notes by Walter J. Lamb, who explains that the primary lyric of the song comes from Romans
10:15 and is "a poetic way of acknowledging the importance of the messengers who bring the encouraging news of God's offer
of peace. What good is such news if it remains unknown because there was no communication."
ICONIC ART.
Well, you know I like my Durer woodcuts. Here's Durer from 1511: DURER .
For a nice colour piece, here's French artist Corinne Vonaesche: VONAESCH . (You have to scroll down to picture #10 to see it.)
And here's the link to a whole page of art on the triumphal entry at Biblical Art on the WWW: TRIUMPHAL ENTRY ART .
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION.
1. When in the Easter story does Christ's entry to Jerusalem take place? [before last supper, crucifixion and resurrection.]
2. Where does it take place? Where is the Mount of Olives relative to the temple in Jerusalem?
3. What holiday was happening when Jesus rode in?
4. What kind of noble beast was riding Jesus to make his triumphal entry?
5. Just what kind of kingdom does that imply Jesus is the king of?
6. Can you think of 2 or 3 reasons why he would have been recorded as riding on a donkey?
7. What other story about Jesus has a donkey in it [nativity story. Symbolically links how Jesus arrived in the world with
how he leaves it.]
8. What kinds of things were people in the crowd waving?
9. What kinds of things did they throw on the ground under him?
10. Was it likely a very big crowd?
11. Did the crowd seem happy to see Jesus?
12. What does 'Hosanna' mean?
13. What kinds of people likely made up that crowd [looking for: women, children, blind, lame, poor and dispossessed, etc.]
14. What or who did they think Jesus was?
15. What does Messiah mean?
16. If they thought Jesus was so special, why did it happen that Jesus was put to death a few days later?
17. Does this story make you feel like celebrating, like you normally would if there's a parade. Or does it make you feel
a bit sad as well.
**************WORKSHOPS****************
Please note -- A different approach to workshops for this unit. We felt Palm Sunday and Easter are a time when more than usual
numbers of kids attend, are visiting, etc. So we have found planning a series of 'stations' with assorted activities for
various age groups has given all a pleasant time. But here we have also included a series of more traditional worm-type workshops
in case you want to do a several week study of this story.
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KITCHEN
ACTIVITY: MAKE FAST AND EASY COCONUT OR DATE COOKIE RECIPE. (THERE ARE LOTS OF THESE ON THE WEB.) REINFORCES IMAGE/IDEA OF
THE PALMS IN THIS STORY.
LINKS TO RECIPES.
DATE SKILLET COOKIES.
This one calls for dates AND coconut!: DATE SKILLET COOKIES
DATE SUGAR.
Here's a neat page with a bit of background on dates plus a recipe for making date sugar: MAKING DATE SUGAR
BUNNY SHAPED COOKIES.
This could be fun even for big kids. Skip the peanut cookies -- any oval-ish cookie base with do. Skip the almond bark and
use a bag of white choc chips. Microwave to melt. Follow instructions. Chill in fridge or freezer before kids go home!: BUNNY SHAPE COOKIES
COCONUT BALLS.
Requires tad more baking/cooking time that skillet type above. Worth a try!: COCONUT BALLS
COCONUT MACAROONS.
Who doesn't think of these and coconut. Also worth a try: COCONUT MACAROONS
NO BAKE COCOA-COCONUT COOKIES.
As with bunny cookies above, use microwave and chill on cookie sheet in fridge before home time: NO BAKE COCOA-COCONUT COOKIES
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN.
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. PALMS AWAY!
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ARTS
MAIN ACTIVITY: MAKE HOBBY HORSE DONKEYS. (To see a picture go to the Photos Page of this site.)
MATERIALS:
- lots of pairs of cheap reinforced toe/heel sport sox from Walmart.
- approx 18 inch lengths of 1 - 1.5 inch diameter wooden dowling.
