Palm Sunday of Lent (Year A)
Many unexpected feelings, thoughts, and expectations happened from Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem leading up to the crucifixion. Prophecies of victory seemed to be fulfilled and then shock his disciples as He endured the horror of his crucifixion. Yet what was happening revealed Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the divine King Who came to restore the glory of Jerusalem by offering Himself as the Passover Lamb who willingly sacrificed his life for our salvation.
Enslaved since 722 BC the Assyrians, Babylonians, Medo-Persians, Greeks, and now the Romans all dominated and manipulated Israel with crushing power, belittling their identity. The Romans, the worst enemy, crucified their culture, creating darkness and despair. No longer are the Israelites seen as God’s Chosen People, the First-Born Son a title of influence and privilege to gather all the nations and lead them into relationship with God. Instead as Daniel laments, “You have handed us over to our enemies, lawless and hateful rebels, and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world” (Dan 3:32). Brought low, they have no prince, prophet, or king. Decimated, the Israelites have been crying out to their God for centuries hoping and praying for a Savior.
Triumphantly Jesus Christ enters Jerusalem with shouts and praise, “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” (Matt 21:9). Hosanna, the mighty, powerful cry of the heart, prays to God for a Savior, Rescuer, a Redeemer to free Israel from the curse of committing idolatry with the false gods of their enemies. Jesus, the Lord who saves, is Christ the King Who ascends to take the throne, fulfilling the promise given to David his father.
The crowd thrilled, exuberant with joy because they see the promised made to David being fulfilled. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David” (Lk 1:32; 2 Sam 7:12-16). The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has returned (Rev. 5:5). The people rejoice. Their mourning becomes dancing, their sackcloth becomes garments of gladness, their maidens decked with beauty, their young men and old full of merry. As Jeremiah foretells,
“The LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD (Jer 31:11–12).
Palm Sunday begins the restoration of Israel, and the people experience God’s abiding presence, restoring their election to be a light to the nations. Singing and praising, even the stones would cry out if the people did not (Luke 19:40). God has come and visited his people. This is the time of their visitation. The long-awaited Messiah, the Anointed One, comes and fulfills all the prophecies. Jesus comes and abides with his people. Isaiah captures their exuberance: a Year of Jubilee.
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor (Is 61:1–2).
God keeps his promises. He keeps his covenant and will not be moved. His covenant an expression of his everlasting kindness by which his mercy endures forever.
Having heard the pleas of his people who longed for a Savior, a Redeemer, a man sent by God to free his people from their enemies as did Moses, as did David, Jesus comes. God answers. He answers beyond their wildest expectations. Jesus is not just a king, nor a messiah nor a prophet. He is God, the Divine Priest, Prophet, and King. As the Promised One, Jesus mounts his throne, the foal of an ass, as did Solomon when Nathan and Zadok anointed him king (I Kings 1:32-36). Amidst cries of gladness, Jesus the Lord comes to cloth his people with the garment of salvation. In return, the people praise Him recognizing He is the Holy One of God. So, they sing and shout, the triumphant entrance psalm sung on the night of the Passover.
This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD (Ps 118:24–26).
Crying out, filled with expectation, the Messiah, Jesus, comes into Jerusalem. As Messiah, Jesus comes to restore the temple empty of God’s Glory, the Shekinah, because the sins of the nation cry out for redemption. Jesus comes to fill the Temple again and anoints the people with the Spirit of God. The Messiah has come to destroy the mortal enemies of Israel and set them free from the domination and manipulation of their oppressors. The Messiah came to restore Israel as the true pole of the earth (Ps 48:3) and as the true light to the nations, so that “my salvation may reach the ends of the earth” (Is 49:6).
Jesus, the Messiah, the Redeemer comes but expectations are shattered. Crowned as King, Jesus must fulfill the prophecies first. The long-expected Messiah is King second; He is the Prophet first. As the Prophet promised by Moses, He must die and die in Jerusalem as do all the prophets. These prophecies, as Jesus foretold, meant he would be handed over to the Scribes and Pharisees. He would suffer, die, then on the third day rise from the dead. These prophecies as Isaiah foretold in his Suffering Servant Songs are lost in amidst the shouts of gladness (Is 53).
The price of life is death. Not just the death of a person, but the death of our God. Jesus the God-Man humbles Himself taking upon Himself the form of human likeness, even the form of a slave, so He may die, even die on the cross (Phil 2:6-7). The crucifixion reveals the reality of sin and the price God willingly pays for our redemption.
Jesus emptied himself completely of any semblance not only of his divinity, but even of his humanity. Obedient unto death, Jesus suffers the curse not just any curse but the curse that states, “Anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse” (Dt 21:23).
Though Jesus dies the shameful death upon the cross, He breaks the curse and restores our faith, as St. Paul teaches. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Gal 3:13–14). Freed from the curse, Jesus ascends to heaven through the cross. Seated at the right hand of God, Jesus reveals his kingship and his kingdom. He is the Divine Messiah who curses that curse and sets us free. Freed, we too must sing, as we do at every Passover:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.