Hosanna: Christ's triumphal entry each day

Homily for Passion Sunday Year A

This is a double celebration: the two names for this particular Sunday of the liturgical year are Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. You have heard two gospels, a brief one in the back of the Church telling the story of Jesus’ triumphal procession into Jerusalem, and a longer one telling the story of what happened afterwards; triumph turned into derision, and the one acclaimed as king executed as a criminal.

We will hear the story of the passion once again on Good Friday, this time as told in John’s Gospel. Today we will reflect on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and participate as best we can in it as we enter into the Eucharist.

Why entry into Jerusalem? Jerusalem was the site of the most sacred place of Israel, the temple. Jesus had gone there many times in his life. To go to Jerusalem was to ascend, because Jerusalem is situated on the crest of a mountain chain. To get from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem means climbing almost 4,000 feet. As Jesus ascended to Jerusalem for the last time, knowing what was waiting for him there, groups of enthusiastic followers started forming, and by the time he came to Jerusalem, there was a crowd ready to acclaim him as he entered into the city.

His triumphal entry was fraught with symbolism. He had always rejected the temptation of becoming a political messiah. He did not enter into the city with legions of soldiers and blaring trumpets, seated on a noble steed or on a chariot. No, he came seated on the most humble of animals, the donkey, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah “Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on the colt, the foal of a donkey.” The kingly power that Jesus exercised was the power of love, which in the eyes of those who run this world is a form of weakness, but in the eyes of God is the only power that counts.

The bystanders spread their garments and palm branches on the ground, which is the way a king in procession was greeted at that time. They shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David”. Hosanna was originally a cry for help, but by Jesus’ time it was sung as a cry of jubilation. They also cried out “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”

This acclamation we all readily recognize. It is part of the “Holy Holy Holy” sung before the Eucharistic Prayer.

We all know how Jesus’ wonderful procession ended. The mood turned sour. Within a couple of days inhabitants of Jerusalem, goaded by the religious authorities, saw Jesus as an intruder, an impostor, a trouble maker. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” turned into “Crucify him, crucify him.”

Jesus came not with the trappings of power but in humility and love, and in the end he triumphed over our hearts. Those who opposed him thought that they had once and for all got rid of him, but the cross they inflicted on him was the very means by which he saved us.

We still sing Hosanna, which reminds us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But the triumphal entry we celebrate each time we sing it is also his coming to us in an even more humble guise than seated on a donkey. He comes under the appearances of bread and wine to become for us food and drink to help us grow into eternal life.

As we celebrate his entry into our lives today, let us allow His power of humble service, of compassion towards others, to make us instruments of the kingdom he has come to establish in our midst.