Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Year B) - 24 March
22nd March 2024
"Palm Sunday marks the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. But he entered in humility, not in pomp and power. To humble ourselves and make our souls the garments that we spread before him, this is the greeting he desires." - St Andrew of Crete
A reflection on today's Gospel reading by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"It was the month of Nisan. The Book of Exodus ordered that in this month the Paschal Lamb was to be selected, and four days later was to be taken to the place where it was to be sacrificed. On Palm Sunday, the Lamb was chosen by popular acclaim in Jerusalem; on Good Friday He was sacrificed.
"His last Sabbath Our Lord spent in Bethany with Lazarus and his sisters. News was now circulated that Our Lord was coming into Jerusalem. In preparation for His entrance, He sent two of His disciples into the village, where they were told they would find a colt tethered, on which no man had ridden. They were to untie it and bring it to Him. ‘And if anybody asks you, Why are you untying it? This must be your answer, The Lord hath need of it.’ (Luke 19:31)
"Perhaps no greater paradox was ever written than this—on the one hand the sovereignty of the Lord, and on the other ‘His need.’ This combination of Divinity and dependence, of possession and poverty was the consequence of the Word becoming flesh. Truly, He who was rich became poor for our sakes, that we might be rich. He borrowed a boat from a fisherman from which to preach; He borrowed barley loaves and fishes from a boy to feed the multitude; He borrowed a grave from which He would rise; and now He borrowed an ass on which to enter Jerusalem. Sometimes God pre-empts and requisitions the things of man, as if to remind him that everything is a gift from Him. It is sufficient for those who know Him to hear: ‘The Lord hath need of it.’
"As He approached the city, a ‘great multitude’ came to meet Him; among them were not only the citizens but also those who had come up for the feast and, of course, the Pharisees. The Roman authorities also were on the alert during great feasts lest there be an insurrection. On all previous occasions, Our Lord rejected the false enthusiasm of the people, fled the spotlight of publicity, and avoided anything that savoured of display. At one time: He strictly forbade them to tell any man That He, Jesus, was the Christ. (Matthew 16:20)
"When He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead: He laid a strict charge on them to let nobody hear of this. (Mark 5:43) After revealing the glory of His Divinity in the Transfiguration: He warned them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:8) When the multitudes, after the miracle of the loaves, sought to make Him King: He withdrew on to the hillside all alone. (John 6:15) When His relatives asked Him to go to Jerusalem and publicly astound the festival with miracles, He said: My Hour is not yet come. (John 7:6)
"But the entrance into Jerusalem was so public, that even the Pharisees said: Look, the whole world has turned aside to follow Him. (John 12:19)
"All this was in opposition to His usual manner. Before He dampened all their enthusiasms; now He kindled them. Why?
"Because His ‘Hour’ had come. It was time now for Him to make the last public affirmation of His claims. He knew it would lead to Calvary, and His Ascension and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. Once He acknowledged their praise, then there were only two courses open to the city: confess Him as did Peter, or else crucify. Either He was their King, or else they would have no king but Caesar. No Galilean seacoast or mountaintop, but the royal city on the Passover was the best time to make His last proclamation.
"He drew attention to His Kingship in two ways, first by the fulfilment of a prophecy familiar to the people, and second by the tributes of Divinity which He accepted as His own.
"Matthew explicitly states that the solemn procession was to fulfil the prophecy made by Zachariah years before: Tell the daughter of Sion, Behold Thy King is coming to Thee, humbly riding on an ass. (Matthew 21:5) The prophecy came from God through a prophet, and now God Himself was bringing it to fulfilment. The prophecy of Zachariah was meant to contrast the majesty and the humility of the Saviour. As one looks at the ancient sculptured slabs of Assyria and Babylon, the murals of Egypt, the tombs of the Persians, and the scrolls of the Roman columns, one is struck by the majesty of kings riding in triumph on horses or in chariots, and sometimes over the prostrate bodies of their foes. In contrast to this, here is One Who comes triumphant upon an ass. How Pilate, if he was looking out of his fortress that Sunday, must have been amused by the ridiculous spectacle of a man being proclaimed as a King, and yet seated on the beast that was the symbol of the outcast—a fitting vehicle for one riding into the jaws of death! If He had entered into the city with regal pomp in the manner of conquerors, He would have given occasion to believe that He was a political Messiah. But the circumstance He chose validated His claim that His Kingdom was not of this world. There is no suggestion that this pauper King was a rival of Caesar.
