by Tim Akers

Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11

To have a better understanding of Palm Sunday we need to understand what was going on at that time. We need to have an idea what the political situation was in and around Jerusalem, we need to know about the political revolution. The political revolution started around 63 BC when a Roman general conquered Israel, placing the Israelites under the Roman rule and powers. The Jewish people wanted to get rid of the Romans because the Romans enforced their way of living on to them. The Romans made the Jews eat pork and worship Caesar. The Romans even forbid them from circumcising their child, a common Jewish practice. The Romans were trying to seduce them out of Judaism. Thus, a revolution had begun.

Several years later, around 5 BC, King Herod enters the picture. Herod was known as the great builder because he rebuilt the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. It was a magnificent temple. Then Herod went from the great builder to the Killer. This is the story we are familiar with. He ordered all boys two years old and younger to be killed. He had heard about this Messiah, this great king being born. Herod didn't want this baby messiah to grow up and be a great political king and push him out of the way.

Years later, when Jesus was a young man, a Pharisee by the name of Zaduk led a revolution in and around Jerusalem. It is believed that 2,000 men were killed and the Romans hung them on crosses along the road ways. It was not a small portion of the road way but twenty miles. Can you imagine dead men hanging on crosses along 1-94, all the way into the city? This is the message that was being sent to the Jewish population if they started a political uprising.

Jesus was aware of the revolts, the riots. When Jesus came riding into Jerusalem it is believed there had been over 30 political riots in about 5 years. So as a young man Jesus knew about these riots, 5 or 6 riots a year for 5 years. Our Gospel reading for today gives a sense of what's going on in Jerusalem, and that all the elements for another riot are present and the city could erupt.

The tension could be felt that first Palm Sunday, when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Matthew tells us that it was a very large crowd welcoming Jesus. There were thousands and thousands, possible millions of people who made their pilgrimage to the holy city to celebrate the Passover. It was a massive crowd that had gathered full of women, children, men. I don't know if you have ever seen the streets in Jerusalem, but they are not very big. They are very narrow so the crowd was jammed in the streets shoulder to shoulder and pushing so they could see Jesus, the Messiah, the king.

There were a different groups of people in this massive crowd who were shouting at the top of their lungs "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Hosanna in the highest!"

One of the groups shouting their praise was the religious fanatics, shouting "Jesus show us another miracle and then we'll believe. Let us see the blind given sight. Let us see the deaf able to hear. Let us see you heal the sick." This is our Messiah. . .

The next group that was shouting their praise were the political fanatics, shouting "Jesus restore our freedom and overthrow the Romans! Lead us to victory with the power of your sword and save us." This is our Messiah.

Messiah means "the anointed," the one promised by God to deliver Israel. With their chants of "Hosanna" the crowds were proclaiming Jesus to be their messiah. "Hosanna" is a translation of a Hebrew expression "O save. " This draws a connection to the Jewish tradition of singing a portion of the Psalms during the season of the Passover. In these Psalms you can hear the messianic hope being expressed. One Psalm you can hear that messianic hope in is Psalm 1 18:25, which says "O Lord Save us." Then by also using the title "Son of David" they are referring to Jesus as a figure who would bring about David's throne and pointing to the messianic lineage and royal expectation. So we hear the crowd's expectations with their chants.

Also In the crowd you have the religious leaders who are concerned. They're concerned about the authority Jesus is claiming because it's a divine authority.

Then you have the disciples following Jesus who are pushing their way through the mob of people. They are getting pushed around and are confused at the excitement of all the people. Jesus told them he was coming to Jerusalem and he was going to suffer and die here. The disciples remembered what Jesus had told them, yet they hear the cheers from the crowd proclaiming him as their messiah. The disciples still didn't understand. They didn't understand who Jesus really was and what he was riding into.

The crowd is right, Jesus is the Messiah, but not the messiah they want him to be. By the chaotic madness of the crowd you would think that Jesus came into the city standing on the back of a chariot raising his arms in victory. Yet he rode in on a donkey. The crowd wanted him to ride in on a white horse dressed in gold trim glowing in the sunlight and Jesus griping a sword in his hand, waving it above his head signaling what he would do to the Romans. They want an inspiring speech to lead a revolution; they wanted shouts of soldiers but they heard none of that. Jesus didn't say a word. Not a word as he rode into the city. The prophet Zachariah tells us that the king will "Come gentle and riding on a donkey." Another translation is "he will come humble and riding on a donkey." He will come humbly into Jerusalem.

