St Matthew 21:1-9; Zechariah 9:9-12; Philippians 2:5-11; St Matthew 26-27
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The date palm was among the earliest cultivated trees. They are characteristic of oases and watered places, and their fruit is edible. Deborah rendered her decisions under a palm tree (Judges 4:5) and the Hebrew poets reckoned the palm as a symbol of beauty and prosperity (Song of Solomon 7:7-8). Palms were used in the construction of the booths for Succoth (Lev 23:40) and carved images of palms were used by divine command to decorate the Temple (Ez 41:19).
Not everyone in Jerusalem may have known this. Whether they did or not, it seems likely that at least some of those who cry, Hosanna to the Son of David, were confused about what was happening or where Jesus was going. They may not have associated their chanting with Psalm 118 and the arrival of the Passover Lamb who is destined to die.
But the saints in heaven, washed in the blood of the Lamb were not confused. In the Revelation, St John sees palm branches in the hands of those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They take up palms to identity with our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem as a Sacrifice. They bow the knee at His saving Name and rejoice to see the real victory. Not a military hero or a great visionary, but the festal Sacrifice who is bound with the cords of our sins up to the Altar of His Cross.
Palm branches represent an oasis, water and food, rest and shelter, in a barren and hostile place. This is what God gives in the Temple and in His Word. He gives refreshment, rest, safety. Jesus is the Temple made without hands. He abides in the hearts of the faithful. He enters into them through His sacrificed yet risen Body and Blood. So the saints in heaven decorate themselves like the Temple on earth, with palms. For they are the place of the Lamb’s gracious Blood, they are temples of the Holy Spirit.
And this is why you take up your palms today. You are still in the great tribulation. Still attacked by the devil, the world, and your fallen flesh. Yet you are united with that great cloud of witnesses, your brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before you in the sign of faith. You too are temples of the Holy Spirit. You too identify with the Lord’s victory in death. So you take up your palms.
This doesn't mean that every one of us has understood this perfectly. We might still yet be confused about what it all means. In this we are not unlike some of the crowd on Palm Sunday, or even like the holy apostles themselves. St John says, His disciples did not understand these things at first (Jn 12:16). We may not fully understand the significance of palms or bowing or genuflecting or chanting, but that’s okay. The kingdom comes by grace, not by understanding. You have a lifetime and beyond to enjoy and learn these things.
But worse yet, we may not fully understand what our Lord Jesus has done for us in allowing wicked men to do those terrible things to Him. We may not understand why He rode that Sunday and how He answered the cry, Hosanna, humbling Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
We can never fully plumb the depths of these mysteries here on earth, but it doesn’t mean we don’t try. We apply our hearts and minds to wisdom. We contemplate these holy things. Meditate upon them. For we are being prepared for the Holiest Week of all of history.
Firstly we need to remember that our God, the Lord Jesus, rode to His death on the Cross as a Man, as St Paul writes to the Philippians. He took up our cause and has taken our very nature to the Cross. Human nature, fallen and corrupt, was under the wrath of God. It was impossible for men to find favor with God in this state. The Scriptures teach that all were by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3) and, by works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight (Rm 3:20), and the wicked shall return to hell, all the nations that forget God (Ps 9:17).
This is what Christ took up: our flesh of wrath. He took it that He might do and suffer what was impossible for us. He carried it, our very nature, throughout His earthly days as a life of penance and obedience to the Father. He carried it in agony, suffering in all the ways we suffer, tempted in all the ways we are tempted, yet without sin, until He submitted, at last, to death, even death upon a cross. In Him our sinful nature died and rose again. It died on the Cross and was buried.
Yet that death was its new creation. In Christ our old and heavy debt is satisfied. For in Him our nature was without sin. He had kept it pure. He had kept the Law in thought, word and deed, by what He had done and not done. Thus when He offered up His flesh upon the Cross it was made perfect by suffering. Our nature in the Christ became the first-fruits of a new man and was restored to its place in creation and beyond.
He did not sin. The Law was fulfilled. He was not a child of wrath, but He allowed the Law to do to Him everything that the Law demanded of Law-breakers. Of us. He did not hold anything back. He emptied Himself completely. He was declared a child of wrath and was not spared any of hell’s fury or sin’s shame. This is how He fulfills the Law. How He answers the Hosanna. Save us now! He dies.
Now in Christ the Law has nothing left with which to accuse you. It was all spent on Him. Your nature, in Christ, is once again clean. He was declared a sinner. He paid the wages demanded by justice and you are declared righteous and holy by faith and receive the wages of mercy.
Thus St Paul writes, That is One has died for all, all have died (2 Cor 5:14), and, our old man was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (Rm 6:6); and, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:5-6).
You are members of His Body; from His pure flesh and holy bones. And He says, Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. For My Flesh is true food My Blood is true drink (Jn 6:54-55).
