Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, March 24, 2024. Theme: The Triple-Message of Palm Sunday
This Sunday is unique among our liturgies for two reasons, one of which is that the Gospel is proclaimed twice instead of just once. And in addition to having a double Gospel, today’s commemoration has a double-name as well as: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. This intentionally reminds us that the palms we carry in procession today lead us to Good Friday. They can also teach us three things about ourselves as we enter upon this Most Holy of Weeks.
First, Palm Sunday shows us that we can be fickle, so often living as “fair-weather friends” of God. It’s so very easy for us to judge and condemn the cheering crowds of Palm Sunday who then turned on Jesus just a few days later, calling for his crucifixion. They wanted a Messiah who would defeat the Romans and bring autonomy to Israel. So when Jesus was arrested and taken captive by their oppressors, they saw they had been mistaken and their hopes trashed. So they turned on Him because He wasn’t the kind of Savior they wanted. And yet…before we point a finger at them…we have to stop and examine our own attitudes towards Jesus. Have I ever shaken a fist at God, like the people in that crowd, because he wasn’t acting like the kind of Savior I expected and wanted Him to be in my life? And so, we have to ask ourselves quite honestly if we also see in Him only what we want to see for our personal benefit?
Second, Palm Sunday highlights our role in the Passion. The Liturgy helps us to see that the participants in the Passion were not just the historical figures of the past but also includes us! This is why everyone has a part in the Gospel proclamation today. And like the crowd in Jerusalem on that first Good Friday, we have also called for the crucifixion of Christ, perhaps not with our lips but certainly by the choices we have made in our lives. The history of each one of us shows that there have been times when we have betrayed Jesus with Judas; that we have denied Him with Peter; and that we have abandoned Him along with the other disciples. Every one of us can relate to Pilate’s cowardice in caving into social pressure and choosing popularity over doing what was right. Palm Sunday reminds us that we are indeed participants in the Passion and our sins have contributed to the suffering and death of the Lord.
Third, palms are a sign of Jesus’ victory. Despite the fickleness of our hearts and the litany of our sins, Christ died for us. And not just for “us” as in the cumulative sense of the human race. But individually and personally, for each one of us, as if you or I were the only ones in the whole universe who were in need of salvation! And on top of all that, while struggling to breathe on the cross, He asked God the Father to forgive us because we truly do not realize what we are doing when we choose to sin. And so the palms we hold in our hands and carry in procession today are a sign of the victory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. His is a triumphant victory of love over hatred; of grace over sin; of forgiveness over condemnation; of eternal life over everlasting death.
So when we bring our palms home and put them behind our crucifixes - or wherever you display yours during the Easter Season- let them be a silent but powerful reminder about the triple-message they convey. Let them assure us that despite our fickleness and our failures; despite our part in contributing to His Passion, Jesus shows us in an unmistakable way that He loves us beyond measure. He calls each one of us to believe this and trust in Him with total confidence. To withhold this trust wounds His Heart which was pierced through for us by the soldier’s lance. Holding our blessed palms let’s go forward into the bittersweet days of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, never forgetting that it brought Him - and will bring us - to the victory, glory and eternal life of Resurrection!
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