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Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year C: March 28, 2010
At the Procession with Palms
Luke 19:28-40
Every culture has its customary way of welcoming those that it honors. For the Jewish people in the Holy Land in the first century, a king was welcomed, not by rolling out a red carpet, or running a motorcade, but by placing their own garments under his path; and they waved, not flags or cameras, but branches that they had cut from palms and other trees, which they spread in his path as well [cf. 2 Kgs 9:13; Ps 118:26 in LXX].
Often in the Gospels, we hear that Jesus had urged people not to spread the news that he was the Messiah; because such news could have had an explosive effect. But on Palm Sunday, he threw aside caution to publicly reveal himself. (more…)