March 24, 2024
Palm Sunday (Year B)
The readings for Palm Sunday are very familiar to most of us. We tend to consider them as the culmination of Christ’ s mission and the precursor to his resurrection, as well as the climax of the New Testament. However, few may know or consider how many parts of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures of Jesus, are an integral part of these readings.
It starts with the passage that is read at the beginning of the Mass – Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Mk. 11:1-10; Lk 19:29–40; Jn 12:12–16). Jesus sends two of his disciples to fetch a colt for him to ride into Jerusalem. As the procession ensues the crowds lay cloaks and palm branches on the road before him acclaiming, “Hosanna!” Their words of praise echo one of the verses from the book of Psalms: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. Join in procession with leafy branches.” (Ps. 118:26a, 27b).
Even more important is the bold statement that Jesus makes with this action. He is imitating the great, but humble kings of the Old Testament who ride into the city at the time of their coronation or after a victory in battle. It is a direct fulfillment of a prophecy from Zechariah: “Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech. 9:9).
We then proceed to the First Reading from Isaiah (Isa. 50:4-7). One can hardly miss the reference to the scourging and mockery that Jesus will endure before his crucifixion: “I gave my back to those who beat me. My face I did not hide from insults and spitting.” (Isa. 50:6).
The Responsorial Psalm is even more significant (Ps. 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24). Known as the “Passion Psalm,” it contains some of the most well-known details of Christ’s passion. These include: the jeering from the crowds and chief priests, “All who see me mock me” (Ps. 22:8a), Jesus being nailed to the cross, “They have pierced my hands and my feet” (Ps. 22:7), and the soldiers gambling for his few belongings, “For my clothing they cast lots (Ps.22:19b).
Finally, we come to the passion narrative from Mark’s Gospel (Mk. 14:1-15:47). It begins with Jesus celebrating his final meal with his disciples at the Last Supper. It is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a weeklong Jewish celebration which coincides with the feast of Passover (Mk. 14:12). Both were instituted by God at the time of the Exodus when the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt. It is also the day that the Passover lambs are sacrificed. During this very same celebration, with his crucifixion and death, the blood of Jesus as the new Passover lamb will bring redemption to not only Israel, but all humanity as a sacrifice for sin.
As the meal progresses, Jesus predicts the betrayal of Judas Iscariot saying that he will be betrayed by “the one who dips with me into the dish.” This is a reference to another of the Old Testament psalms, “Even my trusted friend, who ate my bread, has raised his heel against me.” (Ps. 41:10).
Jesus then goes on to perform these actions with those present. Taking, blessing, and breaking, he gives pieces of the unleavened bread to the disciples saying, “Take it; this is my body” (Mk. 14:22). He then takes the cup and gives it to them saying, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many (Mk. 14:24). These are the blood and flesh of the new Passover lamb again being offered for our sins. Even more so, they are the seal of the New Covenant promised by God to the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, the one to be written on the hearts of all people (Jer. 31:33).
When they go out to the Mount of Olives, Jesus makes another ominous prediction that Peter will deny him three times and his other disciples will abandon him. Again, we see the fulfillment of a prophecy from Zechariah: “‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be dispersed.” (Mk. 14:27b cf. Zech. 13:7).
At his arrest, the disciples all flee as predicted, and Jesus is taken before the Sanhedrin for his trial. The chief priests bring false testimony about Jesus and question him extensively. But Jesus barely speaks. He remains silent like the suffering servant of Isaiah who suffers for the sake of Israel and who “like a lamb led to slaughter opens not his mouth.” (Isa. 53:7).
When Jesus finally does speak it is to answer the question of the high priest who asks if he is the Christ, the son of God. Jesus gives a reply which is a quote from one of the central prophecies of the Old Testament. It is a description of the messiah, the divine agent of God of the prophet Daniel who will have dominion over the world with an everlasting kingship. And it is the statement which brings against him the charge of blasphemy, describing himself as “The Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mk. 14:62 cf. Dan. 7:13).
The chief priests sentence Jesus to death, but they are unable to carry out this punishment without the cooperation of Roman authorities. So, they send Jesus to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, to continue the trial. When they bring Jesus before Pilate, they accuse him of civil crimes such as trying to incite the people. But Pilate knows that Jesus is not a revolutionary and that it is only out of envy that the chief priests have brought Jesus to him.
Again, Jesus is silent before Pilate and the governor is amazed at his lack of self-defense. When Pilate asks him if he is the “King of the Jews” (Mk. 15:2a), Jesus replies only, “You say so” (Mk. 152b). Pilate, realizing that Jesus is innocent, tries to release him to the crowd according to one of the traditions of the feast, but instead they choose a violent criminal, Barabbas to be released. The chief priests remain staunch in their decision and call for Pilate to crucify Jesus.
In order to satisfy the crowd, Pilate releases Barabbas and sends Jesus to be scourged. After being scourged, the Roman soldiers mock Jesus, dressing him in a purple robe and placing a crown of thorns on his head. When Jesus is crucified Pontius Pilate has an inscription placed above his head with the charge, “The King of the Jews” (Mk. 15:26). Jesus, betrayed, abandoned, and denied, dies on the cross feeling forsaken by his Father. Yet, Pilate does not realize that the title he has given Jesus is so appropriate for he is the long-awaited “King of the Jews.”
With this, one of the final scenes of the New Testament we find one of the greatest references to the Old Testament. For here we are told that when Jesus dies, “the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom” (Mk. 15:38). The veil of the sanctuary would have been the fabric separating the outer portion of the Temple from the most holy inner portion, the Holy of Holies. This was the place where only the Jewish priests could enter in order to make sacrifices to God.
Now Jesus, as the true King of the Jews, Messiah, and Anointed Son of God, who has triumphantly ridden into Jerusalem, has given access to God to all people who come to believe in his name. Today as Christians we continue to have this access to God originally established in the Old Testament. This happens especially during the celebration of the Mass when the priest, present at the altar in the sanctuary of the Church, repeats the words of Jesus from the Last Supper – take and eat this is my body, and drink from the cup of my blood.
The promise of the new covenant comes to fulfillment in the Sacrament of the Eucharist in the very person of the divine Son of God. What first began in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis, the estrangement of humanity from God, now ends in the New Testament with the salvific offering of Christ himself on the cross.
