Palm Sunday 2024
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen/Basilica of the Assumption
March 24, 2024
Great Expectations
For some, Palm Sunday is like a condensed version of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, Great Expectations. It describes the rise and fall of a character named “Pip” who, with a little luck and great expectations rises from rags to riches. By and by, his luck gives out and his expectations don’t pan out . . . but the moral of the story is that Pip finds happiness through it all.
But Jesus is not a character from a novel, No, Jesus was a real person, God’s Son, incarnate of the Virgin Mary. He was never rich nor did he desire to be. He was not powerful, nor did he seek earthly power. Nor was he lucky. He came to do the Father’s will, freely and deliberately. Nor was his life a morality play. He came to conquer sin and death.
Triumphal Entry
Who knows what was in the minds and hearts of the crowds, the crowds who greeted Jesus with shouts of “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”? Perhaps they thought the miracle worker from Nazareth had come to Jerusalem to provoke an uprising and thus overthrow the Roman occupiers of Israel. Perhaps they thought he would be the one under whose rule peace and prosperity would replace years of war and uncertainty. Maybe even some of Jesus’ own disciples thought the same.
But Jesus entered Jerusalem, not clad in armor but a tunic, not astride a stallion but a beast of burden. He was not an architect of worldly happiness, nor a politician with a plan, nor a utopian dreamer. He entered, meek and humble of heart, as the Incarnate Son of God who emptied himself of glory, becoming like us in all things but sin. He came not to conquer but to redeem, not to dominate but to free. He entered Jerusalem freely, aware that his “hour” had come, the hour appointed by his heavenly Father when he would suffer, die, and rise for us and for our salvation.
Entering the Realm of Sin and Death
Throughout history, many have willingly gone to their death for a good cause. What sets Jesus apart from every other hero in human history is that Jesus faces certain death, not merely for a good cause but to enter into the realm of sin and death itself, there to confront the powers of darkness. His triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the way of the Cross are but two legs of one journey, a journey from which he will emerge triumphant on Easter morning. Only he, the Son of God who assumed our humanity could win this victory.
This is more than a good cause. It is the turning point of human history. It is the hinge upon which our destiny turns, the hinge that opens to us the possibility of living as children of light, free of sin, and confident in our own resurrection from the dead.
More than Palms
As we commemorate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, let us follow him all the way to Calvary, not waving palm branches but spreading out before him our very selves: our lives, our possessions, our sins, our fears, our freedom. As we accompany Christ to Calvary let us pause with him in the Upper Room there to allow him to wash us clean and share with us the sacred Banquet, the Eucharist, that encapsulates for all time his saving Death and Resurrection. Let us stand beneath the Cross with Mary and the Beloved Disciple, or better, let us be crucified with Christ, and like the good thief ask Jesus to forgive us and admit into paradise. Let his dying cry rend our hearts, making them at last humble and contrite. Then, with utter trust, let us allow ourselves to be buried with Christ, for only when the grain of wheat dies and is buried does it produce fruit.
Consider this an invitation to participate wholeheartedly in Holy Week, sharing in the Church’s liturgy that not only dramatizes what Jesus did to save us, but enables us to enter into those events and to share in them. As we do so, let us say with everything that is within us, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”