The crowd was chanting at the top of their lungs "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" Hosanna in the highest!" Slowly the shouts of Hosanna began to fade and it was quieter, then nothing. In the distance you can hear another chant start up, it was very faint, crucify him, it got louder and louder, crucify him, and finally bursting with power. Crucify him. Crucify him. They wanted a warrior on a horse and instead they got a humble carpenter on a donkey.

Jesus knew what the people wanted him to be and he knew he could not provide them with a sword swinging messiah. Jesus knew that this triumphant entry was not going to end the way others wanted it to. Jesus knew that the triumph that would take place would be much greater than what they were expecting.

We read this story every year, but this year when I read it, I heard something new. I heard the story of a man riding into Jerusalem to begin an adverse journey that lies ahead of him. He knew he was going to suffer and die. Yet, he was doing God's work. Jesus still rides into the city knowing he was going to die. I hear a story of courage, a story of courage to rid forward in adversity to do Gods work.

This story helps us discover and hear that God has not entered our lives to help us with our work, but is calling us back to do God's work. During Lent we took time to reflect and examine our lives. During that time something happens, something takes place and disrupts the daily business of our lives. It is the Holy Spirit challenging the way our faith has partnered with our wallets and our work that only serves our personal agenda. The crowd wanted Jesus to lead with a sword, but he didn't he road through the city, to the cross.

God will provide us with the courage and the strength to face the challenge of empting our selfish pride, our ambition, and our fears, to follow Jesus through the city and to the cross.

The story of Jesus' triumphant entry is a story that shares with us courage and strength to keep riding forward on our faith journey. We know we can face the adverse situations and the challenges to our faith. We hear the story every year, Jesus enters Jerusalem to die on the cross. We know how the story ends, we know that Jesus brings us hope and conquers death.

by Rev. Fr. Jose Daniel Paitel. Malankara World Board Member

Gospel: St. John 12: 12-19

Palm Sunday is the day of the beginning day of the Holy Passion Week. Contrary to the Passion Week today, it is the day of celebration with flowers and palm leaves. Children love today as a day kept in their evergreen memory. Royal visitation to the Holy Temple is an important event during the brief Nazarene history of Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday is the day of the magnificent journey of Jesus Christ. A massive crowd accompanying Jesus Christ, raising the slogans of Hosanna, the spreading of their own scarves and shawls on the way He walked, and the holding and waving of palm leaves and showering of flowers, enjoyment of the children following Him raising Hosanna slogans, etc. are best suited for the occasion. But an exception is the donkey ride of Jesus Christ. Rest of all other pre requisites for a royal procession is adjoined in a fair decent fashion.

John 12:14-15 Jesus obtained a donkey and sat on it, as Scripture says: "Don't be afraid, people of Zion! Your king is coming. He is riding on a donkey's colt."

Certainly it was a mystery in the history of Jesus Christ that why He chose a donkey for His ride. He often walked or used a ferry boat for a far distance. He was able to hire a Horse or pick another possible alternative. Using a donkey for His ride is incredible. He is renowned as a miracle healer and a Rabbi holding honorable position from the general populace. Even though He always reflects himself, as the son of God, he disregarded those who murmured against His sacredness, forming out of the trip on an unclean Donkey to the Holy temple of God. There were certain norms and restrictions prevalent for those worshippers going to the Temple of God for an offering of any kind. Nobody is able to break the same. Because; according to the scriptures, donkey is an unclean animal. Jesus the witness of the cannon law is more than aware about it. Then why He decided to send His disciples to a far distant intersection to obtain a donkey might be discarded by its masters. He has an excuse of a prophecy foretold about it.

Zachariah 9: 9 writes, The Lord Sends His King
Rejoice with all your heart, people of Zion!
Shout in triumph, people of Jerusalem!
Look! Your King is coming to you:
He is righteous and victorious.
He is humble and rides on a donkey,
on a colt, a young pack animal.

Read the rest of the article in Malankara World Passion Week Supplement.

http://www.MalankaraWorld.com/Library/Lent/Passion/Passion_palm-sunday-devotional-fr-Jose-Daniel.htm

It is a beautiful scene, full of light, joy, celebration. At the beginning of Mass, we repeated all this. We waved our palms, our olive branches, we sang "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord" (Antiphon); we too welcomed Jesus; we too expressed our joy at accompanying him, at knowing him to be close, present in us and among us as a friend, a brother, and also as a King: that is, a shining beacon for our lives.

