St. Paul reminds us that we
especially need to do that by giving our attention to what is true, noble,
just, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praise worthy. Palm Sunday is a time that we all need this
reminder. For we are turning from the
penitential focus of Lent to following our Lord into the mystery of our
salvation as we journey with Him to His cross, to His death, His descent into
Hades, and ultimately to His glorious resurrection. We need to be honest, however, for nothing
about this week comes naturally or easily to us. We may like to follow athletic teams,
politicians, entertainers, authors, and others who achieve success and fame by
the conventional standards of our culture.
Perhaps we have a vision of the kind of comfortable life that we want
for ourselves and our families and plan accordingly over years or decades in
order to achieve that. This is a world we
know quite well.
Very different, however, is the way
of Jesus Christ into which we enter during the coming week. Though He is God, He suffers freely for our
sake. He loves those who reject Him to
the point of dying on their behalf. He
achieves victory by giving up everything that looks like power and prestige in
this world. In ways that no human mind
can fathom, the eternal Son of God empties Himself to the point of hanging on a
cross, being buried in a tomb, and descending to Hades. The Word Who spoke the universe into
existence submits to rejection, torture, and public execution at the hands of
those He came to save. No, this is not life
in the world as we know it.
Jesus Christ revealed that He is the
resurrection and the life by raising His friend Lazarus from the dead after
four days, by which time the soul was believed to have left the body and decay had
set in. In the midst of her grief about her
brother’s death, Martha made the clearest confession of faith in John’s gospel
by saying, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, Who is
to come into the world.” Our Savior wept
for His friend Lazarus, and ultimately He wept for us all, decayed and corrupted
by sin and death and so far from fulfilling our ancient calling to participate
in the glory of the divine life.
It is the God-Man, the Second Adam, Who
now enters Jerusalem as the long-awaited Messiah to the welcoming cheers of the
crowd. But even before He gets to
Jerusalem, the forces of darkness had decided to kill Christ because they could
tell that someone who could raise the dead was a threat to their power. He was
neither a conquering general nor a Pharisee-like interpreter of the Law, and those
nationalistic religious leaders had no use for a Messiah who did not serve their
schemes of domination.
On Palm Sunday, it becomes clear
that the Savior Who enters Jerusalem today is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sins of the world. He is the
Passover Lamb whose death and resurrection will conquer death itself. Mary,
Lazarus’ other sister, performed a prophetic act when she anointed Christ with
the same kind of costly ointment that was used to anoint the bodies of the
dead. This Messiah, this One who is
truly anointed to save His people and the whole world, will be rejected by the
leaders of the Jews and crucified under the authority of the Romans. And when He is lifted up upon the Cross, He
will draw all who believe in Him-- Jew, Gentile, male, female, rich, poor, all
nations, classes, and races—to the life of a Kingdom that transcends this world
and our petty divisions.
Jesus Christ will not reign as a
soldier, a politician, a rich man, or a popular religious leader, but as a
Suffering Servant, a slaughtered lamb, a despised victim of torture and capital
punishment. The crowds are right on
Palm Sunday to welcome Him as a conquering King in Whom God’s promises will be
fulfilled. But they misunderstand what
kind of King He is and how He will conquer.
For He rules from a cross and an empty tomb; instead of killing Roman
soldiers, He kills death by allowing Himself to be killed; in the place of a
magnificent stallion fit for a king, He rides a humble donkey that would
impress no one.
The crowd is right, “Blessed is He
Who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.” They shout “Hosanna,” which is a plea for
God’s salvation to come upon the earth.
And it does through the Lord’s death and glorious resurrection. But that is not what the crowds expected; it is
apparently not what the disciples or anyone else anticipated. For it goes against all our preconceived
notions of what it means to be successful, to be powerful, to rule upon the
earth, and to be respectable and religious.
And it is still a very hard lesson
for us to accept, for there is too much of the world in all of us and the demons
never work harder than when we are trying to grow closer to Christ. That is why
we need to follow St. Paul’s advice to focus on what is truly holy this week,
to rejoice always, and to “let your gentleness be known to all men.” As St. Paul wrote, “The Lord is at hand”
which is never more true than on this feast as He enters Jerusalem to the
cheers of the crowds.
In Holy Week, we are confronted with
a shocking truth that we probably do not want to hear. Jesus Christ is the Passover Lamb, the Lamb of
God Who takes away the sins of the world.
He is our Champion, our Savior, our King, yet in His humility and love, the
incarnate Son of God suffers on the cross as the lowest of the low in order to
bring us to the heights of heaven and the joy of life eternal through His empty
tomb.
And this week we
go with Him to that cross, becoming participants in His passion. Like Lazarus, we sit at table with Him. Like Mary, we anoint Him for burial. Like those gathered in Jerusalem, we welcome
Him with palms and praises. Like the
disciples, we eat the Passover with Him; like His mother Mary the Theotokos,
the other faithful women, and the Apostle John, we kneel before His cross. Like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, we
bury Him. And like the stunned
myrrh-bearers and the doubting apostles, we will marvel at the unspeakable joy
of His resurrection. For what looks like
complete failure and despair is actually total triumph and victory, as we will
see in the early hours of next Sunday.
Holy Week is the
climax of Jesus Christ’s life and of ours, too.
Do not forget that He goes to the cross for us; He dies and rises for
our salvation, to bring us into the unending joy of eternal life, to defeat our
ancient foe. So it is time to tune out our
usual distractions and excuses, and enter into the passion of our Lord by
worshiping Him in the services of the Church, as well as in every thought,
word, and deed this week. If we cannot
attend literally every service due to work, school, distance, or health, we can
all pray at home, read the Bible passages for Holy Week, and give less attention
to the world and more to the One Who comes to save it.
This week it becomes
clear who Jesus Christ is: The Lamb of
God Who takes away the sins of the world.
How will we respond to Him as He goes to the cross for us? Hopefully,
with the fear of God and faith and love, we will draw near and not abandon or
disregard Him. Hopefully, we will make following
our Lord our top priority this week. In the
events of Holy Week, He certainly made us His.
Of course, it will
take intentional focus and the discipline to turn away from distractions and unholy
thoughts and habits that become obstacles along our path. The more steps we take to grow closer to the Lord,
probably the stronger our temptations will be not to do so. No, there is nothing easy or naturally pleasing
about Holy Week. Nonetheless, we must follow St. Paul’s guidance to “Be anxious
for nothing” and allow “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding…[to]
guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
“Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel. Hosanna in the highest!”
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