On the next day—the Jewish Monday, which we commemorate as "Palm Sunday"—Jesus entered Jerusalem. It was the custom for pilgrims to enter that city for the Passover in orderly processions, with music, and carrying banners. As there was no longer any need to restrain the ardor of the people Jesus prepared to conform to the custom.
Following His instructions two of His disciples found at Bethpage, a village close by, a young animal which had never carried or drawn a burden. From very early times such animals had been chosen for sacred purposes. It was on this colt, with the mantles of the disciples thrown over it, that Jesus rode attended by a great multitude, who spread their garments and branches plucked from trees in the way.
Between the vineyards, orchards, and olive gardens that bordered the road, the procession wound slowly along, welcomed by glad throngs that had poured out of Jerusalem to meet it, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord!" Crossing the bridge over "the brook Kidron," Jesus entered Jerusalem.
THE BROOK KIDRON.
From a Photograph.
Pilgrims were not allowed to go beyond the foot of Mount Moriah without purification, according to the Jewish ceremonial law. At this place the crowd dispersed, and Jesus, first removing His sandals, entered the Temple alone. As the day was drawing to a close, He staid there but a short time, and then returned to Bethany.
But the next morning, Jesus was back in Jerusalem, and once more he expelled the merchants and money-changers from the Temple courts. Then the blind, and lame, and all who needed bodily relief surrounded Him, and He healed them willingly. The angry priests and rabbis would have seized Him if they had not feared the excited crowd, and so the day passed on, Jesus returning to the cottage at Bethany at its close, only to return to the city the next morning.
The opportunity for which the enemies of Jesus were watching so eagerly came at last. One of His own trusted disciples went to the chief priests, asking what they would give him to betray his Master. His name was Judas Iscariot, or Judas of Kerioth, a little village in the south of Judea.
The priests received Judas gladly, and agreed to pay him the price of a full-grown slave—thirty silver pieces, a sum equal to about twenty dollars of our money. He promised to find them an opportunity of arresting Jesus quietly, at a time when there would be no fear of inciting a riot among the people.
Acting upon instructions from Jesus, Peter and John, two of the Apostles, secured a room in Jerusalem, and prepared for a celebration of the Passover. All was made ready, and Jesus and His twelve Apostles met for "The Last Supper."