Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – Commemoration of the Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem

Matthew 21:1-11

When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, “ The master has need of them. Then he will send them at once.” This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: “Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.

They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna* to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.”

And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Discussion Questions:

1. In these final days of Lent, what could you let go of, as a gesture of solidarity with Jesus in “dying to self”?
2. When you reflect on your life recently, where and how have you grown through suffering?
3. Where have you noticed and helped others to carry their suffering this Lent?

4. How has this Lent been spiritually meaningful for you? Have you had any new self-awareness, or any cross to bear that may have opened you to God in new ways?

Biblical Context

Sr. Mary M. McGlone CSJ

Today we listen to Matthew’s passion account from the entry into Jerusalem through Jesus’ death on the cross. We begin with the first of the two solemn liturgical processions of our week and the Gospel account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

There is a strange correlation between the entrance into Jerusalem and the preparations for the sharing of the Passover supper. In both cases, Jesus seems to know who in the area is ready to provide him with what he needs. The uncanny availability of just what was needed, a unique pair of circumstances in the Gospel accounts, underlines the sense of divine providence in all that is about to take place. As always, it is divine providence with human collaboration.

According to Matthew, the procession with Jesus was reminiscent of Solomon’s entry into Jerusalem to receive the crown of his father, David. Matthew refers specifically to two other passages: Zechariah 9:9 and Isaiah 62:11, both of which announce the triumphal arrival of the savior. More importantly, the people around join in the celebration, doing Jesus honor by spreading their cloaks and waving palms while they sang psalms and called out “Hosanna” or “Son of David! Save us!”

In the Liturgy of the Word, we hear the narrative at the heart of Christian faith, the shocking story of Jesus’ purposeful and fully conscious entry into the drama that would end with his crucifixion and resurrection. It begins with the account of Judas’ preparation for betrayal contrasted with Jesus’ preparation for the supper at which he would ritualize the total self-gift he was about to act out with his passion and death.

Western art has fixed interpretations of the Last Supper more definitively in the Christian imagination than thousands of theological tomes or even the Gospels themselves. A prime example of our stereotypically fixed, non-scripturally based understanding has to do with the participants at the supper. Matthew specifies that the “disciples” asked Jesus about the meal and prepared it. It is only when Jesus reclines that the “twelve” are mentioned, indicating that while they were at that table with him there remains the probability that other disciples were there as well — perhaps at the same table, perhaps at others. Obviously, considering that possibility, it would be clear that women could have been among them, most especially those women whom Matthew named as the only disciples present at the crucifixion, those who witnessed the burial and discovered the empty tomb on the third day.

It is worth being alert to how our images of Jesus’ last days have been conditioned by non-scriptural art, hymns and prayers because those depictions have a strong, often culturally biased and potentially destructive, influence on our spirituality. Today’s liturgy offers an effective antidote to that influence if only we take all of our readings seriously and remember that God’s servant suffers not to pay for sin, but because God’s love never fails in spite of human rejection. Jesus came to transform our image of God, revealing the merciful, unrelenting lover of humanity. Now is the time to allow that to happen.

Faith in the Present Tense

Reflection
Fr. Kevin O’Brien SJ

Our remembering this week is not mere nostalgia, recollecting the past as if scrolling through a catalog of distant memories. Instead, as we commemorate the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, the Passion and Resurrection, we recall past events in such a way that they are made present again.

The opening proclamation of today’s liturgy reminds us that we walk in Jesus’ footsteps today. By God’s grace, we continue to share in Christ’s suffering and in his resurrected life. In other words, this week is present tense, as much as it is about the past and future.

Too many are crucified today: those suffering mental or physical illness or battling addiction, those victimized by war and violence or forced to migrate from their homes, those crushed by poverty and diminished by sexism, racism, and homophobia. The earth, too, is crucified by environmental degradation of many kinds. Christ’s suffering is theirs. Christ’s plea from the cross is echoed by today’s crucified peoples.

So, too, is the proclamation of Easter morning. We witness resurrection today in the hope-fueled perseverance of crucified peoples, in their selflessness in the midst of suffering, in the resilience of their faith, and in their wisdom, which sometimes only suffering can teach.

We vow not to relegate the Paschal mystery to the past where it demands nothing of us. Instead, we hear and respond to cries in the present tense. We accompany those who suffer by taking them down from their crosses or by helping to carry them. Resting neither in the accolades of Palm Sunday or in the shadows of Good Friday, we walk with our neighbors in loving solidarity. In doing so, Easter breaks in today.

Fr. Kevin O’Brien

Kevin O’Brien, a Jesuit priest and educator, is author of Seeing with the Heart: A Guide to Navigating Life’s Adventures. As vice-provost at Fairfield University, he directs a Jesuit community college program in Bridgeport, Connecticut.