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The Homily for the Palm Sunday, Year B, 2024
Homily of Palm Sunday, Year B: 2024
The Homily for the Palm Sunday, Year B, 2024
At the beginning of the liturgy, we reenact what happened on the day Jesus went into
Jerusalem for the last time. He rode on an ass, and people spread their cloaks on the
road. With palms in their hands, they praised him: “blessed is he, who came in the
Name of the Lord.” What a wonderful picture there. Imagine that we were there, we
may wonder: who is he? Why did people praise him? Yes, Jesus was a great hero in
Israel those days. He expelled demons from people’s life. He healed the sick on the
Sabbath; he raised the dead; He forgives sinners; and he cleansed the temple etc… So
people in Jerusalem knew him well. This is the first and only time Jesus rode on a lowly
beast to go into Jerusalem. He did this in order to fulfill what the scriptures wrote about
him. People on the street that day saw in Jesus an image of King David who triumphal
marched into Jerusalem. People in that day considered him as a revolutionary who will
lead them to defeat the Roman. But Jesus was not interested in secular politics. As he
told Pilate on Good Friday, He is a King, but his kingdom does not belong to this
world. His mission is to lead people to Truth and Life. Everyone belongs to the Truth,
hear his voice.
Passion story was a drama of our king. We can see that because of harden and prideful
heart, the high priest and religious leaders, in his time, did not accept and believe in
Jesus no matter what Jesus did during three years of public ministries. Because of
coward and ambition of heart, Pilate could not defense Jesus although he believe Jesus
was innocent. However, there were some hope the passion story; there was Simon of
Cyrene who was forced to carry the Cross with Jesus. There was a holy Veronica who
offered her veil to Jesus to clean his face. Each of us should be a Simon to help others’
burdens. Each of us should be a Veronica who will console those suffering in the world.
Dear friends Christ, Jesus did not defend himself before the religious and secular
authorities. He kept silence before any accusations people put on him. His silence does
not mean that he agreed to those accusations, but his silence means he accept to die
for us all, even though an injustice death. Jesus used silence to conquer violence and
hatred. He used silence to change harden and prideful hearts. let us learn to be silence
during Holy Week. We will not complain when we have to endure physical or emotional
pains. We will forgive when we are treated unfairly by our parents, our children or
grandchildren. We will accept when we have to sacrifice our time and treasure to help
the poor and the sick in our family and in our community. As the Centurion did, we have
to be silent when we look upon the Cross in order to exclaim: “truly this man was the
Son of God.” When we look upon the Cross, we should acknowledge that Jesus died
for our sins. He had to die for us to have life again; as Saint John the Baptist said:
Behold the Lamb of God, who take away the sins of the world. Saint Peter, after he
denied Jesus three times and Jesus looked at him without a word, Peter went out and
wept bitterly. Those are actions we should have when we look up to Jesus’ cross.
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