On Palm Sunday
By the Holy Hieromartyr Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Smyrna
By the Holy Hieromartyr Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Smyrna
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel” (John 12:13).
Truly a royal feast do we celebrate today; a royal visitation do we receive, and all things must be prepared in a royal manner, for where there is the presence of a king, there also preparation, order, and reception must be worthy both of the greatness of the feast and of the high dignity of the royal visitor.
To such a magnificent — indeed, one might say, God-fitting — preparation and reception, we are called from the depths of the ages by the ancient voices of the Prophets, which are also repeated by the innocent children, who, holding palm branches in their hands, today receive the coming King of the New Jerusalem, crying aloud and saying: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes, meek and bringing salvation.” And, raising their voices still more, they cry out: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.”
The Prophets call us to see what they desired to see and did not see, to hear what they longed to hear and did not hear — to behold that salvation and grace have appeared, that the King has come, and that the Conqueror of death is present.
They call us to go forth to meet Him who comes meek and bringing salvation — who comes as a King to grant general remission and amnesty to us who are condemned, and to proclaim an acceptable year of the Lord; and He comes in the form of humility, in the form of a servant to servants — the Master; in the form of a condemned man to the condemned — the Liberator; and He bears upon His shoulders all our sins - the Sinless One. He comes in lowly appearance, He who is above all — the One who comes upon the clouds of heaven, He upon whom the angels of God ascend and descend — He “comes meek and bringing salvation.”
Of Him the Prophets spoke:
“Behold our God; He Himself will come and save us.”
“Behold the man whose name is the East; prepare the way for Him who rides upon the west; the Lord is His name.”
“Awake, O North; come, O South; from the east and the west and the north and the sea, call your children, O Jerusalem.”
“This is our God, and no other shall be reckoned in comparison with Him.”
“Rejoice and be glad, O Zion; praise the Lord, O children.”
And the children cry out, saying: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel,” and the echo of the ages responds to the voices of the Prophets, and the myriads and millions of the faithful throughout the whole earth repeat: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, your King comes, meek and bringing salvation.”
But where does He come, when does He come, and why does He come “meek and bringing salvation”? Behold the great mystery hidden beneath this royal and unique feast and day.
He comes first six — or rather five — days before the Passover, that great, new, and unique event in the history of mankind. He comes to Jerusalem, because in Jerusalem it was written that the great sacrifice of the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, would be accomplished; and He comes meek, like a sheep to the slaughter and like a silent lamb, saving all earthly-born people by His blood.
Six days — or rather five days — before the Passover, precisely on the tenth day of the first month, it was an inviolable law among the Jews that every Israelite should purchase a perfect lamb — without blemish, one year old, male — and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month; and then, toward evening, the whole assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel was to slaughter that lamb and celebrate the Passover in remembrance of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, from the land of bondage, and also as a remembrance of the salvation of the firstborn of the Jews from the destroying angel.
All this was at the same time a type of the eternal Lamb, the Son of God, the eternal sacrifice, in whose blood the stiff-necked Israel became guilty. Six days before the Passover, when this Lamb came to Bethany, the Jews received Him with exceptional honors, offered Him rich food, anointed Him with precious pure nard, and on the following day prepared for Him a procession and reception altogether unprecedented and unheard of.
The whole city was shaken, and all went out to meet Him; spreading their garments in the roads, cutting branches from trees, and raising palm branches, they praised Him and cried out, saying: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel.”
And He comes meek, and before the one who shears Him He remains silent; He does not open His mouth, as He is led to slaughter, and as He comes to die and by His blood to save the world.
The new generation of the Jews, in some innate way, senses and understands all these things, which their fathers had sorrowfully forgotten.
As you see, the children perceive more deeply the meaning of this royal visitation, and therefore they glorify the One who comes as God, whereas their fathers crucified Him as an enemy in the midst of thieves.
The children cry “Hosanna,” that is, “O Lord, save now; O Lord, grant success now,” while their fathers shout, crying: “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” The children spread their garments on the road through which Jesus passed, while their fathers divided the garments of Jesus and cast lots for His clothing. The children strip themselves of their tunics, while their fathers strip the Lord even of His tunic. The children, with palms and branches, receive Jesus as King, while the elders, with swords and clubs, go out as against a robber to seize the Lord. The children bless, while the elders blaspheme. The children, like innocent lambs, receive the great Shepherd of the sheep, while their fathers, like wolves, slaughter and tear apart the Lamb.
And behold how we must celebrate this royal feast, and how we must receive this royal Visitor: we must celebrate as children; we must receive the coming King as children; we must turn and become like children — infants in regard to sin, purified from every stain and defilement. Our flesh must be restored and become like the flesh of a little child, as the Prophet says; that is, our heart, hardened like stone, must become tender and sensitive. The childlike conscience of our early years — that reverent, modest, pure, and undefiled conscience — must return to our breast. We must strip off our entire sinful past; we must be unclothed of all the garments with which sin surrounds us on every side. We must spread branches of good works along the path of our life, and holding as palm branches the sheaves of our good deeds, we must go forth during the coming Great and Holy Week of the Lord’s Passion to meet and worship Him — filling the churches of God with our reverent presence and listening with attention and compunction to the divine hymns and heavenly chants of our Church - so that we may be counted worthy to celebrate, in spiritual joy and blessedness, also the radiant three-day Resurrection of our Lord. Amen.
Source: “Agios Polykarpos” Year 1, Smyrna, no. 50, March 17, 1912, pp. 802–805. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.