This morning’s Gospel reading is Mark 11:1–10:
When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’” So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!”
or John 12:12–16:
When the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.”
Jesus found an ass and sat upon it, as is written: Fear no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt. His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this for him.
Happy Palm Sunday to all our readers! I hope you will all have a glorious day rejoicing in the arrival of our Lord. I have been under the weather the last couple of days and had not been able to take much time to reflect on today’s Gospel readings, but I did want to offer some new thoughts rather than just rely on a previous reflection. (I have links to some previous Palm Sunday reflections below, for those who want to peruse them.)
Today I chose to reflect on the processional Gospel readings rather than the very long Passion reading for Mass. That clearly has a wealth of wisdom to mine, but the processional reading spoke to me this morning as its own message. It offers us a glimpse of glory, even if it does point eventually to our betrayal of the Lord and the choice of worldly appetites over holiness.
We re-enact the first part of this in many churches today. The congregation will gather outside with palms and the priest will read one of these two Gospel readings. The congregation will then march into church behind the priest, who acts in persona Christi capiti, “in the person of Christ the head of the church,” to much joy and hope. We will then proceed to hear — as Paul Harvey used to say — the rest of the story. The rest of the story is the betrayal of the same people who days earlier had hailed Jesus as their king and savior, only to become embittered within mere days when His salvation was not what they wanted.
But let’s focus on the promise of the processional Gospel, and of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Even those who are not necessarily believers can relate to this passage, as it speaks to our lack of completeness and full understanding. The people of Jerusalem knew they lacked something, that the world had somehow gone off the rails, but did not know exactly how. They had obeyed the Law, at least to the extent that their teachers had instructed them on it, and yet lived in miserable occupation to a pagan army. They knew enough to know how much they couldn’t comprehend, and yet persisted in their own appetites and ambitions rather than open themselves to new comprehension of what the Lord truly wanted.
When Jesus descended from the Mount of Olives that day, the people saw salvation — but could not grasp it. They shouted hosannas that the Lord had heard their cries after centuries of off-again, on-again bondage to foreign armies, and must have been filled to overflowing with hope that this new Moses would lead them again to a new kind of Promised Land. In the end, they would not foilow Jesus, instead betraying Him when His salvation didn’t match their thirst for worldly power and revenge.
But that brief glimpse of glory remained, and the hope that came with it.
This is the same hope we feel when we allow Jesus into our hearts. We shout and sing hosannas to the King and promise Him our fealty– and we really mean it, too. Until we don’t, that is. When the world gets the better of us and our appetites overcome our love of the Lord, suddenly we too turn our backs on Jesus and look for a savior more suited to our own ambitions and desires. We see our salvation — and fail to grasp it.
However, the good news is that Jesus is outside the city now, descending from the Mount of Olives, and ready to enter into our hearts. He’s there every day, every hour, to be worshiped and adored as our King and Savior. No matter how we may betray Him, Jesus is ready to forgive and re-enter the temple of our hearts to take His rightful place and lead us to the true Promised Land.
So march in the procession today, and feel the hope swell in your heart as He enters. Pray that this time we may recognize His salvation and reject sin, putting aside our own ambitions to follow Him fully and lovingly. Jesus rides to save each and every one of us, and all we need to do is to trust Him.
Previous Palm Sunday reflections:
The front page image is “Christ’s Entry Into Jerusalem” by Pietro Lorenzetti, c. 14th century. Fresco in the lower basilica, southern transept of the Basilica of San Francesco d’Assisi, Assisi, Italy. Via Wikimedia Commons.
“Sunday Reflection” is a regular feature, looking at the specific readings used in today’s Mass in Catholic parishes around the world. The reflection represents only my own point of view, intended to help prepare myself for the Lord’s day and perhaps spark a meaningful discussion. Previous Sunday Reflections from the main page can be found here.
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