(10 minutes, moderate set-up)
Students will consider the setting of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Provide a dry erase board and marker.
Learning Goal: Students will examine how Jesus’ divinity was proclaimed in His entrance into Jerusalem.
Ask: What movies can you think of in which the setting impacted the story? (Possible answers: The Jason Bourne movies; The Lord of the Ring movies, Star Wars) Ask: How did the settings in these movies help tell the story? After responses, share that the settings of the Mount of Olives and the city of Jerusalem played an important role in the account of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.
Say: Picture two hills and a valley. On the board, draw a hill on the left that is flattened across the top, down into a valley, and then up and over the hill on the right side. On top of the left hill, write The Temple Mount. At the bottom of the hill, write Kidron Valley, and on the hill on the right, write The Mount of Olives.
Explain that Jesus’ journey began on the far side of the Mount of Olives where the towns of Bethany and Bethpage were located, and then moved over the top of the Mount of Olives, and down its slope. Draw a line to represent a road moving down the mount. Stop about halfway down the mount.
Direct attention to the flat top of the hill on the left, and explain that the Temple was located on top of the mountain. Point out that the area is still referred to by Jews and Christians as the Temple Mount. Draw a square around the top of the Temple Mount to represent the city wall around it. Then, draw an entrance into the middle wall. Say: As Jesus and His disciples came down the Mount of Olives, they could look over and see the Temple Mount and the Eastern Gate in the city wall. Explain that prophecy for the coming Messiah was that He would enter the city from the Mount of Olives and through the Eastern Gate.
Then, share that as Jesus descended the hill and moved into the city, the crowds increased, shouting praises for Him, putting cloaks on the ground to cover His journey, and, according to Matthew 21, putting branches down as well. Ask: Based on this information, what does the setting add to this story? (That Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of how the Messiah would enter Jerusalem; that the people knew of the prophecy, so they recognized Jesus’ entrance as coming as Messiah.)