Archbishop of Sydney

Palm Sunday

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Luke 19:28-40

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
1/4/2007

Today we begin Holy Week, those seven days of preparation for the Resurrection, during which we also remember the Last Supper (when we celebrate the ministerial priesthood), Christ’s death and his time in the tomb before the Resurrection.

This week of celebrations probably dates from early fourth century Jerusalem, from that period when the Christians first obtained their freedom, so that they could publicly re-enact Our Lord’s journey to Calvary (rather than celebrate in private and in secret).

In Luke’s gospel Jesus’ long journey is now over as he arrives into Jerusalem, the city of his destiny and visits the Temple, the house of his Father.  There are similar accounts of this event, different in some respects, in all four gospels, John as well as the three synoptics.

Jesus comes to Jerusalem as a pilgrim, is hailed as a king with probably a percentage of the crowd, as well as all the later readers of the gospels, seeing him as the Messiah.  Unexpectedly for the majority of onlookers, this small triumph will be followed quickly by a period of teaching, the disturbance in the temple with the moneychangers and then by Jesus’ passion and death.  Our Lord will perform his own exodus, just as the Jews escaped from Egypt and eventually Easter peace will be attained.

It was quite a small triumph as we shall see, but this success is not the reason why Jesus is remembered or celebrated, because it was not the cause or occasion of our salvation.  It is not even like the first course in a fine dinner, because it takes us in the wrong direction of worldly success.  It in fact is an anti-climax, a false lead.

Our instincts are like Peter’s who was fiercely rebuked by Our Lord when he insisted that Jesus should not suffer and who used his sword in the garden of Gethsemane is attempting to resist Jesus’ arrest.  Jesus is going to suffer and die and our redemption is achieved by this.

The entry into Jerusalem is a small consolation before the saving catastrophe.

In my childhood, like all children, I suffered under a number of misapprehensions, misunderstood events that I now see more clearly.  I thought that the entry into Jerusalem would have been like a football grand final or like a royal visit fifty years ago with tens of thousands of people participating.

There was only a smallish crowd, probably less than a thousand, many of them from up country Galilee.  We do not know how many women and children participated, but they were noisy, charismatic types and delighted to welcome Our Lord.

Luke does not mention the palm branches Matthew described as being laid down on the road but we do hear of their laying down their cloaks for his procession, in the way that we today would roll out the red carpet for the visit of a high official.

In a revealing detail Luke has the crowd shouting out “peace and glory in the heavens”, whereas at the nativity the angels were proclaiming peace on earth.  There was not going to be peace in Jerusalem for Jesus and his followers for some days yet.

Jesus’ opponents urged him to stop this unseemly enthusiasm by the crowd, this exaggerated behaviour tending towards blasphemy, but he gave them no comfort.  If they were silent, he replied, the stones themselves would cry out.

We have now entered Holy Week, the most solemn series of feasts in the Church’s calendar.  Let us be serious and prayerful as we follow Jesus on his way to his death on Calvary and his glorious resurrection.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.