Choose for Yourselves, as I Did [Palm Sunday]

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the crowds welcome him with palm branches and cries of “Hosanna!” The King riding on a donkey already knows the way of the cross that lies beyond their acclaim, and he walks it without a word.

This suffering was not forced upon him by anyone. Jesus planned it and carried it through himself. Judas Iscariot’s betrayal, Peter’s anger and the disciples’ quarrels over who would be greatest counted for nothing before God’s plan of the cross. Jesus was in anguish as he gave even the one who would betray him a chance to turn back, right to the end.

He cleared the temple and refused the Pharisees’ demand to silence the crowd, because this way is nothing to be ashamed of. It is a sign that proclaims God’s power and love. Without the cross there is no resurrection, and without the resurrection there is neither the Second Coming nor eternal life. The message is that, just as Jesus chose that way of his own accord, we too are to follow it in faith and without fear.