Orthodox Christian Holy Week — Today is Palm Sunday Part I
We accompany Christ as He enters Jerusalem while the children cry out: “Hosanna in the Highest, Blessed is He that Cometh in the Name of the Lord!”
We are in Jerusalem, and it is the time of the Passover. The city is full, not only of the usual inhabitants, but also of thousands of others who have come for this holy time of year. And yet this year is different…on everyone’s minds and lips is one event — the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
It’s true that “Jesus the Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee” had raised other people from the dead, but in those instances, they had just recently died, or were being taken to burial. As stunning as those events were, this one was even more singular.
Lazarus and his sisters were very well known throughout the Jewish community, and Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days, already entering into a state of corruption, when Christ raised him from the dead. Many were present and witnessed this event as Lazarus, obedient to the powerful and lifegiving words of Christ “Lazarus come forth”, exited from the tomb still bound, “for Christ Who strengthened him proved greater than him that held him back.” (From the 5th ode of the first matins canon for Lazarus Saturday.)
Very many people of that time also saw Lazarus in the days afterwards. We know from the Gospel account that shortly after his being raised from the dead, Lazarus was alive and well, present at a dinner with his sisters Martha and Mary and many others; a meal in which Christ was with them as their honored guest. How grateful and joyous the family of Lazarus must have felt to have their brother back alive and well, beyond all ordinary mortal hope or expectation!
And the majority of the people were also besides themselves with joy — truly this must be the Messiah, the long-awaited One, the King of Israel. As incredulous as it was, they had witnessed it themselves and continued to witness it in the person of Lazarus — Christ could conquer even death itself!
The words of Christ to Martha, in answer to her plea “Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died”, still reverberate through the ages for all of us to hear, embrace, and ask ourselves: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he should die, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
Entry Into Jerusalem
“Being borne upon a throne in Heaven, and upon a colt on the earth, O Christ God, Thou didsn’t accept the praise of the Angels and the laudation of the children as they cried to Thee: Blessed art Thou Who camest to recall Adam.” (Kontakion for Palm Sunday)
Six days before the Passover, Christ entered Jerusalem, not with armies and chariots, but rather very humbly upon the foal of an ass. Cutting down branches and strewing their garments in the way, the crowds went out to meet Him, crying out from the depths of their hopes “Hosanna in the Highest, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in the Highest.” Even young children, full of the Holy Spirit, also cried out. Many earthly rulers have been greeted triumphantly after victories, but this was a totally different experience — the people were welcoming the One Who brought hope that death itself — that final and hideous enemy of the human race — had now met the Immortal Conqueror.
Such an event had never taken place. And rightly so, as the Prophet Zacharias, writing over 500 years before this day, wrote to the people of Israel: “Thus saith the Lord: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion. Proclaim it, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, just, and Himself having salvation: meek, and riding upon an ass and a young foal.” (Septuagint, Zacharias 9.) The Patriarch Jacob, who lived even earlier, said to his sons almost 1700 years before that day that Christ entered Jerusalem: “….and He is the Expectation of nations. Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of His ass to the branch of it, He shall wash His robe in wine, and His garment in the blood of the grape.” (Septuagint, Genesis 49:10–11)
The Holy Spirit has born witness through the ages that the Messiah would come. The Prophets spoke in mystical terms of this Deliverer. Christ is the only One who fits and fulfills all of the prophecies, or Who ever will.
As long as the human spirit longs for true freedom — from fear, from the tyranny of sin, the pangs of corruption, and the torment of death and Hades — then it will never be disappointed in its hope because Christ has now come, not only to dwell among us, but to heal us and conquer the last great enemies — sin, the devil, and death — in our behalf. Our job is to cleave to Him, to become united to Him. “God became man so that man could become gods by grace.”
In the hymnology of the Church for this great Feast, we see a mystical foreshadowing of what is to come: No longer will the sword guarding the Tree of Life be barring the entrance to us, but rather Christ’s side will be pierced, pouring out blood and water and signifying our new life, born of the Baptismal waters and nourished by being united to His divinized humanity. This is a great Mystery: Christ Himself is the Tree of Life and He invites us to partake of Him.
“Since Thou didst bind Hades, O Immortal One, and slewest death and didst raise up the world, the little children with palm-branches loudly praised Thee as the Victor, O Christ, shouting unto Thee today: Hosanna to the Son of David….No longer shall the sword be turned against us, for Thy side shall be pierced with a spear. Wherefore we say in gladness: Blessed art Thou Who comest to recall Adam.” (Oikos for Palm Sunday)
From “A Priest’s Remembrances”
printed in Nadezhda, №13, Oossev, 1986. He is speaking about the believers going back to their homes after the evening vigil service (Saturday night) for Palm Sunday.
“Pale stars stud the dark sky above, while below, the flames of burning candles run from the church in all directions — as if alive. Together with the willow branches, the worshippers guardedly carry home these flames, and with them the joyful knowledge that “the Lord is at hand.” All of this is so ineffably simple and profound! Nothing more than a small willow branch and a penny candle — and yet, those carrying them experience a joy which all the latest wonders of science and technology cannot impart.”
Next: Palm Sunday II