And here the first word that comes to mind is "joy!" Do not be men and women of sadness: a Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus, from knowing that with him we are never alone, even at difficult moments, even when our life's journey comes up against problems and obstacles that seem insurmountable, and there are so many of them! We accompany, we follow Jesus, but above all we know that he accompanies us and carries us on his shoulders. This is our joy, this is the hope that we must bring to this world of ours. Let us bring the joy of the faith to everyone!

2. But we have to ask: why does Jesus enter Jerusalem? Or better: how does Jesus enter Jerusalem? The crowds acclaim him as King. And he does not deny it, he does not tell them to be silent (cf. Lk 19:39-40).

But what kind of a King is Jesus? Let us take a look at him: he is riding on a donkey, he is not accompanied by a court, he is not surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk. Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honors reserved to earthly kings, to the powerful, to rulers; he enters to be scourged, insulted and abused, as Isaiah foretold. (Is 50:6). He enters to receive a crown of thorns, a staff, a purple robe: his kingship becomes an object of derision. He enters to climb Calvary, carrying his burden of wood.

And this brings us to the second word: Cross. Jesus enters Jerusalem in order to die on the Cross. And it is here that his kingship shines forth in godly fashion: his royal throne is the wood of the Cross! I think of what Benedict XVI said to the cardinals: "You are princes but of a Crucified King"...

Jesus says: "I am a King"; but his power is God's power which confronts the world's evil and the sin that disfigures man's face. Jesus takes upon himself the evil, the filth, the sin of the world, including our own sin, and he cleanses it, he cleanses it with his blood, with the mercy and the love of God. Let us look around: how many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil! Wars, violence, economic conflicts that hit the weakest, greed for money, which no-one can bring with him, my grandmother would say, no shroud has pockets!

Greed for money, power, corruption, divisions, crimes against human life and against creation! And our personal sins: our failures in love and respect towards God, towards our neighbour and towards the whole of creation. Jesus on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God's love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection.

Dear friends, we can all conquer the evil that is in us and in the world: with Christ, with the force of good! Do we feel weak, inadequate, powerless? But God is not looking for powerful means: it is through the Cross that he has conquered evil! We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us: you can do nothing to counter violence, corruption, injustice, your sins! We must never grow accustomed to evil! With Christ we can transform ourselves and the world. We must bear the victory of Christ's Cross to everyone everywhere, we must bear this great love of God. And this requires all of us not to be afraid to step outside ourselves, to reach out to others.

In Phil 2:7, Saint Paul tells us that Jesus emptied himself, assuming our condition, and he came to meet us. Let us learn to look up towards God, but also down towards others, towards the least of all! And we must not be afraid of sacrifice. Think of a mother or a father: what sacrifices they make! But why? For love! And how do they bear those sacrifices? With joy, because they are made for their loved ones. Christ's Cross embraced with love does not lead to sadness, but to joy!

3. Today in this Square, there are many young people: for 28 years Palm Sunday has been World Youth Day! This is our third word: youth! Dear young people, I think of you celebrating around Jesus, waving your olive branches. I think of you crying out his name and expressing your joy at being with him! You have an important part in the celebration of faith! You bring us the joy of faith and you tell us that we must live the faith with a young heart, always, even at the age of seventy or eighty.! A young heart! With Christ, the heart never grows old! Yet all of us, all of you know very well that the King whom we follow and who accompanies us is very special: he is a King who loves even to the Cross and who teaches us to serve and to love. And you are not ashamed of his Cross! On the contrary, you embrace it, because you have understood that it is in giving ourselves that we have true joy and that God has conquered evil through love.

You carry the pilgrim Cross through all the Continents, along the highways of the world! You carry it in response to Jesus' call: "Go, make disciples of all nations" (Mt 28:19), which is the theme of World Youth Day this year. You carry it so as to tell everyone that on the Cross Jesus knocked down the wall of enmity that divides people and nations, and he brought reconciliation and peace.

Dear friends, I too am setting out on a journey with you, from today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of Christ's Cross. Young people must tell the world that it is good to follow Jesus, that it is good to love Jesus and that it is good to go out to the peripheries of the world and follow Jesus!

Three words: Joy, Cross and Youth.

