Today, as we begin Holy Week, we commemorate Palm Sunday. We will journey with Jesus the week on his way to the cross, culminating with his death and resurrection.
Our liturgy today begins with a commemoration of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The palm branches that we carried at the beginning of Mass are symbols of triumph and victory, as palm branches were often used in the ancient world to celebrate the victory of a king or a hero. The palms also represent the peace of Jesus’ kingdom.
Then, in the reading of the passion that we just heard from Matthew’s Gospel, there is a special emphasis on Christ’s obedience to the will of his Father. In Jesus’ prayer in the garden, he prays three times to the Father to take away the cup of suffering, but each time, he affirms his obedience to the Father’s will.
It is remarkable for us to realize that at the time of Jesus’ death, he was not seen as a powerful world figure. It was anticipated that his death would have affected his group of friends and disciples and his immediate family in comparison to the death of any world figure in the present age. However, we know that the death of Jesus changed the world profoundly. His group of followers at the time of his death were not powerful and influential. They had doubts and and distractions, and they only gradually believed in him and in his proclamation of God’s kingdom. Yet, in the resurrection of Jesus that followed his death, and in events that followed Easter morning, his group of followers continued his ministry and missionary work, bringing to Christ’s Gospel message to the different corners of the world.
Just before Jesus dies on the cross and gives up his spirit, he cries out to God in the words of the 22nd psalm: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Jesus died on the cross for our sake, so there is a sense of real forsakenness in his cry. Jesus was expressing the desolation he felt right before he died. His cry was not asking for an answer. Jesus was fulfilling Scripture and fulfilling God’s plan of salvation, which is why he quoted Scripture right before he died. Crying out in agony with the words of this psalm showed that he knew that all was going according to his Father’s plan. Even though this psalm is a psalm of lament, like many of the psalms, the psalm ends in hope and in trust in God.
We follow in the footsteps of those first followers of Christ. Our challenge today on Palm Sunday is to open our hearts to Christ’s message and the working of God’s grace in our lives. God invites us into his love and mercy. God invites us today to enter into the paschal mystery, into the liturgies of Holy Week. God invites us to walk humbly with Jesus this week, uniting our journey with his journey, our humility and obedience to his way of the cross, striving toward holiness and simplicity of heart. May we grow in faithfulness and we journey with Jesus this week.
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