© Juan Moyano

Fifth Sunday in Lent
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Lectionary C

Luke 19:28-40
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

The Liturgy of the Palms is an exciting and joyous way to begin Holy Week. Like Jesus’ first followers, we celebrate our triumphant and victorious king with a procession of palms and interjections of joy — “Hosannah, Lord, hosannah!” (Psalm 118:25). “The branches of palm trees are laudatory emblems, significant of victory, because the Lord was about to overcome death by dying, and by the trophy of His cross to triumph over the devil, the prince of death” (St. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tract 51). Jesus, having recently defeated death in a particular instance by raising Lazarus from the dead in Bethany, was about to defeat death in toto at Calvary.

Palm Sunday is marked by both celebration and somberness for Christ’s victory was hard-won, costly. It is a celebration marked, not by frivolity, but soberness. For the road down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem led to the road of suffering — the Via Dolorosa. Jesus came into Jerusalem in order that he might accomplish his “departure” (see Luke 9:31), that is, lead the New Exodus; that by His blood, the blood of the perfect and spotless Lamb of God, he might deliver us from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil.

Ainsley

So, as we rightly celebrate with zeal the Triumphal Entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, we remember why He came — He came to die. As we commemorate the King of Kings with shouts of joy, we remember how costly it was for him to be crowned king, that His crown was a crown of thorns. And we note, that as the procession of palms has as its terminus the altar, so did Christ’s procession lead Him ultimately to the altar of the Cross.

So, with palms in our hands and the Passion on our hearts, let us with joy and zeal and fear and trembling cry out: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9).

– Father Matt Ainsley is assistant rector at Church of the Ascension in Orlando.