Flevit Super Illam

Palm Sunday of the Passion of Our Lord

13 April 2014

HE WEPT OVER IT; the city of Jerusalem and its people, who had suffered so much and had cried out to God for deliverance and the fulfilment of God’s Holy Covenant with his people. He wept because their cries had melted the very heart of God –HIS heart – overflowing with such love and compassion that God would do the unimaginable; the impossible in the eyes of men; the only thing that would once and for all time unite God and man, restoring the perfection of creation.

It is often asked why, on Palm Sunday, we have to listen to both the Gospel account of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem and, in addition, to a full reading of one of the accounts of the Passion of our Lord. Are we not jumping the gun a bit by not allowing ourselves to bask in the glory of Christ with the great crowds of people who came out to greet him that day?

The answer can be found in Luke's account of Jesus' approach towards Jerusalem from the top of the Mount of Olives. There were already crowds acclaiming Him and throwing their cloaks down in the path of the donkey that carried Him. But Jesus paused as the city of Jerusalem came into sight in front of him. He paused to look at the city. And He wept.

We need to appreciate today's feast through the eyes of Christ, not through the eyes of the excitable crowds known for their desperate expectation of an imminent saviour; nor through the eyes of the disciples hoping that their master would at last gain the status they believed he deserved. 

What do we see, then, through the tears in Christ's eyes? Remember that these are the eyes of the all-knowing God and at the same time the eyes of an all-feeling man. 

The prophetic vision of the destruction of Jerusalem that follows and would be fulfilled in less than 40 years, is a pitiful allegory for the relationship between God and the Israelites, His chosen people. The eyes of God looking over His Holy City see with pain how His chosen people will continue to misinterpret His Holy Covenant. They will reject even His only begotten Son and will rise up in defense of an earthly city made of stone and mud while turning away from their true inheritance – the heavenly city of Jerusalem, the Kingdom of God Itself. 

The tears of Christ the man, inseparable from the Godhead, tell us of the huge physical and emotional burden borne, the real and painful sacrifice which every action in the life of Jesus leads to and facilitates. When Jesus returns to the Mount of Olives later in the week and prays in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see an echo of those tears shed today. Tears of a man betrayed, abandoned, mocked, tortured, crucified and killed mercilessly, of his own volition, but not for his own sake.

So let us begin Holy Week as we mean to go on. Let us not just observe but, rather, live Holy Week as a perfect witness to the sacrifice that brought about our salvation. May we see with His eyes, through His tears, and weep with Him not just for the Jerusalem of AD33 but for the people of God in our time who continue to reject the loving sacrifice of God for mankind.

As Jesus rides into Jerusalem today, He is not rejoicing with the crowds but fulfilling God’s plan as revealed through the prophets, to live among and die for each and every one of us – no matter how we in our own lives betray Him, abandon Him, mock Him, torture Him and crucify Him – so that we may be redeemed by His Blood, spared the just punishment for our many sins, and share in the glory of His resurrection.

The palms that  you are holding in your hands today, many of you will fold into crosses. That is the true meaning of Palm Sunday; that is why we need to stand through the reading of the Passion – Because today begins the unfolding of the most sacred mystery of our salvation: that God, to Whom all glory in heaven and on earth belongs, would humble himself to death, even death on a cross … so that you may be saved.

Walk, then, with Him, that you may bear witness, in your life, to the love of Christ.