The Life of Jesus Advent Calendar - Day 17: Jesus Enters Jerusalem

Introduction

This is one of my favourite stockings. I think adding the colourful coats and the leafy branches creates a really vibrant scene and helps convey some of the excitement the crowds would have been feeling, as they called out:

Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!

Jesus presents himself as God's true king, riding on a colt, signalling humility, not military might. Some in the crowd may have rejoiced to see Jesus coming as their Messiah, the one who would liberate them from their sins. A great many of the crowd however thought and hoped Jesus would be the one to liberate Israel from the grasp of Rome. Others may have just been caught up in the excitement!

One thing which might reveal the true hearts of much of the crowd is that, within a week, many had turned their backs on Jesus, demanding that he be crucified. Even though this was God's saving plan, it reveals how fickle we can be as humans. Perhaps they had realised he wasn't there to overthrow Rome, and didn't appreciate the message he had been preaching to them. They did not realise their need for a true Saviour, who could rescue them from the oppression of death, not just Rome. Are we tempted to cast Jesus aside when he isn't fitting our own agendas?

Assembling your stocking

Take your time with the coats and the leaves - they are a little fiddly. I suggest using small scraps of fabric and just cutting straight round the template, instead of trying to draw around them. You can then refine them once you have the basic shape. Make as many or as few as you like - I made five coats (I think three would be fine) and seven leafy branches (this is a good number, but you'll probably get away with five). I used two different greens for the leaves, and five bright colours for the coats. I cut out five of the crowd shapes, but you would probable be okay with four.

Start your stocking by mapping out where everything will go - lay your coats and some leaves down on the "floor" marking the route Jesus will take. Place the crowds in two rows over this - one at the very bottom edge of the stocking, and one near the middle. Give them the remaining leaves to wave around. Place Jesus on the donkey in the toe of the stocking and check you're happy with the layout.

Start by stitching down the coats and leaves on the road. I stitch the coats down with a neckline and a centre seam, and the leaves with one line down the centre of them, following the line of the stem.

Red felt with brown felt underneath, scissors indicating to cut excess brown felt.

Red felt overlaid with colourful felt coats and leaves. Brown crowd shaped piece of felt stitched on

Then add your crowds. The crowds along the bottom edge can overhang, you can trim off the excess. I don't stitch them along the bottom edge, as I will secure those when I blanket stitch around them. Add the back row of the crowds, and again the right hand crowd might overhang, so chop the excess off there too. I secure that edge later with blanket stitch too. Add your remaining leafy branches to the back crowds, so that it looks like they're waving them in the air.

Next, stitch on the donkey colt. I only stitched around his legs to give him some definition, and around his nose. I tried adding details to the ears, but there's so little felt there it's not worth it. Finally stitch Jesus sat atop the donkey - this will secure the rest of the donkey. I stitched Jesus's face so he is facing forwards towards Jerusalem.

I like to change by blanket stitch thread to match the colour of the crowds as I join the stocking together, but you don't have to do this.

You can watch a brief video of this stocking being assembled on my Facebook or Instagram.

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