REACHING THE MOUNT OF OLIVES on His return to Jerusalem, Jesus sent ahead two of His disciples, saying to them:
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it you will find a colt tied, upon which no man has yet sat; loose it, and bring it. And if anyone say to you, ‘What are you doing?’ you shall say that the Lord has need of it, and immediately he will send it here.”
The disciples carried out Jesus’ orders, and when they returned He mounted the colt and they proceeded toward the city. The news of the raising of Lazarus had already reached Jerusalem and the road was thronged with people who had come out to see and greet the wonder-worker. In their enthusiasm many spread their cloaks for Him to ride on, and others cut branches from the trees and strewed them before Him.
When the crowd shouted joyful Hosannas and hailed Him as a king, some Pharisees who were present called on Christ to rebuke His followers. But Jesus said:
“I tell you that if these keep silence, the stones will cry out.”
Coming in sight of Jerusalem, Jesus wept for the city and said:
“If thou hadst known, in this thy day, even thou, the things that are for thy peace! But now they are hidden from thy eyes. For days will come upon thee when thy enemies will throw up a rampart about thee, and shut thee in on every side, and will dash thee to the ground and thy children within thee, and will not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.”
In Jerusalem Jesus entered the Temple. The blind and lame came to Him there and He healed them, and children present shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David.” The chief priests and Scribes complained indignantly of the children’s greeting, but Jesus replied:
“Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings thou hast perfected praise’?”
Matthew 21:1-11 | Matthew 21:14-16 | Mark 11:1-11 | Luke 19:29-44 | John 12:12-19 | Zechariah 9:9-13
Meditation: On Palm Sunday the crowd shouted their Hosannas to Christ; the cloaks from their backs and the branches from the trees they spread before Him. Later in the same week some of these same people were shouting “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” But can we be accused of the same inconstancy? Each time we go to confession we resolve never again to commit the sins we have confessed. How often do we have to repeat, in confession after confession, the same sin?
Information from The Life of Christ “Our Lord’s Life with Lesson in His Own Words for Our Life Today” The Catholic Press, Inc. 1959. 193-194. © 1954 edited by Reverend John P. O’Connell, MASTD and Jex Martin, following mainly A Chronological Harmony of the Gospels by Stephen J Hartdegen OFM NIHIL OBSTAT John A McMahon; IMPRIMATUR Samuel Cardinal Stritch, Archbishop of Chicago August 1, 1953. Print. Drawing by Albert H Winkler.
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