It's Palm Sunday...before the pandemic this was the time people went to Church to get a little extra drama, picked up a palm frond (Russians use pussy willows because, well, how many palm trees are in Siberia?) to stick in a prayer corner or shrine at home to spend the rest of the year drying out, parishes did a dramatic reading of the Passion, and had a little 'fun' before the true sobriety of Holy Week really got under way.
Fast forward to last year and this year and very little of that remains. What we do accomplish is online, or with social distancing, very little singing, and perhaps under a pall.
Jerusalem seems again to be occupied by the oppressive Romans.
That makes the triumphal entry even more important! The day before we commemorated the raising of Lazarus from the dead (Lazarus Saturday), and today we join in with Our Lord Jesus Christ as He enters Jerusalem as the true Lord of Israel, the King of David's line, the humble contrast of selfless humility against the arrogance of the occupying powers, Death and Sin. We do not sing "Hallelu-Jah" on this entry, the praise shout to our God, but instead we shout "Hosannah!" which means, "Save us!"
For that is what He is here to do. Creation is occupied by a hostile force, humanity is oppressed by a cruel despot, and we lost touch with God, our lifeline. Jesus has triumphally entered the occupation zone to meet Sin and Death and to defeat them, not by military might or by a treaty or by force but by selflessly offering Himself, the perfect union of Human and Divine natures, as the Great Paschal Sacrifice, Christ our Passover. It is He who will submit to Death for Death to discover that it has tried to swallow the Divine and takes a fatal wound, to discover that here is one human it cannot hold onto, that the old rule that all humans must die is no longer enforceable.
Jesus has provided us the means of deliverance. Therefore as He enters the zone we cry, "Save us, Lord, save us; Hosanna, Adonai, hosanna!"
Mosaic of the Entry into Jerusalem, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, Las Vegas NV
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