The point of our palm-waving festival this weekend is to honour the King, Who entered His own capital of Jerusalem as the Successor of David, to claim not political power but His eternal priesthood. Indeed He went not to the palace of the tetrarch Herod on that day, nor even the residence of the Roman procurator Pilate, but straight to the Temple of His presence.
“The disciples went and did as Jesus told them; they brought the she-ass and its colt, and saddled them with their garments, and bade Jesus mount. Most of the multitude spread their garments along the way, while others strewed the way with branches cut down from the trees. And the multitudes that went before Him and that followed after Him cried aloud, ‘Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.’ When He reached Jerusalem, the whole city was in a stir; ‘Who is this?’ they asked. And the multitude answered, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, in Galilee.’ Then Jesus went into the Temple of God, and drove out from it all those who sold and bought there, and overthrew the tables of the bankers, and the chairs of the pigeon-sellers; ‘It is written,’ He told them, ‘My house shall be known for a house of prayer, and you have made it into a den of thieves.'”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 21: 6-13 [link]
Thus as the prophet Zechariah once said, the Shepherd-king arrived on a makeshift throne, made from two animals: an ass and a colt. The King arrived in His capital not to be triumphantly crowned as secular prince, but to establish a new priestly ritual: He Himself would be the victim to be sacrificed, Himself the altar of sacrifice, Himself the priest offering the sacrifice upon the altar. This later theological understanding of the Church is built upon the vision of a good and honourable Heart that gave of Itself for the men and women It so loved. A very human heart. In distress and pain, It called out the lines of Psalm 22 (below): My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? This is the matter of our first reading and psalm.
“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Book of Psalms, 21(22): 2-9 [link]
Loudly I call, but my prayer cannot reach Thee.
Thou dost not answer, my God,
when I cry out to Thee day and night, Thou dost not heed.
Thou art there none the less, dwelling in the holy place;
Israel’s ancient boast.
It was in Thee that our fathers trusted,
and Thou didst reward their trust by delivering them;
they cried to Thee, and rescue came;
no need to be ashamed of such trust as theirs.
But I, poor worm, have no manhood left;
I am a by-word to all, the laughing-stock of the rabble.
All those who catch sight of me fall to mocking;
mouthing out insults, while they toss their heads in scorn,
‘He committed himself to the Lord,
why does not the Lord come to his rescue,
and set His favourite free?'”
In utter humiliation, this Sacred Heart then offered upon the Cross the sacrifice that Adam, Eve and every other human being before Him had failed to offer: complete subjection to the Divine will. This is described wonderfully in our second reading from S. Paul. Humility is rewarded, as S. Paul tells us, because it is when we put ourselves in the lowest place that the Holy One beckons us higher.
“Yours is to be the same mind which Christ Jesus shewed. His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet He did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted; He dispossessed Himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting Himself to us in human form; and then He lowered His own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought Him to death, death on a cross. That is why God has raised Him to such a height, given Him that Name which is greater than any other name; so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the Name of Jesus, and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father.”
Letter of S. Paul to the Philippians, 2: 5-11 [link]
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 