Palm Sunday celebrates Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when Jesus received a worldly glory. People had seen Him perform miracles, teach with wisdom, express compassion and challenge the authorities. It seemed He was clearing a path to David’s earthly throne, but He had another agenda. He wanted to clear a path to our child-heart.

We opened our study of this passage by reflecting upon this question: If Jesus walked into your room right now, for what would you give Him praise?

We said we would praise Him for His eternal love; He is with us when no one else is. We would praise Him for His determination to eliminate sin and evil. We would praise Him for His joyful desire to forgive us. We would praise Him for His steadfast faithfulness, that He always looks for redemption instead of retribution. These are excellent answers, for they acknowledge that before we can allow Jesus to enter into our hearts, we need to recognize and praise Him for who He is at the gate of our hearts.

The next few verses speak of Jesus’ clearing the moneychangers and merchants from the temple, His healing of the sick and the indignation of the religious authorities. When we invite Jesus into our hearts, He is going to exhibit that same passion of clearing out the moneychanger/merchant clutter that hinders our worship. He is going to heal the blind and lame parts of our spirits, and He will even challenge the indignations and doubts that cloud our hearts. He does this to ensure we have a clean temple within our souls, where we can meet and speak with Him.

Finally, we see Jesus stating that God prepares His praise from the mouths of small children. Think of a time when a small child said something delightful about you! There is a precious quality in a child’s praise. The words might be spoken in ways that we find humorous, but we know there is a purity in their expression that is almost holy. When Jesus comes into our hearts, He is seeking to cleanse us to that same point of childlike innocence. He wants our child-heart to be completely uncluttered of sin and distraction, so that we are fully free to offer our praise to Him and His love to others. Hosanna! Praise Jesus, our Prince of Peace!