As true Christians and Catholics, we should understand the significance of the many things that we do. It is not enough to go to church, hear Mass, listen to sermons, and be present in the rituals and ceremonies that we observe. We have to deepen our faith by studying scripture, attending retreats, and listening to the teachings of the learned. Today, we celebrate Palm Sunday. We should then understand the symbolism of this occasion.
Palm Sunday is chronicled by evangelists, Luke, Matthew, John, and Mark and also by St. Paul in his epistles to the Philippians. It is also written in the Revelations, the Book of Kings, and in the Book of Zechariah. Palm Sunday marked the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, where the people covered his path with precious garments, palms, and olive fronds. It was a symbol of highest respect. However, the people who shouted "Hosanna" then would later be the same ones shouting "crucify Him" before Pilate. Such was the unreliability and ingratitude of human beings.
The use of a donkey, an animal of peace, and not a horse, an animal of war, symbolized that Jesus was a man of peace, a God of Peace. The palm symbolized victory and adulation. The palm, according to Jewish tradition, was largely considered as one of the four species for Sukkot, or the ritual of rejoicing. In the Roman Empire, the palm was accepted as the symbol of victory and achievement. Thus, the arrival of Jesus was a political statement that Jesus was not afraid. He was a lamb entering the den of lions. The city was the citadel of His enemies; the scribes, Pharisees, high priests, and the rulers who saw Jesus as a rebel, an insurrectionist, a threat to the status quo.
In a way, the entry into Jerusalem could be likened to the ecstatic entry of Cory's forces into Club Filipino from EDSA to claim the crown from the overthrown government of Ferdinand Marcos. Somehow, we could imagine the triumphant shouts and laughter of the troops of Lapu-Lapu slaying Ferdinand Magellan. The entry of Jesus to Jerusalem, however joyful, was followed by Christ weeping over Jerusalem, the city that He loved. And the one where He would soon be accused, tried, convicted, sentenced to death, and executed in. But the glory of it all is that the temple that was destroyed would rise again in three days.
The greatest symbolism of Palm Sunday is the assurance that, in a matter of seven days, Easter Sunday would come. And resurrection is the central truth upon which our faith is founded. Our faith loses its meaning without the day we are going to next Sunday.