-cheap fibrefill stuffing (huge bag apx $3CDN, Walmart)
- black, brown and white felt pieces for faces and manes
- coloured ribbon or cloth strips for neck
- scissors
- really strong quick drying white glue or glue guns.
INSTRUCTIONS:
This is an awesome activity for all ages. Little guys love making some parts of it, and then playing with it. Big kids love
making it.
Fairly self-explanatory. Stuff 1 sock per kid with stuffing. Stick dowel into neck. Pull bit of stuffing around neck closure.
Make sure neck joint is stiff enough to stay upright looking. Tie tightly to attach with ribbon.
For mane, cut strip of black felt apx 6 inches long by 4 inches deep. Fringe along length with scissors. Glue rakishly to
side down back from top of head.
For ears, cut 2 long-ish palm leaf tip type fronds from brown felt (apx 3 - 4 inches long). Fold in half, glue halves together
at base. Glue base to side of head.
For eyes, nostrils, mouth, etc, cut these from felt bits and glue. Ride on!
OTHER CRAFT IDEAS FOR OTHER STATIONS.
FELT BANNERS. Make out of green triangles and thinner dowling. Use felt scraps for dominant PS images, such as palm leaves,
fronds, coats, donkeys, letters for HOSANNA. Kids could pretend to fly them, as if attending parade.
DONKEY/PARADE SCENE WIND SOX. Use green const. paper as base. Glue on with other cut out shapes in PS images above. Staple
around in cylinder shape. Punch 2 holes in opposite sides at top. Run length of yarn thru holes and tie off. Staple lengths
of green streamer to bottom. Another celebratory parade waving object kids can fly.
TEA LEAF BOTTLE DONKEY. Roll apx 500 ml water bottle in glue, then tea bag leaves. Wrap thick pipe cleaners around for legs.
Cut head from brown const. paper and glue on. Cut and fringe tail and mane from black const. paper and glue on.
PRINGLES CAN DONKEY BANK. Cover small or large can with tea leaves, as above. Add const. paper ears, legs (sticking out to
side), mane, etc., to form sitting down donkey. Cut slit in lid for bank. Basically adapt rabbit from craft seen by clicking
here then scroll down: PRINGLES CAN DONKEY (RABBIT)
FUN FOAM PALM WREATHS. Small donut of cardboard forms wreath base. Cut palm leaf and frond shapes from sheets of green foam.
Add incidental shapes of other PS images -- coats, hands, donkeys, hosanna. Tie thru or glue yarn tie to back.
FOAM DONKEY MAGNETS. Get foam, magnet strips or flats, scissors and glue. Make set of fridge magnets with 4 key PS images
-- palm leaf, donkey, coat, hosanna.
FOR OLDER KIDS.
SIMPLE BASKETS FROM PALM FRONDS (DRIED) OR CONST. PAPER (FAKE!). Older kids would be up to this challenge, I think. Here's
a link to simple basket instructions: SIMPLE BASKETS.
Here's another type of basket. As with other ideas, cover with palm type shapes and other PS images: FLOWER BASKET
SHAPES/IMAGES FROM FOLDED DRIED PALMS. I know these will sound and look complex. But some pre and full teens were drawn to
making their own palm crosses vs making hobby horse donkeys. Here's a link to folded palm crosses, doves and fish (the medium
is the message here!): PALM LEAF CRAFT IDEAS
OTHER IDEAS THAT COULD BE DEVELOPED:
- PALM BOOKS.
- EASTER IMAGES ORIGAMI
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. RIDE ON!
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DRAMA
ACTIVITY: ACT OUR LARGE GROUP DRAMA WITH ALL KIDS, COSTUMES AND DONKEY NARRATOR.
MATERIALS:
- costumes
- various props
- simple script for narrator. Click here for the script.
NOTE ON THIS SCRIPT.
- It's pretty simple.
- Taken mainly from Luke's account of Jesus's triumphal entry.
- Narr. mainly sets up scenes. Kids in costumes act out in moving tableau style.