Let us ask the intercession of the Virgin Mary. She teaches us the joy of meeting Christ, the love with which we must look to the foot of the Cross, the enthusiasm of the young heart with which we must follow him during this Holy Week and throughout our lives. Amen.

by John Piper

Scripture: Luke 19:28-44

And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.'"

32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord has need of it."

35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." 40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Palm Sunday: An Event of Insight and Misunderstanding

Palm Sunday is the day in the church year when traditionally we mark the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem for the last week of his life. It's an event of great insight and great misunderstanding. The great insight was that this Jesus really is "the King who comes in the name of the Lord" (Luke 19:38). He was the Messiah, the Son of David, the long-awaited Ruler of Israel, the fulfillment of all God's promises. But the great misunderstanding was that he would enter Jerusalem and by his mighty works, take his throne and make Israel free from Rome.

It wasn't going to be that way: he would take his throne but it would be through voluntary suffering and death and resurrection. The first sermon Peter preached after the resurrection comes to an end with the words, "This Jesus God raised up" so that he was "exalted at the right hand of God" (Acts 2:32-33). And the apostle Paul says that he is now King: "He must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25; see Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1).

So Palm Sunday was a day of insight and a day of misunderstanding. The insight gave joy, and the misunderstanding brought about destruction - the murder of Jesus a few days later, and the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years later. And Jesus saw it all coming.

And what I want to focus on this morning is Jesus' response to this blindness and hostility that he was about to meet in Jerusalem. Indeed, he met it already in this very text. The crowds were crying out in verse 38,

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!"

But in the very next verse it says, "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke your disciples'" (Luke 19:39).

So Jesus knew what was about to happen. The Pharisees were going to get the upper hand. The people would be fickle and follow their leaders. And Jesus would be rejected and crucified. And within a generation the city would be obliterated. Look how Jesus says it in verses 43-44:

For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

God had visited them in his Son, Jesus Christ - "he came to his own, and his own received him not" (John 1:11). They did not know the time of their visitation. So they stumbled over the stumbling stone. The builders rejected the stone and threw it away. Jesus saw this sin and this rebellion and this blindness coming. How did he respond? Verse 41-42:

"And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, 'Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.'"

Jesus wept over the blindness and the impending misery of Jerusalem.

How would you describe these tears? You can see from the title of this message that I call them, "Palm Sunday Tears of Sovereign Mercy." The effect that I pray this will have on us is, first, to make us admire Christ, and treasure him above all others and worship him as our merciful Sovereign; and, second, that seeing the beauty of his mercy, we become merciful with him and like him and because of him and for his glory.

Admiring Christ's Merciful Sovereignty and Sovereign Mercy

First, then let's admire Christ together. What makes Christ so admirable, and so different than all other persons - what sets him apart as unique and inimitable - matchless, peerless - is that he unites in himself so many qualities that in other people are contrary to each other. That's why I put together the words "sovereign" and "merciful." We can imagine supreme sovereignty, and we can imagine tenderhearted mercy. But who do we look to combine in perfect proportion merciful sovereignty and sovereign mercy? We look to Jesus. No other religious or political contender even comes close.

Look at three pointers in this text to his sovereignty. First, verse 37:

"As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen."

Jesus had made a name for himself as the worker of miracles, and they remembered them. He had healed leprosy with a touch; he had made the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame walk; he had commanded the unclean spirits and they obeyed him; he had stilled storms and walked on water and turned five loaves and two fish into a meal for thousands. So as he entered Jerusalem, they knew nothing could stop him. He could just speak and Pilate would perish; the Romans would be scattered. He was sovereign.

Then look, secondly, at verse 38.

The crowds cried out: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Jesus was a King, and not just any king, but the one sent and appointed by the Lord God. They knew how Isaiah had described him:

Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this." (Isaiah 9:7)

A universal, never-ending kingdom backed by the zeal of almighty God. Here was the King of the universe, who today rules over the nations and the galaxies, and for whom America and Iraq are a grain of sand and a vapor.

Third, verse 40. When the Pharisees tell him to make the people stop blessing him as a king, he answers,

"I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:40).

Why? Because he will be praised! The whole design of the universe is that Christ be praised. And therefore, if people won't do it, he will see to it that rocks do it. In other words, he is sovereign. He will get what he means to get. If we refuse to praise, the rocks will get the joy.