This is why angels and saints - both in heaven and on earth - rejoice this week and take up palms in their hands. For the Stone that the builders rejected has become the Chief Stone. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the Day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Take up your palms and mingle your praise with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endureth forever.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
The date palm was among the earliest cultivated trees. They are characteristic of oases and watered places, and their fruit is edible. Deborah rendered her decisions under a palm tree (Judges 4:5) and the Hebrew poets reckoned the palm as a symbol of beauty and prosperity (Song of Solomon 7:7-8). Palms were used in the construction of the booths for Succoth (Lev 23:40) and carved images of palms were used by divine command to decorate the Temple (Ez 41:19).
Not everyone in Jerusalem may have known this. Whether they did or not, it seems likely that at least some of those who cry, Hosanna to the Son of David, were confused about what was happening or where Jesus was going. They may not have associated their chanting with Psalm 118 and the arrival of the Passover Lamb who is destined to die.
But the saints in heaven, washed in the blood of the Lamb were not confused. In the Revelation, St John sees palm branches in the hands of those who have come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. They take up palms to identity with our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem as a Sacrifice. They bow the knee at His saving Name and rejoice to see the real victory. Not a military hero or a great visionary, but the festal Sacrifice who is bound with the cords of our sins up to the Altar of His Cross.
Palm branches represent an oasis, water and food, rest and shelter, in a barren and hostile place. This is what God gives in the Temple and in His Word. He gives refreshment, rest, safety. Jesus is the Temple made without hands. He abides in the hearts of the faithful. He enters into them through His sacrificed yet risen Body and Blood. So the saints in heaven decorate themselves like the Temple on earth, with palms. For they are the place of the Lamb’s gracious Blood, they are temples of the Holy Spirit.
And this is why you take up your palms today. You are still in the great tribulation. Still attacked by the devil, the world, and your fallen flesh. Yet you are united with that great cloud of witnesses, your brothers and sisters in Christ who have gone before you in the sign of faith. You too are temples of the Holy Spirit. You too identify with the Lord’s victory in death. So you take up your palms.
This doesn't mean that every one of us has understood this perfectly. We might still yet be confused about what it all means. In this we are not unlike some of the crowd on Palm Sunday, or even like the holy apostles themselves. St John says, His disciples did not understand these things at first (Jn 12:16). We may not fully understand the significance of palms or bowing or genuflecting or chanting, but that’s okay. The kingdom comes by grace, not by understanding. You have a lifetime and beyond to enjoy and learn these things.
But worse yet, we may not fully understand what our Lord Jesus has done for us in allowing wicked men to do those terrible things to Him. We may not understand why He rode that Sunday and how He answered the cry, Hosanna, humbling Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
We can never fully plumb the depths of these mysteries here on earth, but it doesn’t mean we don’t try. We apply our hearts and minds to wisdom. We contemplate these holy things. Meditate upon them. For we are being prepared for the Holiest Week of all of history.
Firstly we need to remember that our God, the Lord Jesus, rode to His death on the Cross as a Man, as St Paul writes to the Philippians. He took up our cause and has taken our very nature to the Cross. Human nature, fallen and corrupt, was under the wrath of God. It was impossible for men to find favor with God in this state. The Scriptures teach that all were by nature children of wrath (Eph 2:3) and, by works of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight (Rm 3:20), and the wicked shall return to hell, all the nations that forget God (Ps 9:17).
This is what Christ took up: our flesh of wrath. He took it that He might do and suffer what was impossible for us. He carried it, our very nature, throughout His earthly days as a life of penance and obedience to the Father. He carried it in agony, suffering in all the ways we suffer, tempted in all the ways we are tempted, yet without sin, until He submitted, at last, to death, even death upon a cross. In Him our sinful nature died and rose again. It died on the Cross and was buried.
Yet that death was its new creation. In Christ our old and heavy debt is satisfied. For in Him our nature was without sin. He had kept it pure. He had kept the Law in thought, word and deed, by what He had done and not done. Thus when He offered up His flesh upon the Cross it was made perfect by suffering. Our nature in the Christ became the first-fruits of a new man and was restored to its place in creation and beyond.
He did not sin. The Law was fulfilled. He was not a child of wrath, but He allowed the Law to do to Him everything that the Law demanded of Law-breakers. Of us. He did not hold anything back. He emptied Himself completely. He was declared a child of wrath and was not spared any of hell’s fury or sin’s shame. This is how He fulfills the Law. How He answers the Hosanna. Save us now! He dies.
Now in Christ the Law has nothing left with which to accuse you. It was all spent on Him. Your nature, in Christ, is once again clean. He was declared a sinner. He paid the wages demanded by justice and you are declared righteous and holy by faith and receive the wages of mercy.
Thus St Paul writes, That is One has died for all, all have died (2 Cor 5:14), and, our old man was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing (Rm 6:6); and, even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:5-6).
You are members of His Body; from His pure flesh and holy bones. And He says, Whoever feeds on My flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up on the last day. For My Flesh is true food My Blood is true drink (Jn 6:54-55).
This is why angels and saints - both in heaven and on earth - rejoice this week and take up palms in their hands. For the Stone that the builders rejected has become the Chief Stone. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the Day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Take up your palms and mingle your praise with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good and His mercy endureth forever.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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