The Sunday of Joy and Pain

Our Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem with glory and triumph. Palm Sunday calls us to meditate on two aspects of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, triumphal entry into Jerusalem in which people from different walks of life gathered and Jesus' painful journey to the Calvary in the reading of the Passion. The sacred liturgy of the Palm Sunday has these two human dimension, glory and pain. Jesus Christ had to go through these two facets of human nature, pain and glory. Jesus was both divine and human; hence, he was glorified as a eternal King and had to be in agony on the Cross. In both these events, Christ is glorified. As he entered Jerusalem, people welcomed him with branches as the king of glory, and on the other hand, he glorified the Father and saved humanity on the Cross.

He entered into Jerusalem gloriously. What does that mean to us? When a victorious general or emperor of the ancient world entered the capital in triumph, it was in a stately chariot or he rode on the back of a splendid horse. Legions of soldiers accompanied him in the victory procession, wielding the swords that helped them win the victory. Triumphal arches, decorated with relief sculptures, were often erected to immortalize his heroic victory. Until now you can see in Rome such triumphal arches, that of Titus, of Constantine the Great and Septimius Severus.

After preaching in many parts of the country, after driving out demons, healing the sick, and raising the dead, the time had come for the King of kings to enter the Holy City. But to do so, he did not ride on a warhorse, but on a simple donkey. His companions accompanied him wielding not swords, but palm branches. The monument to his victory was erected a few days later, but it was not an arch, but a cross, the instrument of the most shameful and humiliating death in ancient times.

This event of the Jesus entering into Jerusalem is meditated in our own parishes by blessing of the Palms and the procession. This is to embody that each one we who are present at this event in our parish glorify Christ. We recall our own situation of joy and glory in our own lives. We reflect our own joy of being a Christian and we witness to that in our procession to other people of God. God, in Jesus Christ always glorifies us.

The other central part of the celebration is the reading of the Passion of Christ. This signifies that our Christ shed His blood for each of us. He was nailed on the Cross and died for us, as high priest Caiaphas declared, 'it is better for one person to die for people and that the whole nation parish.' At times, we too nail him to the Cross-in our day-to-day life, by our own sins and wrong doings. Today is the day, to reflect on our own lives and see how we have been glorified by God because God gives us all that is good, and on other hand we reflect our own way of nailing Jesus on the Cross in our day today lives. We ask God to forgive us our sins and bring us to an everlasting life.