I lived in Jerusalem for a while. When I studied at Hebrew University, I lived just north of the Mount of Olives on Mount Scopus. There's a little ridge that runs north and south, so I could walk half a mile from where I was living, down to the Mount of Olives, and just sit there and watch the sun set over the city of Jerusalem. I would think to myself, “You know, Isaiah prayed there, and David prayed there, and Jesus prayed there, and Paul was over there, and now I'm sitting here and praying.” It was always such a bizarre feeling to me. It removed it from the sense of a fairy tale. So, the topography of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem is very real to me. Coming down the Mount of Olives, with the city spread before you, you can see over all of Jerusalem. As Jesus was descending that Mount with the city before him, and the crowds and the children cheering, it was the most triumphant day of His earthly ministry, publicly. Yet it was the beginning of the series of events that led to His crucifixion.

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