CRYING OUT IN A LOUD VOICE, JESUS YIELDED UP HIS SPIRIT

 PALM SUNDAY - Matthew 26:14-27:66

We begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday, in which we remember the solemn entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem, when he was acclaimed as the Messiah. Jesus entered accompanied by the crowds who were going on pilgrimage to the great celebration of Passover. The people in Jerusalem got very surprised and asked, "Who is this?” And the crowds answered, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.” And they proclaimed him to be the son of David, that is, the Christ. And they cried out, “Hosanna!" – that is, save us, liberate us. Entering in a humble and simple way, mounted on an ass, Jesus presented no threat to the authorities. He had no armies at his disposal to take power, defeat his enemies and become a real king. However, the authorities got afraid and planned to do away with Jesus.

With the crowds that entered Jerusalem, we recognise and proclaim that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One, who came to save us and set us free from all forms of oppression. However, we should not have false expectations like the crowds and even the disciples and the apostles had. Jesus is the Messiah, but he refused to be a political messiah. He did not come to restore the kingdom of David and become a ruler of the world in the manner of all great and powerful kings. He came to be a servant, the servant of God, carrying out his Father’s will, even if that would take him to suffering and death. He redeemed and saved us by shedding his blood on the cross, thus bringing reconciliation with God.

In the second reading, taken from Philippians 2:6-11, Paul quotes a hymn already in use in the church that gives the profound meaning of Jesus’ passion and death. Despite being divine, as the Son of God, Jesus humbled himself  and “became as men are”, accepting death on a cross to overcome the power of death and restore us to life. That’s why “God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names.” Every knee shall bend and every tongue shall “acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

In the gospel, we read Jesus’ passion according to Matthew. Thus, we are invited to live the Holy Week with our eyes fixed on the cross, aware of the great love of the one who shed his life for us so that we may be welcomed into Paradise, sharing there in the glory of the Lord.