Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday)

Entering the Land of the Living 

The Lord’s entry into Jerusalem is often called triumphant—but it leads not to a throne of gold, but to a Cross. The crowds cry Hosanna!—some hoping for a political liberator, the long-awaited King who would overthrow Roman rule and wave palm branches. But the Anointed One, the true King of Glory, enters the Holy City not to seize power, but to surrender Himself: to be crowned with thorns, stripped, scourged, and crucified outside its gates.

And yet—this is His glory.

Palm Sunday is not merely a celebration; it is the threshold of the passion. The waving palms point not to worldly victory, but to His divine self-emptying, that will lead us to the land of the living.

As Fr. Robert reminds us, it is through baptism into the crucified and risen Christ that we are granted entry into the Land of the Living—a place where death no longer reigns.

We follow not the powers of this world, but the One who emptied Himself entirely, becoming vulnerable out of love for us. In raising Lazarus, Christ not only confirms His power over death, but unveils the mystery of our own resurrection. He comes to gather all into His eternal life—through the Cross, and into glory.