Today is Palm Sunday where all Christendom celebrates the triumphant entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into the Holy City of Jerusalem. It also marks the beginning of Holy Week where we observe the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Palm Sunday was a joyous occasion for our Lord Jesus Christ because the Jews inside the walls of Jerusalem greeted the entry of our Lord Jesus waving Palms and shouts of “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!” You can read this passage in Matthew 21:1-11.
It is noteworthy to also read a passage from the Old Testament 500 years earlier in prophesy of Zechariah 9:9, which read, “Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold, our king comes to you, meek and riding an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.” Before they arrived in Jerusalem, our Lord Jesus Christ was in Bethpage on the Mount of Olives, which overlooks Jerusalem and he sent two disciples to go and find an ass and bring it to him, as he would ride in the donkey for this triumphant entry to Jerusalem.
But as we all know, this joyous occasion was short-lived because the very same people who greeted our Lord with Hosannas turned against him and asked Pilate to release the zealot Barabbas and crucify our Lord. Today’s gospel reading comes from Mark 15:1-39.
“Early in the morning, the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the Law (that is, the whole Council or Sanhedrin) had their plan ready. They put Jesus in chains, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “You say so.” As the chief priests accused Jesus of many things. Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer at all? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus gave no further answers, much to Pilate’s surprise.
At every Passover Festival, Pilate used to free any prisoner the people asked for. Now there was a man called Barabbas, jailed with the rioters who had committed murder in the uprising. When the crowd went up to ask Pilate the usual favor, he said to them, “Do you want me to set free the King of the Jews?” for he realized that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him out of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask instead for the release of Barabbas.
Pilate replied, “And what shall I do with the man you call King of the Jews?” The crowd shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked, “What evil has he done?” But they shouted the louder, “Crucify him!” As Pilate wanted to please the people, he freed Barabbas, and having had Jesus flogged, Pilate handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him out of the city to crucify him. On the way they met Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the country and forced him to carry the cross of Jesus. When they had led him to the place called Golgotha, which means the Skull, they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not take it. Then they nailed him to the cross, and divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots to decide what every man should take.
It was about nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The statement of his offense was displayed above his head and it read, “The King of the Jews.” They also crucified two robbers with him, one on his right and one on his left. And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And with lawless ones he was numbered.
When noon came, darkness fell over the whole land and lasted until three o’clock, and at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, Lamma Sabachthani?” which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ As soon as they heard these words, some of the bystanders said, “Listen! He is calling for Elijah.” And one of them went quickly to fill a sponge with bitter wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink, saying, “Now let’s see whether Elijah comes down to take him down.”
But Jesus uttered a loud cry and gave up his spirit. And immediately the curtain that enclosed the temple Sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The Captain, who was standing in front of him, saw how Jesus died and heard the cry he gave and he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
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What can we say when we read these sacred passages? I say we pray the prayer when we do the Stations of the Cross and say, “We adore thee O Christ because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.” In John 15:13 our Lord Jesus Christ said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is why our Lord Jesus was sent by The Father to die for our sins and so it is with great honor that we Catholics are counted as amongst the friends of our Lord Jesus Christ.