Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday begins the holiest and most intense part of Lent in the Church. It is the glamour door into Passion Week or Holy Week, the most sacred week in Christendom. Pal Sunday is a day of exuberant celebration for Christians accompanying Jesus so to speak in his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Pope John Paul, Great once declared Palm Sunday s sort of World youth day because of the energy and pomp that accompanies it. Holy Week begins with the joy and glory of Palm Sunday and ends with the glory of the resurrection on the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday. In between these two key moments of salvation history are solemnly commemorated, namely the institution of the priesthood with the priests renewing their ordination promises, the Last Supper, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. The Catholic Church till this day at the Chrism Mass the same week even blesses the oils of service for the priests to use all through the year for celebrating the sacraments. (Jer 8: 20-22, 46:11, James 5:14) recommends the balm for cure and healing).
These are some of the most intense celebrations of the entire Christendom making it a microcosm of Jesus’ entire life journey of saving the world …. from his incarnation and the resurrection to the Ascension with all the tribulations in between. That is why in the midst of the joy of Palm Sunday, we already hear the story of the passion of Jesus in order to keep the memory of his passion right in our minds. Jesus’ majesty and royalty cannot be separated from his passion and crucifixion. That is authentic Christianity. Psalm 22, fully depicts that dual reality of Christian life in this regard. It begins with the painful outcry: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me” and ending with the declaration that to God, ruler of the nations, belongs kingly power and that generations to come “will tell of his saving justice to a people yet unborn…” (Ps 22.) Isaiah 50.
Palm Sunday fully depicts the incontestable but humble kingship of Jesus. Although he had often earlier turned down such big acknowledgement, Jesus, going to Jerusalem was no longer shy of his kingship. He showed dominion and authority over all around him. He told his disciples to get him someone’s colt that had never been used before and the answer to give if anyone challenged them. He said “The Master has need of it and will send it back immediately. What an example of integrity It worked! Very few Masters today take what is not theirs and return it. (Luke 19:31) The people laid their cloaks before him and praised God. It should be our lives and persons we lay down. (Father, we adore you, lay our lives before you…) Even the Pharisees could not resist his majesty, while criticising his triumphant entry (Lk. 19:39). They called Jesus, “Master, Teacher” and told him to stop his disciples. His answer to them was majestic. “I tell you. If these keep silence, the stones will cry out”. It was undeniable. There is a lesson for us here. Jesus is truly king and has dominion over all, even his adversaries. He can be trusted, even when things seem to go wrong. Let us stick with him.
Yes, indeed Passion week is full of difficult and tough moments but Jesus, knowing that the hour was coming near, nonetheless, goes resolutely towards Jerusalem (Lk 9:51). We must not get carried away by the glamour of Palm Sunday and must not overlook the grim realities of the week when Jesus the innocent, sinless Son of God faced persecution, abandonment, betrayal, lynching passion and crucifixion which we still have in Nigeria today. Has one of us not been condemned to death recently for killing someone in the process of defending himself? Our world today has not moved on from punishing the sinless and persecuting the innocent. But we must not lose the lesson that even when he knew the hour has come Jesus was resolute in his endorsement of redemptive suffering. Let us be resolute in doing what has to be done to attain salvation. (Lk 9: 51, Isaiah 50).
Yes, in his obedience to God Jesus was totally focused on his mission, so compassionate, he wept over Jerusalem as he entered it. Yet. God’s arm is not too short to save. (Isaiah 59:1) It is that dogged consciousness which kept Jesus going. Let us all drink from the same cup of his courage and trust in God. The psalm of David is useful to pray with, even when we see imminent trials and tribulations. “Why are you cast down my soul? Why groan within me. Hope in God, I will praise him Still, my savour and my God” Our famous Church hymn is very appropriate. Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey (Ps 42:11).
So let us truly rejoice that we proclaim a competent king all around our city. Let us imbibe his courage, humility and love and believe firmly that he will grant us victory in our own trials too.
- Most Rev. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo is the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Oyo.
