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Group Discussion
Questions for facilitating dynamic discussion
Palm Sunday 2025
April 12,2025
Week 1: Palm Sunday
Jeff Griffin
Luke 19:37-42
Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! These words from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem may be very familiar. But there’s more to what the people were proclaiming and even more to what Jesus offered in response. And that can have a profound effect on how we live today.
What does it take for you to get “in the zone” where you are at peak performance or a state of bliss? A particular activity or place? The company of certain people? A certain mood?
1. Read Luke 19:37-38. What was the crowd praising God for? This is unique to Luke’s gospel. What is Luke revealing about the crowd’s motivations?
2. Now read Luke 19:41-45. It says that Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, both the place and its inhabitants. Consider that the name Jerusalem means “City of Peace.” How do you read Jesus’ words here in light of that? What was the irony of the name given what would take place there in a few days’ time?
“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace” (Luke 19:42a)
3. Jeff referred to the shalom Jesus brought as a peace that transforms our lives – not one that fixes circumstances, but one that saves souls. Think back to when you first understood that peace and received salvation, how has your life been transformed since then? In what ways do you live in greater peace?
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace.” (John 16:33a)
4. Jeff shared 5 benefits of Christ’s peace: [God’s] affection, forgiveness, [self] esteem, serenity, and purpose. Which of these do you experience most often? For which do you need to lean into life in Christ more?
The triumphal entry wasn’t about Jesus coming to take an earthly throne, but as Jeff stated, “Jesus was coming to be king of your life and mine.” As we approach Good Friday and Easter, pray that God would reveal where you need to surrender more of your life to His lordship and how you can live into the true Shalom that defies your circumstances.
“There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9-10