PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD

     

 

Matthew 21:1-11 and Matthew 26: 14 to 27:66

 

The whole city was shaken and asked ‘who is this? ’And the crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.’

 

‘Who is this’ is the key question for the full experience of Holy Week. If we let the question lead, rather than looking for a rote answer or explanation, we may find we plunge into the mystery of the Week’s climactic events and feel forever moved and changed. In real sacred theatre we find that the truth is a portal into reality as vast as the cosmos itself not a statement that settles any issue. Each of the four gospels points into the same mystery of ultimate inclusion from a unique angle.

 

Mark’s is the rawest and darkest. The abandoned Jesus is silent until his last words, a line from Psalm 22, asking from the Cross why Eloi had abandoned him. For the centurion at the foot of the cross, representing all those who would follow wondering ‘who is this?’, the moment of his absolute humiliation is the moment when the portal opens. Death is, for us and all creation, the great humbler.

 

Matthew (today’s account) builds an interpretation into his description of events. The answer to the question, ‘who is this?’, is ‘the fulfilment’. Not just of the Messianic hope of one human tribe but of all humanity. This is the one who leads us like a new Moses into the Promised Land. Not the fulfilment of our dreams and expectations but of the one desire we have all and always felt but have never been able to name.

 

The story we become immersed in this week is the story of humanity’s long evolution enacted in each human being. It shows what human existence is about: recognising and accepting our work and destiny as we learn the absolute liberty of saying ‘thy will be done’; of the need for companions to share the vision with; of not allowing the experience of betrayal to turn us into disillusioned traitors; of speaking truth to those corrupted by power without breaking our silence; of suffering affliction without the distraction of anger; of loving others who are suffering even while we are suffering. Of rising from the dead and passing through extinction into the eternal dawn of consciousness.

 

The sacred language of the Christian Way of Living is the body, not words or dogma. This week we edge towards understanding in an embodied way the significance of all that has happened to us and of what yet remains to become a signal and reassure us of the direction we are moving in.

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Laurence Freeman
Lenten Reflections 2026

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