Palm Sunday 2022

of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It's my great

joy to greet you on this wonderful feast day.

We've gathered together. What a wonderful assembly

this is. And we hold our palm branches as a sign

of our fidelity to Christ. And not like Judas,

second -guessing the Lord. Well, Lord, you shouldn't

allow her to do that. We need that money. No,

we follow the Lord wherever he goes. Sometimes

it doesn't make sense to us. But we're his joyful

disciples. That's really what I want to speak

about today. But let's look at what the Gospel

said. The first part of the Gospel. We see this

plot that's developing and Judas' own hesitation

and planning to be part of that plot. And then

we hear about the procession and the people gathering

and the children gathering up in the trees. There

you can see that fresco. And we have that tradition

here too as our procession goes around. But kids,

as you get older, remember that's just an olive

tree. If you're big... that branch might come

off, so be careful. Sacred history of the Old

Testament tells us that the last time someone

of significance rode an ass into Jerusalem, it

was the coronation day of King Solomon, David's

son. The people of Jerusalem, at the time of

Jesus, knew this history. They knew their scripture,

and they were eager and pleased to see Jesus

fulfilling this prophecy that the Savior, the

Messiah, would come seated on the foal of an

ass. He would be humble and meek. Obviously,

when he had raised the dead man Lazarus from

the dead after four days in the tomb, the Lord

demonstrated that he is the resurrection and

the life. He who believes in me, he said, though

he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives

and believes in me shall never die. What an interesting

saying. But we know it's true from our own baptism.

We're alive in Christ and we shall not die. We

shall never be separated from God. Word had quickly

spread about Lazarus' raising and Jesus the miracle

worker. There had been no king in Israel. Anybody

know how long it had been since King Zedekiah?

In 598 BC. the time of the Babylonian exile and

destruction. So this was a momentous day, and

it was just before the Feast of Passover, as

we know, a week before people were gathering.

By this time, there were not just hundreds of

thousands of people that had come to Jerusalem.

There were perhaps over a million that were coming

for the feast. St. John's Gospel also tells us,

we heard this, that the chief priest said that

if they let Jesus receive all this adulation,

this gathering of people shouting, Hosanna, the

King of Israel, everyone will believe in him.

And the Romans, quote from one of the priests,

will come and take away our place and our nation.

We're afraid of that sometimes with Jesus, aren't

we? That he's going to take away something from

us. But the Lord doesn't need to enslave anyone.

He wants friends. He wants love. Christ weeps,

just like yesterday. He weeps once more. Now

as he drew near, says St. Luke, he saw the city.

and wept over it, saying, If you had known, even

you, especially in this your day, the things

that make for your peace, but now they are hidden

from your eyes, and you will be destroyed. The

Romans would do that. So the crowds on Palm Sunday

could not know what we know now about Jesus.

Their expectations were very far off about what

they expected him to do. Bread and circuses,

no, not really, but certainly worldly power and

religious dominance. But our king is humble.

He doesn't need to acquire power from anyone.

He's riding on an ass. And he knows he's riding

on the way to the death of a criminal. He's riding,

may appear that way, he's riding actually on

his way to conquer death and to conquer sin.

So let's ask ourselves, brothers and sisters,

what are the expectations of a citizen of the

kingdom of heaven, this kind of king, this humble

king? What do we expect of this king? Isn't it

true? Yes, we struggle. We struggle to live our

Christian life. And we want Christ to fulfill

our needs, yes. And, in fact, Jesus Christ does

tell us in the Sermon on the Mount, why are you

anxious for all of these things? Your Heavenly

Father knows you need them. Seek first the kingdom

of God and all things you need will be given.

We're to be his ambassadors. We're to be his

witnesses. That's our task. Works of mercy. We're

asking God all the time to do things to help

us, to help this world. But it's our task to

do some of those things. It's our task to be

witnesses of his love. When we're confronted

by life's sorrow, says the elder Emilianos from

this book I was reading the other night after

the pre -sanctified, when we're confronted by

pain, by obstacles, by failures and all the tempests

of life, how do we deal with God? Or do we bow

our head and praise him? Life is filled with

pain and sorrow. There has never been a place,

there is not now, and there will never be on

the planet Earth a time without pain, without

sorrow, without suffering, without sin. It is

our task, brothers and sisters, to become like

Christ by being joined to him. If this is just

a religious assembly, then let's go home now.

If this is just joyful singing for the sake of

aesthetics, then let's just forget it. Our task

is to be united to our Savior. Elder Milenos

goes on to say this. All of us face difficult

moments when we're tempted to say that God is

to blame or that he's forgotten me. And who knows?

We say, maybe there is no God, but if God does

exist, he's cruel. Why does he torment me like

this? While unbelievers rejoice, and so on and

so on. But in these difficult moments, let us

say, glory to thee, O God. With these words,

you show that you are a witness for Christ, and

that you accept with joy. the struggle and the

pain that you encounter. The witness in the struggle

against doubts, against hesitation, against imagining,

against sin. And we become not examples, but

reflections of our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.

And then we can say with St. Paul, as he sat

in a prison, awaiting for an eventual execution,

you heard this this morning, have no anxiety

about anything. He had no illusions about the

suffering and the pain that he would face. But

he said that Christ's grace was more powerful

than his weakness. And the foundation of the

peace that St. Paul describes was not in hopes

of a nation defeating its opponents with power

of the world, but simply in the confession, did

you hear it today? Be not anxious about anything.

The Lord is at hand. Christ is coming. Be anxious

for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication

with thanksgiving. Let your petitions be known

to God. And the peace of God which surpasses

all understanding will guard your hearts and

your minds in Christ Jesus. We have desire, and

it's right, for goodness, for justice, for the

end of pain and sorrow and wickedness. We have

that desire, and that is right that we have that.

And we should work towards... ending those terrible

things and those sinful things, first in ourself,

knowing that the Lord himself will come in glory

and wipe every tear from every eye, and sin and

death and the devil will be cast into the lake

of fire, which means they won't exist anymore.

Let me end with this short... This short excerpt

from a sermon of St. Photius the Great, a 9th

century saint. He gave this sermon on the Feast

of Palms. Hosanna, he says. Blessed is he that

comes to reach out his arms on the cross and

to gather all peoples to himself. Blessed is

he that comes to make Hades a prisoner. to release

Adam from his bonds, to raise him from his fall.

Blessed is he that comes to destroy the power

of tyranny and to bestow liberty on them that

are sore distressed. Blessed is he that comes

to empty out the storehouses of Hades and to

fill the heavenly mansions with the throng of

the saved. Blessed is he that comes to offer

himself as a sacrifice for our sake. to expiate

all our sins, to reconcile us with the Father.

Blessed is he, Hosanna, that comes to suppress

death, to inaugurate our resurrection, to free

us from servitude, to bestow on us adoption as

his children. For it is thine own will, O Creator,

to have given us existence and fashioned us out

of nothing. And after we had fallen and been

crushed, to have raised us up again, and restored

us. And to thee do we send up praise and thanksgiving

together with the Father and the Holy Spirit,

one in essence, life -giving, all -powerful Trinity,

now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. And

we all say, Hosanna!