Palm Sunday

Thoughts for the Week - Fr. R. Taouk 
29th March 2015

The first point today is about the honour and solemnity which the Jews showed. In the temple they praised and blessed Christ coming into the city of Jerusalem, where he was received honourably with great joy and festivity. Very remarkable. I find that Christ came to Jerusalem often and for many reasons, and there was never any celebration nor honour given like today.

Christ first came to Jerusalem for the Presentation, fifty days after his birth, when the Virgin Mary presented him in the temple. We do not read that there was a solemn reception then, except that Simeon and Anna adored him. He was tiny, and the procession was tiny. But his body grew, and his compassion grew, and the time came when he was no longer carried in the arms of the Virgin, but on the back of an ordinary donkey, not to be redeemed with (sacrificed) doves, but he would redeem all men by his blood.

Second, Christ came to the city of Jerusalem for debating, when he was twelve years old. There was no celebration for him at that time. Third, he came for prayer. In accord with the law, he would come to Jerusalem for every feast day, and would enter the temple. Fourth, he came to stamp out sins and notorious vices, because the high priests by their greed had made of the temple a house of business (John 2). Nor was there any celebration for him then. Fifth, he came to preach, often, because that city was a metropolis and the capital of the province. Sixth, he came to reveal his divinity by working miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead. Not even then was there a celebration. Seventh, he came for sacrificing himself. Today he wished to enter Jerusalem, (the place) where he should suffer for the redemption of the human race. Then there was a great festival for him and a solemnity celebrated.

This solemnity consists in six circumstances or ceremonies which were done for him.

First, because he wished to enter riding. It is not read anywhere that Christ ever rode an animal. Only today, when he entered Jerusalem. The second ceremony is that he wished today to enter Jerusalem in a procession, because a great crowd preceded him and followed him. The third circumstance is that the entire route from the Mount of Olives up to Jerusalem was covered. The fourth ceremony consisted of the tree branches. The fifth was because he wished to be praised and blessed both by the great as well as by the small.