It is remarkable, therefore, that the tears of Jesus in verse 41 are so often used to deny his sovereignty. Someone will say, "Look, he weeps over Jerusalem because his design for them, his will for them, is not coming to pass. He would delight in their salvation. But they are resistant. They are going to reject him. They are going to hand him over to be crucified." And so his purpose for them has failed. But there is something not quite right about this objection to Jesus' sovereignty.

He can make praise come from rocks. And so he could do the same from rock-hard hearts in Jerusalem. What's more, all this rejection and persecution and killing of Jesus is not the failure of Jesus' plan, but the fulfillment of it. Listen to what he said in Luke 18:31-33 a short time before:

And taking the twelve, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written [planned!] about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise."

The betrayal, the mockery, the shame, the spit, the flogging, the murder - and so much more - was planned. In other words, the resistance, the rejection, the unbelief and hostility were not a surprise to Jesus. They were, in fact, part of the plan. He says so. This is probably why it says at the end of verse 42, "But now they are hidden from your eyes." Remember what Jesus said about his parables back in Luke 8:10: "To you [disciples] it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.'" God was handing them over to hardness. It was judgment.

We have seen all this in Romans 9. The mercy of God is a sovereign mercy.

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion" (Romans 9:15).

But here is the point I want you to see today: This sovereign Christ weeps over heard-hearted, perishing Jerusalem as they fulfilled his plan. It is unbiblical and wrong to make the tears of mercy a contradiction to the serenity of sovereignty. Jesus was serene in sorrow, and sorrowful in sovereignty. Jesus' tears are the tears of sovereign mercy.

And therefore his sovereign power is the more admirable and the more beautiful. It's the harmony of things that seem in tension that makes him glorious: "Merciful and Mighty," as we sing. We admire power more when it is merciful power. And we admire mercy more when it is mighty mercy. And, as I said, my prayer is that as you see his mercy and admire his mercy, you will become like him in his mercy.

There are at least three ways that Jesus is merciful, which we can draw out of this context. And I pray that I will become like him in all of these. I pray that you will too.

Jesus' Mercy Is Tenderly Moved

First, Jesus' mercy is tenderly moved. He feels the sorrow of the situation. This doesn't mean his sovereign plan has wrecked on the rocks of human autonomy. It means that Jesus is more emotionally complex than we think he is. He really feels the sorrow of a situation. No doubt there is a deep inner peace that God is in control and that God's wise purposes will come to pass. But that doesn't mean you can't cry.

In fact, on the contrary, I appeal to you here: pray that God would give you tears. There is so much pain in the world. So much suffering far from you and near you. Pray that God would help you be tenderly moved. When you die and stand before the Judge, Jesus Christ, and he asks you, "How did you feel about the suffering around you?" what will you say? I promise you, you will not feel good about saying, "I saw through to how a lot of people brought their suffering upon themselves by sin or foolishness." You know what I think the Lord will say to that? I think he will say, "I didn't ask you what you saw through. I asked you what you felt?" Jesus felt enough compassion for Jerusalem to weep. If you haven't shed any tears for somebody's losses but your own, it probably means you're pretty wrapped up in yourself. So let's repent of our hardness and ask God to give us a heart that is tenderly moved.

Jesus' Mercy Was Self-Denying

Second, Jesus' mercy was self-denying - not ultimately; there was great reward in the long run, but very painfully in the short run. This text is part of the story of Jesus' moving intentionally toward suffering and death. Jesus is entering Jerusalem to die. He said so, "We are going up to Jerusalem . . . and the Son of Man will be delivered up . . . and they will kill him" (Luke 18:31-33). This is the meaning of self-denial. This is the way we follow Jesus. We see a need - for Jesus is was seeing the sin of the world, and broken bodies, and the misery of hell - and we move with Jesus, whatever it costs, toward need. We deny ourselves the comforts and the securities and the ease of avoiding other peoples' pain. We embrace it. Jesus' tears were not just the tender moving of his emotions. They were the tears of a man on his way toward need.

Jesus' Mercy Intends to Help

That leads us to the third and last way Jesus is merciful. First, he is tenderly moved, second he is self-denying and moves toward need. Now third, he intends to help. Mercy if helpful. It doesn't just feel - though it does feel - and it doesn't just deny itself - though it does deny itself - it actually does things that help people. Jesus was dying in our place that we might be forgiven and have eternal life with him. That's how he helped.

What will it be for you? How are you doing in ministries of mercy? How are you and your roommate, or your housemates, doing together? How is your family doing? (That's what Noël and I asked at Annie's Parlor.) What is tenderly moving you these days? Is there movement toward pain or suffering or misery or loss or sadness, that means denying yourself - in the short run - and multiplying your joy in the long run? And what help are you actually giving to those in need?

