THE VIEW FROM RIZAL
Last Sunday, as my family and I joined the Palm Sunday celebration, I asked myself what the significance of the occasion was for me, personally. As I pondered on the events of the very first Palm Sunday, I realized that the particular moment being celebrated by the Church on that occasion was the grandest of all “grand entrances” humankind had witnessed.
I realized many of history’s towering figures had a penchant for similar grand entrances. History aficionados would recall that such grand entrances often took place in the aftermath of a bloody conquest. The Conqueror would march in full battle regalia, his troops in tow he entered the vanquished city.
Among such figures were Napoleon Bonaparte, whose entrance into the gates of conquered cities is commemorated in medals; and Alexander, the Great, whose triumphal entry into Babylon is immortalized in many works of art. Julius Caesar’s triumphant entrances are remembered in history through the classic phrase with which he described his victories: “Veni, vidi, vici.” I came. I saw. I conquered.
In our view, nothing would surpass the grandeur of what is perhaps, the best-commemorated and celebrated entrance into a “conquered” city – the triumphal entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem on history’s first-ever Palm Sunday.
Hundreds of millions of Christians, particularly Catholics, continue to mark this important date. Yearly, the scene of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem is reenacted in millions of parishes and local churches worldwide.
Yes, it must be history’s grandest entrance of all. Yet, I realized it is also quite unlike the other “grand entrances” done by some of the towering figures in world history.
Unlike, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Napoleon Bonaparte, Jesus did not come riding a tall, majestic horse.
Jesus rode a lowly, borrowed ass – the lowest, least attractive, most stubborn member of the horse family. It is far from majestic. It does not even neigh like the stallion. Rather, it brays – a harsh, ugly sound.
In their grand entrances, the mounted conquerors were followed by battalions marching in perfect order and displaying the best weapons in their armory.
Jesus, on the other hand, was followed by a rowdy crowd bearing only branches with leaves plucked from nearby olive palm trees.
Every grand entrance by a conqueror into a vanquished city was followed by a coronation. The new subjects would put emerald and gold-encrusted crowns into the head of the conquerors, signaling the latters’ recognition as kings and emperors.
Jesus was crowned, too. There were no jewels in the crown, however. It only had thorns.
Every grand entrance into a vanquished city meant expanded geographical territory for the empire of the conquerors. Jesus conquered no territory. Instead, He conquered hearts – the core of man’s being and the seat of his will.
The vanquished people became the slaves of those who conquered them. Jesus, however, had made it clear that such was not the purpose of his conquest. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve,” he declared.
With each grand entrance into a vanquished city, the conqueror would further his claim to immortality. The bowed heads of the conquered people fanned fantasies that the conqueror was to live forever.
In stark contrast, Jesus made the grand entrance to Jerusalem not to claim immortality, but to die.
Conquerors could demand that their vanquished subjects die for them in subsequent wars. Jesus was different. By making that grand entrance to Jerusalem, he showed that he was “to die for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them …”.
When history’s greatest conquerors made their grand entrances into vanquished territories, such entrances meant slavery – bondage for those who were conquered.
Jesus was different. Those whose hearts he conquered are instead liberated from their bondage. They become freemen. “I am the way, the truth, the life,” Jesus said.
Yes, he is the Truth – the Truth that sets men free.
Today, I pray for our readers – that Jesus may make the grand entrance into their hearts and that we may all experience his liberating power.
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