Palm Sunday

 

33 years ago, on my second day studying in Israel, my former novice director took me to the West Bank village of Aboud for the First Mass of a newly ordained local priest. We all gathered at the village boundary around an arch of palm branches and balloons, and waited there for the new priest’s entry into his hometown. As the procession began and all the villagers started shouting and waving palms in the air, my former novice director said: now you see what Palm Sunday looked like!

 

The Gospel [Matthew 21:1-11] which we read before our own Palm Sunday Procession tells us about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday and his truly triumphal entry – minus the balloons but full of messianic symbolism – into the Holy City.  The rest of the story, which we have just heard [Matthew 26:14 – 27:66], reveals the next phase of that journey – to the cross and to the tomb, the eventually empty tomb of the Risen Christ.

 

All the Gospels agree that Jesus went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover, that ancient sacrificial feast that could only be celebrated in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is 2500 feet about sea level. So, Jesus literally went up to Jerusalem, which is always how that journey is described. Of course, in literally going up to Jerusalem, he was also symbolically going up to ascend his cross.

 

Normally I suppose Jesus probably travelled less obtrusively, but, on this occasion, he deliberately entered Jerusalem as a king coming into his capital, and he made sure his actions could be recognized as such in terms of Old Testament messianic prophecies. Certainly, the pilgrims, who accompanied Jesus and entered the city at the same time he did, sensed this. Hence, their acclamation: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.

Revealingly, the Church has since adopted their words of expectation and acclamation. At every Mass, we likewise say, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

 

That should remind us that Palm Sunday is not just some long ago historical occurrence. Just as Jesus entered Jerusalem, so he comes to us again in the eucharistic sacrifice, which recalls his cross and eventual resurrection -  and invites us to hope for ours as well. Then as now, the message of Palm Sunday, the message of Christ the King's royal entry into our world was not well received by the political powers of the time. Now as then, the message of Christ the King's royal entry into our world again poses a challenge to our world's commitments to power, domination, and control.

 

Jesus’ cross constitutes God’s great act of solidarity with us in our human world of day-to-day suffering and our final mortality.

 

On the cross, Jesus confronted the power of evil in the world. Having done so, he invites us this week to accompany him to his eventually empty tomb – because, thanks to the cross of Christ, death no longer has the final word in our world.

 

Homily for Palm Sunday, Saint Paul the Apostle Church, March 29, 2026.