13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Today most Christians begin Holy Week, the week leading up to the celebration of Our Lord’s Resurrection. This year our Orthodox brothers and sisters will celebrate one week later. This disparity has a long history. The Gregorian calendar uses the lunar calendar to fix the date for Easter while the Orthodox churches use the Julian calendar which uses the solar calendar. Until the seventh century, some of the western churches also used the Julian calendar. A synod of bishops from Western Europe gathered in Whitby, England to decide this issue, and they agreed to follow the Gregorian calendar which places Easter at the first Sunday following the vernal, or Spring, equinox.
Although the term “Easter” is based on a pagan festival, the term was adopted by Christians and eventually replaced the more accurate name “Resurrection Sunday.” Regardless of the name, today, Palm Sunday is known and celebrated as the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. The people greeted him with great joy, spreading their clothes on the ground and others spreading branches they had cut from the trees on the ground for him to pass over. It is important for us to remember that this same hoard will be crying out for his crucifixion by the end of the week.
What happened? Were they just caught up in the excitement of the moment? Over the years, I have watched sports teams win and lose. When they are winners, everyone cheers for the players, the owners, the coaches – everyone involved with the team. When they come in at the bottom of the pile, these same “fans” are calling for the coaches to be fired, the owners to spend more money to get better players and for the players to get paid less. They are doing what the citizens of Jerusalem were doing on a much lower scale. The people of Jerusalem were excited to see this man who had performed miracles, whose preaching had caused a stir within the community. By the end of the week, he stood before them beaten and bloody, not looking like a hero at all.
Is our faith influenced by how our lives are going and when it isn’t going well, do we turn our backs on Jesus? Something to think about this week.
Lord Jesus, may we never forget all that you suffered for our sake. May we always praise you and be faithful to you. May we never betray or abandon you. Amen.
