It's The Most Wondeful Time of the Year!

Get excited everyone! It's holy week! That blessed time between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday is upon us, and we are given the opportunity to meditate on the events leading up to Jesus' tragic death, and victorious resurrection. Every day during Holy Week, I will be posting what was going on, and why it is so important for us today.

As we all know, today is Palm Sunday. For us Catholics, this first day of Holy week is marked by the longest readings of the year where we meditate on the events leading up to Jesus' Passion and death beginning with his entry into Jerusalem. I think we often overlook the the fact that it was that Sunday two thousand years ago that Jesus entered into Jerusalem riding on the colt of an ass, and surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds, of his disciples shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David". They laid palms on the ground before him, and welcomed him into the city as a king.

Now what does that even mean? What is a kings welcome? Well it says in Matthew 21: 4-5 that Jesus entered in this way to fulfill what was said by the prophet Zechariah, "Rejoice, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass" (Zec 9:9). In that time, when a king entered into a city, he did so either on a horse or an ass. If he were to ride in on a horse, it was a time of war. If he were to ride on an ass a Jesus did, he was coming in peace.

Furthermore, they way that people were celebrating and laying down palms meant that they knew who Jesus was. They called him "the Son of David", meaning that they were hailing him as the heir to the throne of Israel. They recognized Jesus as the king and savior mentioned by Zechariah. They were rejoicing in their Messiah. This is extremely interesting because in a weeks time, these same people would call Jesus a blasphemer, and call for his death on a cross. In a weeks time, Jesus would go from being hailed as king, to dying as a criminal.

What is great about Palm Sunday is that it forces us to think about how we view Jesus, and how we react to him. Do we treat him as the king and savior of Palm Sunday, or do we mistreat him as a criminal, or just ignore him altogether? I encourage you this week to really think about who Jesus is to you, and how you consider him and bring him into your daily life.

Joseph, model of manhood, pray for us
God, Father of Mercy, bless us.