Palm Sunday

Hosanna to the Son of David

Blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord
Hosanna in the highest!

Today we recall the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover feast by repeating the words that greeted him on his entry to Jerusalem, “Hosanna to the Son of David…” We also bless and hold palms to liturgically reconstruct this historic moment.

Jesus had just been in Bethany where he raised his friend Lazarus from the dead and entered the city by coming down the Mount of Olives into the Kidron Valley and then up into the holy city. The pictures below are of the ancient route Jesus would have used as he approached Jerusalem where he was enthusiastically greeted.

After giving life to his friend Lazarus, Jesus ventured down to Jerusalem where his life would be taken away from him. Saint John tells us in his Gospel that after Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests and pharisees “[gave] orders that if anyone knew where [Jesus] was, he should inform them, so that they might arrest him.” The price Jesus had to pay for giving life to Lazarus was His own life since afterward the chief priests became determined to arrest him.

The raising of Lazarus prefigures what Jesus would accomplish in Jerusalem the week after Palm Sunday. Jesus gave up his own life so that we may have life, but not just a return to earthly existence like Lazarus, but that we may have eternal life. May this be a blessed and holy week as we celebrate the greatest mysteries of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.