NO GREATER LOVE: THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY 

Pope Benedict begins Volume II of Jesus of Nazareth with the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. At the end of His Ministry on earth, Jesus starts on a journey with His disciples in Galilee. Pope Benedict calls this journey an “ascent” from north to south since the Sea of Galilee is below sea level, but Jerusalem is located on a plateau and has an average elevation of around 2500 feet above sea level. Pope Benedict then tells us: The ultimate goal of Jesus' "ascent" is his self-offering on the Cross, which supplants the old sacrifices; it is the ascent that the Letter to the Hebrews describes as going up, not to a sanctuary made by human hands, but to heaven itself, into the presence of God (9:24). This ascent into God's presence leads via the Cross---it is the ascent toward "loving to the end" (cf. Jn 13:1), which is the real mountain of God. 

We can regard the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week as the “turning point” in His three-year public ministry. Before this time, most of the Lord’s public ministry was in his home area of Galilee, although John’s Gospel does mention times before Holy Week when He did go to Jerusalem. In the years before Palm Sunday, Jesus gradually introduced the twelve Apostles and his close disciples to who He was and what He was going to do as the Messiah: that is, be the Savior of the world. However, to the masses of people to whom He preached and taught, he was content to be regarded as a “prophet”. When Jesus left Galilee for Jerusalem, he took His close disciples with Him.  However, by the time they got close to Jerusalem a “great multitude” followed them. (Mt 20:29, Mk 10:46) “And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.’” (Mt 21:10-11) 

What is a prophet? A prophet is one who speaks for God and gives us the Words of God. The Old Testament prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and many others spoke God’s Word as well as John the Baptist in the New Testament. Jesus also spoke God’s Word, but He did more than that for He also was God’s Word (Jn 1:14), the expected Messiah of Israel. However, before His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Jesus chose to keep his status as the Messiah secret from the masses. This is known as the “messianic secret”.  For example, after the Lord had raised to life the twelve-year old dead daughter of a synagogue ruler named Jairus, we learn that “he strictly charged them that no one should know of this, and told them to give her something to eat.” (Mk 5:43) He probably said this because this miracle might cause many Jews to consider Jesus to be the long-expected Messiah. However, this expectation carried “baggage” with it since many thought the Messiah would liberate them from Roman domination.  The Lord’s mission was to liberate them from sin and not Roman domination. This miracle was an act of Love toward Jairus and his family and not a demonstration that He was the Messiah. On the other hand, right before this, Jesus was in Gentile territory and drove many demons out of a possessed man and into a herd of pigs which rushed into the Sea of Galilee and were drowned. (Mk 5:1-20) When the healed demoniac wanted to join Jesus, He refused. Instead, He told this Gentile to go home to his fellow Gentiles and tell them what God had done for him. The “baggage” of the Gentiles was not liberation from Roman domination. It was idolatry, the idea that the Being of God was tied up with the being of the world. The idols were symbols of the power and glory of the natural world. This miracle taught this man and his fellow Gentiles that the true God was the God of Israel, the Supreme Being, who reigned over all of nature. The pagan idols were nothings just as the Old Testament prophets had asserted. The Lord wanted to “convert” this man not to the Jewish sacrifices and laws but to the God of Israel, the true God, so when the New Covenant came after the Resurrection, they would be ready to receive it. 

With the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the “secret” was out. As the Lord rode into Jerusalem, the crowd proclaimed “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Mt 21:9) When the Pharisees heard this, they told Him “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” (Lk 19:39) Jesus refused to do this. “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (Lk 19:40) They addressed Him as “teacher” rather than as the Messiah or even a prophet. They did not believe in Him. The Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem created a division in mankind which has persisted to this day. The crowd which proclaimed “Hosanna to the Son of David!” were pilgrims from Galilee and outside Jerusalem coming to the Jewish Passover feast. The people of Jerusalem mostly did not even know who Jesus was. (Mt 21:10-11). Pope Benedict states: The crowd that paid homage to Jesus at the gateway to the city was not the same crowd that later demanded his crucifixion.  Those who cried “Hosanna!” were followers of Jesus coming to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. Those who cried “crucify Him” were those who thought of Jesus as a dangerous outsider who could destroy their religion. People made their decision for or against Him.  Jesus said, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” (Lk 12:51-53) 

At His trial before the Sanhedrin and at His crucifixion, Jesus appears to be helpless in the hands of cruel and sinful men.  However, Jesus was really in control of the events. Previously, he had silenced demons who called Him “The Holy One of God”.  (Mk 1:21-28, Lk 4:31-37) On Palm Sunday, He refuses to rebuke those who said “Hosanna to the Son of David!”. (Mt 21:9) In obedience to The Father, He did what His Father required. He knew that those in power in Jerusalem wanted to eliminate Him. It was to be on His terms and the way in which He wanted it to proceed. When Pope Benedict describes the entry into Jerusalem in Jesus of Nazareth, he describes in great detail the many Old Testament references and connections in this event. Of course, this is what the four Gospel writers did when they wrote the Gospels. Jesus came to earth as a faithful Jew who called the God of Israel “My Father”.  Thus, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and all the other recorded events in His Life on Earth, must be seen in this context. 

Those who did not believe in Jesus, and especially most of the Jerusalem religious establishment who were forced into action by the triumphal entry, were united in their resolve the He must be eliminated.  On the other hand, many who did in some sense believe in Him did not really understand Him.  When two of His disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus on the evening of Easter Sunday, they encounter a “stranger” whom they did not recognize as Jesus. When the “stranger” asks them what they were speaking about, one of them, named Cleopas, says “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” (Lk 24:19-21) This person was a believer in the Lord, but he still had some “baggage”. Cleopas was looking for Jesus to liberate them from the Romans and restore the former glory of Israel. What was needed was Pentecost and the Church so that the nature of the Lord’s mission could be better understood. 

The Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem is celebrated in the Palm Sunday liturgy, but it is also a part of every Mass. In the Preface Acclamation before the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest and the people say: “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” We all acclaim Christ at every Mass just as the crowds did on Palm Sunday.  We acclaim Him not just as a prophet, but as much more than a prophet. Just as the ministry of Jesus can be divided into His teaching ministry and His ministry as Savior of mankind through the Last Supper (Eucharist), crucifixion, and resurrection, so can the Mass be divided into the Liturgy of the Word (teaching) and the Liturgy of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The two parts of the ministry of the Lord do not make sense detached from one another. The teaching ministry was necessary so that we could know the will of the Father. Yet, knowing God’s will is not enough.  We need the Sacramental strength given us on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday to fulfill God’s will. We must not only listen to His teachings; we must also ascend with Him up to Jerusalem. This is why the “prophet from Galilee” is so much more than a prophet. He teaches us, but He also gives us the sacramental grace to follow His teachings.  What came before was preparation, while Holy Week is the core of the Christian faith. –Jim Nugent, CfP