PALM SUNDAY
Just before I speak
about Palm Sunday, I would like to thank Fr. George Gilliland for the wonderful
Parish Mission which has prepared us for the celebration of Holy Week.
Jesus approached Jerusalem for the last time. When the people saw Him they were so happy that they rushed out to greet Him. Spontaneously
they broke off palm branches from the
trees and waved them, and joyfully
cried out, "Hosanna, hosanna! Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!"
The
festive crowd triumphantly escorted Him into the city. Some visitors, watching the procession, said, "Who is this?"
They were told, "It is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
The Apostles paraded proudly alongside Jesus, basking in His glory. But a few nights later, when the temple
guards came to arrest Him, the Apostles all ran away. We are like that, like the Apostles, often
fair-weather friends. When Jesus is
giving us things we are wonderful companions, but when He needs our
help we are nowhere around. We rejoice in
our religion when it makes us feel good, but when it hurts, when it costs us something, we run away.
Following
the Palm Sunday procession, Jesus went to the great temple.
There He saw the merchants buying and selling
things, making money out of religion, and this angered Him. He cried out, "It is written, 'My
house is a house of prayer,' and you have made it a den of thieves"
(Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46; see
Jeremiah 7:11). He pushed over their
tables and upset their chairs and chased them away.
The temple must be a
place of prayer. Business owned the entire
city, but, never satisfied, these money-crazed merchants had now
invaded even the sacred precincts of the house
of God. Jesus would not have it.
The
Pharisees watched Jesus force the businessmen out of the temple,
and in their hearts they approved, wishing they had had enough courage to do
so. But what was most on their minds was getting rid of Christ. They were crazy
with jealousy because of His popularity, and especially after the great show of love of the people in the procession of palms. They had never even thought of
doing a thing like that for the
Pharisees. So instead of praising Jesus
they used this as an opportunity to turn against Him again. "By what authority do you do this? Who
gave you this right?" the
Pharisees asked angrily (see Matthew 21:23,
Mark 11:27, Luke 20:1).
But
as usual Jesus took their question, by which they sought
to trap Him, and turned it against them. They tried to
make Him look foolish, and they ended up looking foolish
themselves. This infuriated them all the more, and made them even more
determined to get rid of Him.
Before
Jesus, the Pharisees had been the religious leaders and teachers.
The people honored them and bowed to them and
brought them gifts and kissed their hand. They were proud men and loved it. But
now this man from Galilee had come and the people had deserted the Pharisees
and began listening to Jesus. They could not tolerate this and so must destroy
Him.
I
trust that all of our Holy Week Liturgies will prove meaningful and be of
spiritual benefit to you all!
Fr. Phil
