Fr. Peter JEMIBOR

Today we celebrate Palm Sunday which marks the beginning of the Holy Week. On this day the church recalls the entrance of Christ the Lord into Jerusalem to accomplish His paschal mystery – that is His passion and death. The readings we hear today draw our attention to Jesus: first as the suffering servant, secondly as the humble son of God and lastly as the king of peace through His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

        In the first reading, the prophecy of Isaiah reveals Jesus to us as the suffering servant, the messiah who willingly accepted the role of suffering which the Father has planned, so that through His passion and death on the cross, humanity will be saved. Out of love, He suffered and was humiliated for our sake. Dear friends, just as Jesus the suffering servant submitted willingly to the plan and will of God the father, so also we are called to submit ourselves to the divine will of God. It is the will of God that all should be saved hence, we must make effort to live according to this will of God, to obey His commandments and walk in faith in Him. More so, like Jesus the suffering servant, we are to find strength and solace in God in moments of trials, in moments where difficulties of life set in, we should look up to God for strength.

         In the second reading, St Paul points to Jesus as the humble son of God who left His glorious throne in order to identify with us sinners. He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. This shows how deep the love of God for us is by sending His son to redeem us. And in humility Jesus, the son of God accepted this mission to sacrifice His life for us on the cross. Brethren, we must learn from the humility of Christ. Let us be humble and drive far away from us all traces of pride.

        In the Gospel, we see the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Prior to this glorious moment, Jesus had kept His identity hidden from the public. This is evident in Matt 16:20 when Jesus asked His disciples “who do people say the Son of man is? Peter through the power of God revealed the identity of Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus immediately warned His disciples not to reveal His identity to anyone. But now, through His triumphant entry, Jesus publicly proclaimed and reveals His identity as the Messiah and as the Christ. He enters into the city riding on a donkey while the people spread their garments and branches from the trees on the road. With the crowd shouting “hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hossana in the highest”. What a triumphant entry for the king of Peace – all this fulfills the long awaited prophecy of Zechariah about the coming of the Messiah; the king, into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.

        Jesus riding on a donkey is symbolic: through this, Jesus indicates that His kingship is different from the popular messianic expectation. That is, the Jews were expecting a messiah that will go to war for them and conquer nations. But that is contrary to the mission of Christ. Jesus therefore rides on a donkey not on a horse or a chariot or with bow for war. He simply shows to the people that he is the King of peace.

Dear friends, no doubt we live in a troubled world where peace is scarce, a world where war and violence exist. We must therefore allow Jesus the king of Peace to reign in our lives and in our society. We must allow Jesus to reign in our hearts and in our families. Many people are heavily burdened, many are heartbroken while others are confronted with unrest. Today let us seek the king of peace, let us take our burden to Him with faith and He will grant us the true peace that our souls seek. Let us ask ourselves is Jesus the king of peace in your life?

        More so, Jesus instructed His disciples to say to anyone who questions them with regard to the donkey. Saying “the Lord has need of them.” Indeed dear friends, the Lord is in need of us to be His instrument of peace, the Lord is in need of us to establish His kingdom of peace on earth. God wants to make use of us..how well are we responding to this divine call of peace?

May God help us to love and live in peace with one another, through Christ our Lord. Amen