Palm Sunday
April 23, 2021
Palm Sunday is a blessed day of which Lord and Savior Jesus Christ arrived, a king triumphant on Sunday where He is honored with palm branches. Lord Christ is adorned with singing today when He is passes by Jerusalem victoriously on the foal of an ass.
The crowd utters saying, “Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.” They shout “Hosanna,” which is a plea for God’s salvation to come upon the earth through the Crusification of Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection. (John 12:13)
Father Anthony Hughes of Saint Mary Orthodox Church describes the day saying, “Lord Jesus entered Jerusalem with clarity of mind, compassion and singleness of purpose. He did not allow the adulation of the crowd, the knowledge that its praise would turn into hatred, nor the fear of his inevitable suffering and death distract him. He knew that he rode his donkey to his death. This was an act of supreme courage, extreme humility and the greatest of all the Divine virtues, love. If we did not understand the words of St. Paul in Philippians before this, we should consider them now: “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus…that being found in the likeness of man, He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”
As Father Philip LeMasters of Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese, explains, “On Palm Sunday, it became clear that the Savior Who entered Jerusalem, is the Lamb of God who cleanse the sins of the world. He is the Passover Lamb whose death and resurrection will conquer death itself. Mary, Lazarus’ sister, performed a prophetic act when she anointed Christ with the same kind of costly ointment that was used to anoint the bodies of the dead. This Messiah, this One who is truly anointed to save His people and the whole world, will be rejected by the leaders of the Jews and crucified under the authority of the Romans. And when He is lifted up upon the Cross, He will draw all who believe in Him– Jew, Gentile, male, female, rich, poor, all nations, classes, and races to the life of a Kingdom that transcends this world and our petty divisions.”
Palm Sunday is a blessed day for we shall all be reminded as we enter into the mystery of our salvation as Lord and Savior Jesus Christ journeys to His cross, descent into Hades, and glorious resurrection.