Two prayers: Oh, that we would see and savor the beauty of Christ - the Palm Sunday Tears of sovereign joy. And oh, that as we admire and worship him, we would be changed by what we see and become a more tenderly-moved, self-denying, need-meeting people.

by Dr. Brant Pitre

On this coming Sunday, the Church will bring us to the Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, popularly known simply as 'Palm Sunday'. On this Sunday, the Church commemorates the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem six days before the Passover.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus according to Luke

Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem. As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples. He said, "Go into the village opposite you, and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. And if anyone should ask you, 'Why are you untying it?' you will answer, 'The Master has need of it.'"

So those who had been sent went off and found everything just as he had told them. And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying this colt?" They answered, "The Master has need of it."

So they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the colt, and helped Jesus to mount. As he rode along, the people were spreading their cloaks on the road; and now as he was approaching the slope of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy for all the mighty deeds they had seen. They proclaimed: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He said in reply, "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!" (Luke 19:28-40; New American Bible)

Now, there are many aspects of this event that could command our attention. But the two that I think are most critical to a proper understanding of the event are:

(1) the Jewish roots of Jesus' act of riding the colt into the city, and
(2) the Jewish roots of the crowd's response to his action.

Why Does Jesus Ride a Colt into Jerusalem?

As is fairly well known, by choosing to publicly mount and ride a "colt" into Jerusalem in the midst of the procession of so many Passover pilgrims into the city, Jesus is performing what scholars refer to as a prophetic sign - a symbolic act which is meant to both symbolize and set in motion some major event in the history of salvation. In this case, Jesus' act of riding the colt into Jerusalem harks back to Zechariah's prophecy of the advent of the Messiah - the long-awaited king of Israel - to the city of Jerusalem (see Zechariah 9:9). However, there is more here than simply an implicitly messianic public act. For when we go back to the prophecy of Zechariah and read it in its full context, we discover several other important features of this particular messianic king:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit. (Zechariah 9:10-11)

Three aspects of Zechariah's prophecy are worth highlighting here:

(1) he is a king of peace, not war;
(2) he is king of the whole world; and
(3) he will set his people free from "the Pit" - the realm of the dead - through the blood of the covenant.

Let's take a minute to look at each of these in turn and see how they are fulfilled in the Passion of Jesus.

1. The King Who Rides the Colt will be a King of Peace

First, notice that according to Zechariah, the messianic king who will come riding on a colt into Jerusalem is not just any kind of king: he is a king of peace. He will not be coming to wage earthly warfare, but to make the chariot and the war horse cease from Jerusalem.

The Palm Sunday readings will make the same point in Luke's account of Jesus' Passion: in Gethsemane, when Jesus' disciples realize that he is about to be arrested, they begin to fight back with the sword, and one of them (Simon Peter, as we know from John's Gospel), cuts off the "right ear" of the high priest's servant. In response to this, Jesus declares:

"Stop, no more of this!" Then he touched the servant's ear and healed him. (Luke 22:51 NAB)

Although he is Messiah, neither Jesus (nor his followers) will rule through the power of the sword, but through the power of imitating him - -the "one who serves" - and by taking up their crosses to follow him (see Luke 22:24-27).

2. The King Who Rides the Colt will be King of the World

Second, notice also that according to Zechariah's prophecy, the king that will come riding a colt will also be a universal king; his dominion shall not be just over the people of Israel, but to the ends of the earth (Zech 9:10).

Once again, we see this element of Jesus' Triumphal Entry fulfilled in his Passion and death. Although the inscription his executioners put above his head read, "This is the King of the Jews" (Luke 23:38), at the moment of his death, it is a Gentile centurion who recognizes the innocence of Jesus:

It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"; and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, "This man was innocent beyond doubt." When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts… (Luke 22:44-48)

As I was preparing this reflection, I could not help but note one striking application to the present celebration of the liturgy. Not only does Jesus' rule over the Gentile nations begin when the Gentile centurion recognizes his innocence, but it is also at this very moment - the moment of his death - that the Lectionary contains a rule for the faithful throughout the world to kneel. It says:

[Jesus] breathed his last
[Here all kneel and pause for a short time.]
The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God…

