Passion Week begins today on this faithful Sunday in
which Jesus enters into the Holy City.
He enters His own city, the city He has made and sustained and a city He
will continue to bless until the end of time, which is Jerusalem. However, He enters into more than just an
earthly city, but He enters into salvation for the inhabitants of the entire
world, for all of those present, all of those before Him and all of those who
would come after that accept His grace.
His entrance into Jerusalem has two meanings one, Jesus is revealing
Himself as the King of Glory and two, He comes to save us.
Jesus gave many hints, both obvious and others more
sublime that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, that He is Divine. This was done in order to prove that God was
among us, that He no longer wanted to speak in prophecies, dreams and visions,
through nature, etc. but in person. God
desired, not out of need, to be present with us but out of love. God among us.
The entrance into Jerusalem is precisely that, not just another King
David, but your God is coming to you riding on a donkey.
There is also another reason and maybe twofold here,
is that Jesus is coming to save us from our sins and He will have to enter into
His passion. It also signifies how
quickly we forget because today the crowd is cheering, “Hosanna in the highest
to our King, Hosanna,” and by Friday the same crowd will be cheering, “Crucify
Him, crucify Him.”
Who are we in the crowd? Are we the fickle ones who change their minds
quickly and often? We would never be the
ones cheering crucify, crucify Him, rather we would be shouting out,
Hosanna. I wonder even in my own life
sometimes, who am I in that crowd? After
honest reflection I have to admit I am sometimes the fickle one, the weak
one. How often do we go to confession or
ask God for forgiveness and then quickly return back to the same sin or some
other sins, we go from the strong resolution to the weakness that is in
us. Peter himself said, “Lord I will die
with you.” Less than a few later He was
denying He ever knew Him. Am I better
than Peter, are you? I would imagine
not! That is why Jesus enters into the
passion so that His work on the Cross would be our saving remedy and not just a
onetime remedy, but that every time we failed we could go back to the Cross and
be forgiven.
His act of love is powerful enough to forgive every
sin except the one or ones we do not want to be forgiven for. God’s grace is more powerful than any sin or
evil that can be committed because of His mercy. The Cross of Christ proves this lest one
think that evil is more powerful than God’s grace. More importantly we must remember what this
cost Jesus, it cost Him everything and ultimately His life for ours.
When Jesus enters Jerusalem today to begin
Holy Week (Passion Week) we too must make an effort to enter into it with Him,
we must follow Him today to the Upper Room, to Mt. of Olives, to the way of the
Cross, to His Crucifixion and death on Calvary and finally to rise with
Him. Let this week be one of serious
reflection, prayer and sacrifice so that we may enter into that Spirit that is
freeing, loving, and all forgiving, the Spirit of God.
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