Theological commentary on the content and meaning of Palm Sunday
After the miraculous resurrection of Lazarus, his pious sisters offered the Lord and His disciples a great and glorious dinner to thank their Great Benefactor. Martha made sure that nothing was missing from the rich table. Lazarus was also sitting with them. Mary, during the supper, took a precious vessel full of very expensive myrrh and began to wash with it the
feet of Christ. Then she untied her rich hair and wiped the Redeemer's feet with it. The fragrant smell of myrrh filled the house. This fact created feelings of surprise among those present. Judas Iscariot, the future betrayer of the Lord said: "Why was this myrrh not sold for three hundred dinars and given to the poor?" And the holy evangelist comments: "he said this, not that he was concerned about the poor, but that he was a thief, and he had a tongue-tied one, and the things that were stolen were heavy" (John 12,6).
The man of iniquity, completely enslaved to his lowly passions, remained completely untouched by the three-year presence of his divine Master. His utilitarian materialistic darkness kept him captive to the passion of avarice. This passion will then lead him, in a few days, to the betrayal of his Master and to his own tragic annihilation. His name will become synonymous with betrayal throughout the ages.
The Lord with apparent subtlety countered Judas' challenge and said: "Leave her, on the day of my burial this was observed. Because you always have the poor with you, but you always have me" (John 12,7:8-XNUMX). Of course these words were incomprehensible to His disciples, because, still clinging to the nationalistic Jewish conception of the Messiah, they believed in a glorious advance to Jerusalem, in order to take power and liberate the nation from the foreign dynast.
At the same time, a large crowd of Jews arrived at the supper house, who wanted to see the wonderful rabbi who raised Lazarus. They also wanted to see the resurrected one with their own eyes. At the same time the chief priests and the rulers of the Jewish people held a council and discussed the possibility of killing Lazarus, because they found with concern that many people had believed in the divine power of Jesus, because of the exquisite miracle! It had already been decided to kill the Lord (John 11,47:57-12,3) and the traitorous disciple was in communication with the Jewish priesthood (John 8:26,14-16, Matthew XNUMX:XNUMX-XNUMX) for the surrender of his Master .
The next day Christ entered Jerusalem with his disciples. The great news of the resurrection of Lazarus had reached the holy city from Bethany and created feelings of excitement and euphoria among the people. Because of the upcoming Easter holiday, many foreign pilgrims had flocked there. When the mobs were informed of the arrival of the man who raised Lazarus, they took palm branches in their hands and went out into the streets to meet Him, singing the victorious paean: "Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel" (John 12,13). Some spread their clothes on the road for the great triumphant to pass. This scene was common in those times. Victorious kings entered the cities with trophies, deified by the crowds.
The Lord, sitting on a colt, entered quietly, undisturbed and indifferent to the festivities, into the holy city, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah: "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, behold your king he comes to you righteous and savior, gently and eternally on a yoke and pole of neon" (Zech. 9,9). The world points out the holy evangelist confessed that "They called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead. That is why the crowd asked him, that they heard this, believing the sign" (John 12,17-18). In contrast to the excitement of the crowd, the Pharisees with obvious concern and hatred said among themselves: "Do you think that you are of no use at all? Behold, the people behind him departed" (John 12,19).
The Lord's entry into Jerusalem is the last scene of the dramatic work of His life on earth. He humbly entered the honorarium, although the crowd cheered him and behaved as if he had before him some worldly king, who is entering in triumph into the capital of his kingdom. He knows very well that the chants and celebrations of the mobs are temporary and false events. All these enthusiastic people who deified him were manifesting at that moment their micro-nationalist perception of Him. Their motives were selfish and cheap. Absence of spirituality was pervasive among them.
The Lord also knew that all these people, who glorified him at his entry into Jerusalem, would be the same, who would shout five days later under the praetorium and demand from the representative of their Roman dynasty "crucify him" (Luke 23:22)!
For us believers, the Lord's entry into Jerusalem is the beginning of His voluntary course for the divine Passion. We celebrate this day with mixed feelings of joy and sadness. We celebrate with feelings of joy, because our Redeemer Christ is heading towards the saving sufferings for our own salvation. We celebrate with feelings of sorrow, because our Lord will suffer for our sake, and because of our own misdeeds, the painful sufferings and will suffer and suffer as a man. He will ascend to Golgotha, die as a criminal and be buried as a common mortal. In commemoration of our Lord's grand and triumphant entry into the holy city, we also hold laurel branches on this holy day, welcoming the Lord as a victorious and triumphant king, certainly not worldly, as the Jews expected, but as an eternal spiritual irretrievable.
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