"The acclaim of the people was another acknowledgment of His Divinity. Many took off their garments and spread them before Him; others cut down boughs from the olive trees and palm branches and strewed them on the way. The Apocalypse speaks of a great multitude standing before the Throne of the Lamb with palms of victory in their hands. Here the palms, so often used throughout their history to signify victory, as when Simon Maccabeus entered Jerusalem, witnessed to His victory—even before He was momentarily vanquished.
"Then taking verses from the great Hillel which referred to the Messiah, the multitudes followed Him, shouting: Blessed is the King Who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven; glory above. (Luke 19:38) Admitting now that He was the One sent by God, they practically repeated the song of the angels of Bethlehem, for the peace He brought was the reconciliation of earth and heaven. Repeated too is the salutation the Wise Men gave Him at the crib: ‘the King of Israel.’
"A new chant was taken up as they cried out: Hosanna for the Son of David; Hosanna in heaven above. (Matthew 21:9), King of Israel. (John 12:13)
"He was the promised Prince of David’s line; the One Who came with a Divine Mission. Hosanna, which was originally a prayer, was now a triumphant welcome to a Saviour King. Not wholly understanding why He was sent, nor the kind of peace He would bring, they nevertheless confessed that He was Divine. The only ones who did not share in their acclaim were the Pharisees: Some of the Pharisees who were among the multitude said to Him: Master, rebuke Thy disciples. (Luke 19:39) It was unusual that they should have appealed to Our Lord, since they were disgusted with Him for having accepted homage from the crowds. With awful majesty, Our Lord retorted: I tell you, if they should keep silence, the stones will cry out instead. (Luke 19:40) If men were silent, nature itself would cry out and proclaim His Divinity. Stones are hard, but if they would cry out, then how much harder must be the hearts of men who would not recognise God’s mercy before them. If the disciples were silent, enemies would have nothing to gain, for mountains and seas would become vocal.
"The entry has been called triumphant; but well He knew that ‘Hosannas’ would change to ‘Crucify,’ and palms would be turned into spears. Amid the shouts of the multitude He could hear the whispers of a Judas and the angry voices before Pilate’s palace. The throne to which He was hailed was a Cross, and His real coronation would be a Crucifixion. Garments aplenty beneath His feet today, but on Friday He would be denied even His own. From the very beginning He knew what was in the heart of man, and never once did He suggest that the Redemption of men’s souls could be accomplished by vocal fireworks. Though He was a King, and though they now admitted Him as their King and Lord, He knew the King’s welcome which awaited Him was to be Calvary.
"Tears were in His eyes, not because of the Cross which awaited Him, but because of the woes impending over those whom He came to save and would have none of Him. Looking over the city: He wept over it, and said: Ah, if Thou too couldst understand above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring Thee peace! As it is, they are hidden from thy sight. (Luke 19:41, 42) He saw with historical accuracy the descent of the forces of Titus, and yet the eyes that saw the future so clearly were almost blinded with tears. He spoke of Himself as willing and able to have averted that doom by gathering the guilty ones under His wing as the hen doth gather chickens, but they would not. As the great patriot of all ages, He looked beyond His own suffering and fixed His eye on the city that rejected Love. To see evil, and to be unable to remedy it because of human perversity, is the greatest anguish of all. To see the wickedness and be baffled by the waywardness of the evildoer is enough to break a heart. The father is cast down with anguish when he sees the wrongdoing of his son. What prompted His tears were the eyes that would not see and the ears that would not hear.
"In the life of every individual and in the life of every nation, there are three moments: a time of visitation or privilege in the form of a blessing from God; a time of rejection in which the Divine is forgotten; and a time of doom or disaster. Judgment (or disaster) is the consequence of human decisions and proves that the world is guided by God’s presence. His tears over the city showed Him as the Lord of History, giving men grace, and yet never destroying their freedom to reject it. But in disobeying His will, men destroy themselves; in stabbing Him, it is their own hearts they slay; in denying Him, it is their city and their nation that they bring to ruin. Such was the message of His tears as the King goes to the Cross."
(Life of Christ)
Passion Sunday Prayer
Lord, give us the grace and the courage to follow You this Holy Week, from death to resurrection, from darkness to fullness of light. We need You, O Christ our Saviour. Hosanna! Amen! 🙏💖💐