One Palm Sunday, when I was in Jerusalem, I made my way up to the Mount of Olives to join hundreds of other Christians. We all wished to follow in the footsteps of Yeshua as he rode on a donkey on his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, the people throwing palm fronds and garments in his path.

It was an enormous crowd, and I found myself at the end of the line, waiting three hours in the sun, with palm branches in my hand, until I could join the procession.

I was the only one wearing a kippa and full-sized prayer shawl.

Suddenly a reporter from National Public Radio made a bee line for me and asked why I was dressed as a Jew for this Christian observance. I explained to his NPR listeners across the globe that this was my way of showing solidarity with the Jewish people. . . that Yeshua of course was Jewish . . . and that Christians could learn a lot about their religion by studying Judaism to get some idea of how it was practiced 2,000 years ago.

As I marched with the throng down the winding path toward the walled Old City, I noticed an IDF Jeep parked near the bottom of the hill, facing us. Two Israeli soldiers sat in the open vehicle, and suddenly one of them pointed me out, and they both stared at me as I passed. I believe they were genuinely amused at the thought of a Jew taking part in this Christian ritual.

Well, they hadn’t seen anything yet!