- If time allows, play can be done again, with kids trading narr and other major roles.
- Easy to change narrative point of view. This narrative template should allow you to fairly easily 'rewrite' this script
for another yr from the point of view of another archetypal figure in this story. For instance, you could write in little
asides for what a child would see, a parent, a guest in town for Passover, a scribe (if you want to go there), a disciple,
a female witness, the donkey handler, a blind person, someone else needing healing... the list goes on. An easy way to liven
up the script for use over consecutive yrs so your veteran rotation kids haven't been there, done that yr after yr!
For photo of the main character in our Danny the Donkey play, click here.
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN.
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. ACT UP!
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STORY CENTRE
ACTIVITY: ASSIGN SOMEONE TO RESERVE SOME NICE PICTURE BOOKS TO READ TO LITTLE GUYS. OUR LITTLE ONES ENJOYED THIS BREAK
FROM THE MAYHEM OF THE LARGE GROUP ACTIVITIES, THE STROLL TO THE RESOURCE/READING AREA. AND OUR READER ENJOYED AN UNCOMMON
MOMENT WITH THESE TINY KIDS.
BOOK SUGGESTIONS:
There are lots of great Palm Sunday/Easter picture books for small children. Best to consult ahead of time with your resource
centre coordinator, and pull half a dozen good ones.
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN.
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. READ ON!
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GAME
ACTIVITY: PLAY BOWLING GAME USING COCONUT BOWLING BALL AND POP BOTTLE PINS. REINFORCES PALM IDEA OF THIS STORY.
MATERIALS:
(First, here's the link to the above idea on a great site, CHICA CHICA BOOM BOOM, that has gobs of other coconut ideas: CHICA BOOM BOOM SITE )
Here's the text for the game on the Chica Boom Boom site:
Coconut Bowling: I love this idea! Use a real coconut for a bowling ball and create bowling pins that resemble coconut trees.
The pins can be made from two liter soft drink bottles with a couple of inches or so of water or sand in the bottom to weight
them down. Then hot glue a brown tree trunk to the front of the bottle and a green tree top to the side of the lid. If you
want to be very creative, make tree tops using green pipecleaners and green felt. Cut the tree top then glue the pipecleaners
to the bottom of the leaves and bend down to form the 3D tree top. Hot glue the tree top to the soft drink bottle top.
**20/20 HINDSIGHT -- We ended up using about 1/4 cup of rice as ballast for the bottles. Worked like a charm!
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. BOWL ON!
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COMPUTER
ACTIVITY: PALM SUNDAY SECTION ON LIFE OF CHRIST COMPUTER PROGRAM.
MATERIALS: 'Life of Christ' activity CD, Lesson 29. Here's the short summary from the lesson index:
LESSON 29. A Grand Entry Into Jerusalem --Palm Sunday (Luke 19:28-46).
The prophetic prediction behind the act. Jesus sobs over Jerusalem (and why). Do you honor Jesus as your king? If so, how?
To see more about this program, click this link: LIFE OF CHRIST LESSON INDEX ON SUNDAY SOFTWARE.COM.
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. BOOT UP!
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MOVIE/VIDEO
ACTIVITY: VIEW SECTION OF 'FANTASTIC FOUR' VIDEO. Segment where the team rescues firemen on bridge and are hailed later as
heroes.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION. Turn your thoughts to these ideas before starting the movie. Perhaps prompt kids to think of these
ideas before viewing as well.
- Discuss what a hero's welcome is traditionally like.
- Is Jesus a superhero like this?
- Is he received like this?
- Does he try for a different kind of hero's welcome?
- Note how it takes four of them to save people in this story, in the gospels it takes only one.
MATERIALS:
- 'Fantastic Four' movie or DVD.
- video or DVD player + TV.
- popcorn
- juice boxes.
REAL TIME WITH THE CHILDREN
Ready. Quickly review or recap the story with them before starting activity.
Set. Link or explain your activity to the current story.
Go. PUSH PLAY!
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