Palm Sunday
“Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech. 9:9).
On this day, the Lord Christ entered the Temple as King, for His Kingdom had drawn near.
The day had drawn near when He would trample death by His death, destroy the kingdom of Satan, and purchase the whole world with His precious Blood.
He entered the Temple to establish a Kingdom that is not of this world, a spiritual Kingdom in the heart, built upon love and not upon authority.
He entered Jerusalem, the city of the great King, and the city was stirred by His coming.
They cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Hosanna, or Hosha’na, means “Save us”; save us now, for the time of salvation has come.
Did they ask Him for salvation as the Son of David, or as the Son of Man, or as the Son of God, or all of these together?
He came to save the world from the bondage of Satan, sin, and the world—a bondage far more difficult than bondage to the Romans.
When Christ entered Jerusalem as King, the simple people rejoiced in Him, while the elders and the rulers were troubled.
The simple looked upon His Kingship objectively, and their hearts were filled with joy. But the chief priests, the elders of the people, and their teachers could not free their vision from self-interest. This self-centeredness wearied their hearts, directed all their actions, and led them to hatred, conspiracy, and crime—something that was not in keeping with their priesthood, nor with their knowledge, nor with their ideals.
These rulers and teachers became distressed and said, “Look, the whole world has gone after Him.” How strange! And what harm was there if everyone followed Him? Was this not what John the Baptist desired—that the Bride should belong to the Bridegroom?
But these rulers and teachers were not like John the Baptist. They could not even say that John’s baptism was from heaven. When Christ asked them about it, they said, “We do not know,” although they did know.
But self-centeredness led them into falsehood. Their love of prominence and their desire to control the crowds surrendered their minds to a reprobate way of thinking, and they regarded Christ as a rival, so they hated Him.
Christ entered Jerusalem as King. But they rejected Him. They refused to have Him reign over them. They said, “We have no king but Caesar!”—while they had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah to deliver them from Caesar. Truly, how easily self-love leads to flattery and hypocrisy when it seems to fulfill the self according to a distorted understanding.
Their rejection of Christ did not harm Christ; it harmed them.
Christ was establishing the Kingdom, building the Church, and accomplishing the work of salvation. Meanwhile, these rulers and teachers were occupied with their own negativity: plotting conspiracies, encouraging traitors, planning His death, and feeling complete satisfaction if Satan helped them fulfill their sinful desires.
The opposition and conspiracies of these priests did not prevent the Kingdom of Christ.
This gentle King who entered Jerusalem riding on a colt, this King who “reigned from the Tree,” and established His Kingdom with the nails in His hands—His Kingdom spread to the ends of the earth despite every conspiracy.
And you, blessed one, what are your meditations on Palm Sunday, on the remembrance of the proclamation of Christ as King in Jerusalem?
Say to Him: Come, O Lord, and reign. Let Your Kingdom come into my heart and into the hearts of all people. Let Your Kingdom come upon all nations and in every land.
Reign, O Lord, over my thoughts, my feelings, my senses, my desires, my possessions, and my time, that I may become wholly Yours.
Remove from me, O Lord, everything that hinders Your Kingdom within me.
Remove from me the self-centeredness that prevented Your Kingdom from entering the chief priests of the Jews, and remove from me the literalism that kept the Pharisees away from Your Kingdom. Remove from me the harshness and jealousy because of which the elders and rulers fell away.
Do not allow anything within my heart to compete with You.
Come, O Lord, and cleanse Your Temple, which is my heart. I have brought into it the tables of the money changers through my love of money and my concern for material things. My heart is no longer a house of prayer, as You desire.
Grant me, O Lord, the love by which I may make this heart a house of prayer.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, “Palm Sunday,” published in El-Keraza Magazine, April 25, 1975.
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