By inserting our act of kneeling into the moment between Jesus death and the recognition of the Gentile centurion, in a certain way, the Liturgy itself realizes the prophecy of Zechariah 9. At this moment, on Palm Sunday, throughout the world, Gentiles everywhere will kneel to the King of the Jews. Indeed, one cannot help but see in the liturgical act of the faithful kneeling in silence at the death of Jesus a fulfillment of the Second Reading for Palm Sunday:

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend…
(Philippians 2:5-10)

3. The King Who Rides the Colt, the Blood of the Covenant, and the Release from "the Pit"

Third and finally, according to Zechariah's prophecy, the king who rides the colt into Jerusalem will not deliver his people through the shedding of blood in battle, but through the mysterious "blood of the covenant," which will somehow set captives free from the realm of the dead known as "the Pit" in the Old Testament (Zech 9:10-11).

Once again, this Old Testament background of Jesus' Triumphal Entry on Palm Sunday' ultimately points forward to what he will accomplish in his Passion. For in the Upper Room, at the Last Supper, we find a striking parallel with Zechariah's prophecy:

When the hour came, Jesus took his place at table with the apostles…Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which will be shed for you."
(Luke 22:19-22)

In other words, by means of his Triumphal Entry, Jesus is signaling much more than just the fact that he is the Messiah. He is also signaling what kind of Messiah he will be, and by what means he will set his people free from captivity - not by the blood of warfare, but by the blood of the covenant, which he will pour out under the appearance of wine in the Upper Room and on the wood of the Cross on Good Friday. It is by means of this blood, poured out upon the Cross on Calvary, that he promises the penitent thief that he will not go down to the shadows of the Pit, but into the glory of Paradise:

Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us." The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 22:39-43)

Note it well: the difference between the 'good thief' and the 'bad thief' is really about how they understand the nature of Jesus' kingship. The first thinks Jesus Messiahship means that he will save his subjects from suffering and physical death. The good thief recognizes that Jesus' kingdom is not of this world, and Jesus reveals to him, in the very midst of his agony, that the restoration he has come to give is not to the earthly land of Israel but to the promised land of "Paradise."

The Palm Branches and the King Who Goes Up to the Altar to Offer Sacrifice

Finally, bringing our reflection to a close, I would like to make one last point about the crowd's response to Jesus' triumphal entry, with their proclamation of the words "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Luke 19:38). As is also well known, the crowd is taking this chant from Psalm 118, a popular song that was sung during the feasts of Passover and Tabernacles. However, once again, when we go back and look at the Psalm in context, we discover yet again several striking features of the king whose arrival is being celebrated:

Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD… The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner… Save us, we beseech thee, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech thee, give us success! Blessed be he who enters in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD. The LORD is God, and he has given us light! Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar! Thou art my God, and I will give thanks to thee..
(Psalm 118:19, 22, 25-28).

Although much could be said about this passage, for our purposes here, one point above all should stand out: When the crowds greet Jesus with palm braches and chants, they are reenacting the words of Psalm 118. Yet in the Psalm itself, notice that the king is not simply coming into the city ('open to me the gates') - he is going up to the Temple to offer sacrifice. And not just any kind of sacrifice, but the "thanksgiving" sacrifice, known in Hebrew as the todah offering (see Leviticus 7).

Once this Old Testament background to the crowd's response is in place, the deeper meaning of Jesus' Triumphal Entry is revealed. The crowds with their branches and their Psalms have it right: Jesus is the king of Israel; he has come to his city; and he is going up to the altar to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving. But the sacrifice he is going to offer is not that of bulls or goats, but of himself. And the todah that he will give will begin with the Eucharist celebrated in the Upper Room and be consummated on the altar of the Cross.

The Significance of the Triumphal Entry, the Eucharist, and Holy Week

When we proclaim - "Blessed is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest!" - we are not only remembering the first Palm Sunday, but we are also celebrating the liturgical coming of the King into our midst, as he 'ascends' to the altar of the Eucharist. As he said at the Last Supper, there Jesus 'pours out' the blood of the new covenant in the one eternal offering by which we too are given peace and prepared to enter into the kingdom of Paradise. In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of "his father David". Acclaimed as son of David, as the one who brings salvation (Hosanna means "Save!" or "Give salvation!"), the "King of glory" enters his City "riding on an ass". Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth… Their acclamation, "Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord", is taken up by the Church in the "Sanctus" of the Eucharistic liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover.

