DAY #1 | MONDAY
MARCH 29, 2026

“When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:10-11

Jerusalem was swelling with people. Passover always drew crowds, but this year the city was heaving, shoulder-to-shoulder humanity pressing into narrow streets. Ancient records tell us that around 250,000 lambs were sacrificed during Passover only a decade later. If one lamb covered ten people, the population could have reached well over two million. That’s the scene Jesus walks into. A city bursting with journeyers, anticipation, and clamor. And right in the middle of all of it, the true Passover Lamb enters.

Matthew tells us the whole city was “stirred”—literally shaken. The atmosphere is electric, but also chaotic. People are swept up in the moment, caught in the momentum of the crowd, and yet many don’t even know what they’re celebrating. It’s like someone at a big game who asks, “Wait…what are we cheering for?” The excitement is real, but the discernment of many is nil.

So the question spreads through the streets: Who is this? Some answer confidently: “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth.” Word gets around that the Messiah is here. For the curious, God is making something unmistakably clear about who had come to them. But knowing some facts about Him is not the same as receiving Him by faith.

On that day, the crowds fell into familiar categories. Some truly understood. They saw Jesus as the King of Kings who brings salvation and makes sinners right with God. Others knew His miracles, admired His power, but wanted a kingdom on earth: health, wealth, and prosperity. They wanted a Messiah who would fix their circumstances, not their hearts. And when Jesus confronted their sin, they turned on Him. And then there were the many who simply drifted with the crowd, cheering one moment, silent the next, easily swayed in either direction.

There’s always room in our world for a Jesus who fits our expectations, affirms our dreams, supports our agendas, and stays safely within the boundaries we set for Him. But the true Jesus didn’t come to give us the life our hearts sinfully crave. He came to confront what we would rather avoid: our selfmade religion, our attempts to justify ourselves, our sin that keeps us far from God. He came to reveal the judgment we deserve and to warn us, in love, to flee from the wrath to come. Jesus came to rescue us, to offer salvation, to draw us out of death and into life.

Those categories haven’t changed since then. Even during Holy Week, churches can swell with people the same way Jerusalem did thousands of years ago, but are their hearts any different? Each year since, Palm Sunday still presses that same question into our hearts: Who is this?

It is Jesus Christ, God over all, blessed forever. He so loved the sons of men that He would
rather die than they should die. He came into the world, and took our flesh, and became
Emmanuel, God with us, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and
became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. - C.H. Spurgeon