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week.

by Bill Randles

Scripture: Isaiah 53:4-6

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(Isaiah 53:4-6)

We have been looking at the 4th Servant Song from the book of the prophet Isaiah. It seems that the Song is divided into three parts:

1) Introduction (Is 52:13-15)
2) The Penitential confession of the Nation of Israel (Is 53:1-9), and finally
3) The Benefits that the Servant gained (Is 53:10-12).

We are in the middle section, which is written in the form of a sorrowful confession by the nation, which has been made to acknowledge their complete failure to understand the nature of the Servant and his divinely appointed task.

At the end of time, in the day of the LORD's intervention into human affairs, Israel will come to realize that Jesus, "the man the nation abhorred…despised and rejected", is none less than the long-awaited Messiah, sent by God to save them.

One of the things they will suddenly see, when finally the veil is lifted from their eyes, is that the sufferings of Jesus, were vicarious sufferings, and that Jesus was carrying out a priestly role in his life and Passion at the hands of gentiles and Jews.

Thus the fourth verse could literally be rendered,

"Verily they were our griefs ( or sicknesses) which He bore, and our sorrows ( or pains) with which He burdened himself…"

The word nasa, to bear is a technical Levitical term used of the sacrifices, for example of the "scapegoat" offering, from Leviticus 16

And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
(Leviticus 16:21-22)

The idea is that the sacrifice takes upon itself the sins, or takes responsibility or bears the penalty of, the sins of the worshippers. The fourth Servant Song is teaching that the true anti-type to the scapegoat offering is the Messiah himself. On the day that God opens Israel's eyes, they shall see it and confess to it with sorrow and love.

Matthew 8 says that the physical healings of Jesus were a fulfillment of Isaiah 53,

When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
(Matthew 8:16-17)

It is true that sickness and disease are part of the curse, there would be none had man not sinned. The Messiah truly did come into the world and suffer to effect a complete salvation for those who worship him. This blood bought salvation shall ultimately be fully realized, for all of the affects of sin, pain, guilt, God estrangement, sickness, guilt, etc, will be done away. Surely He bore our griefs…

The Apostle Peter uses Isaiah 53 to proclaim this as well, when he reminded us that it was Jesus,

… Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (I Peter 2:24)

The self incriminating confession of Israel's blindness continues:

(lit) "…But we regarded Him as stricken (Plagued), smitten of God and afflicted (bowed down under suffering)…"

The expressions, "Plagued", "Smitten of God", and "bowed down under suffering" all refer to the fate of one under the judgment of God for sins such as blasphemy.

We have already referred to the Talmudic epitaphs for Jesus; the Rabbis and Sages call him Jeshu ( May His name Be blotted out), the "Hanged one", (cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree), a convicted magician, "the transgressor" who deserved such suffering and crushing.

But they will freely confess on that day that in their blindness they have only been terribly half right. This Servant of he LORD was indeed plagued, smitten and crushed by the LORD, but not only for his own sins, but for all of ours!

It was for our transgressions that He was wounded (literally pierced through) …

Transgression is high-handed sin against God. God draws a line and forbids us to step over it, and we step right over it in defiance…because we won't even have God rule us. But the Servant of the LORD was pierced through to death for our transgressions.

…He was bruised ( literally crushed) for our iniquities….

Our Iniquities, refer to our lawlessness. The Servant of the Lord was "crushed" under the wrath of God, for the lawlessness which estranged us from the Judge of all of the earth. This language of Him bearing our iniquities and our transgressions, cries out that the Servant is a vicarious substitute.

The sacrificial system ordained by God presupposes wrath and satisfaction by substitute. Torrents of blood flowed out of Jerusalem on feast days and even in the course of the daily temple services. There is nothing new to the Bible about substitution offerings, they have been around since the garden of Eden, when God killed an animal to clothe Adam and Eve.

There are those now, even within the confessing church, who question the justice of vicarious suffering, one Anglican Bishop going so far as to blasphemously suggest that Jesus suffering and dying in our place is some kind of "cosmic child abuse".

The Cross: Cosmic Child Abuse Or Fitting?

But the reconciliation of man to God has as much to do with Righteousness as it does mercy. The Righteous God can only reconcile us in a Righteous way. The demands of the Law of God must be met; holiness and justice cry out for satisfaction.

At the end, when God opens her eyes, Israel will finally see and confess, that the one whom they had long rejected, was the Servant God appointed to make expiation* for them.

* To make right a wrong, to atone, to propitiate.