HOMILY XXIII. ON PALM SUNDAY.
MATT. XXI, MARK XI, LUKE XIX, JOHN XII. At that time, when Jesus came near to Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, he then sent two of his disciples, saying to them: Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me, etc.
Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who came down from heaven to earth to suffer for the salvation of the human race, as the hour of his passion approached, desired to approach the place of his passion, so that it would be clear that he suffered not unwillingly but willingly. He desired to come on a donkey and to be called and praised by the crowds as king, so that anyone who was taught this would recognize him as the Christ, whom the prophecy had long foretold would come in this way. He wished to come five days before Passover, as we learn from the Gospel of John, to show that he is the spotless Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Indeed, the paschal lamb, whose sacrifice freed the people of Israel from Egyptian servitude, was commanded to be sacrificed five days before Passover, on the fourteenth day of the moon, in the evening. This signified Him who, redeeming us with his blood, five days before Passover, that is, on this very day, came into the temple of God with great joy and praise from the crowds preceding and following. Daily he was teaching in the temple. On the fifth day, having completed the observance of the old Passover, he gave to his disciples the new sacraments to be observed thereafter. Having gone out to the Mount of Olives, he was seized by the Jews, and crucified in the morning, redeeming us on that very day from the dominion of the devil, the same day the ancient Hebrew people were freed from Egyptian servitude by the sacrifice of the lamb. Therefore, like the paschal lamb, the Lord went to the place of his passion five days before he began to suffer, to show that he is the one of whom Isaiah prophesied: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth" (Is. 53). And a little above: "But he was wounded for our transgressions, and by his stripes we are healed." Yet, the envious hearts of the leaders preferred to persecute him in all the things he justly did, rather than to believe in him, and they were more miserable in giving the author of life to death than in seeking life through him. However, leaving aside the blindness of the faithless, let us rather follow the examples of those who faithfully praised the Lord, and, as is fitting, let us mystically examine his mystical journey. The donkey and its colt on which he rode to Jerusalem signify the simple hearts of both peoples, the Jew and the Gentile, over whom he presides, leading them from harmful situations to the vision of heavenly peace by his command. For Jerusalem is interpreted as the vision of peace. And it is fitting that when the Lord came to the Mount of Olives, he sent disciples to bring these animals, because we reach him not by our own merits but by his grace alone, as John testifies, saying: "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us first" (1 John 4). The Mount of Olives suggests the height of the Lord's love, by which he mercifully deigned to enlighten and save us; not only because in its nature it is a minister of light and solace in labors and pains, but also because, whatever it is mixed with, it excels all other liquids. And the Apostle, when speaking about love, says: "And yet I will show you a more excellent way" (1 Cor. 12). So the Lord, coming to the Mount of Olives, commanded that donkeys be brought for him on which he might go to Jerusalem, figuratively indicating what he says elsewhere openly: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3). He sent two disciples to bring the animals to signify that preachers would be sent to both peoples, the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Or certainly he sent two to warn that the same preachers must be perfect in both doctrine and action: so that neither would ignorant words mix error with truth, nor would they negate what they rightly taught by living perversely.
You will find, he said, a donkey tied and a colt with her, untie and bring them to me. Other evangelists also attest that the colt was tied. For both peoples were encompassed by the ropes of sins and needed divine release; one by misusing the law he received, the other by never receiving it had sinned. Hence the Apostle rightly says: Because there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, justified freely by his grace. And fittingly, the other three evangelists, who wrote to the Gentiles, mention only the colt brought to the Lord. But Matthew the evangelist, who wrote the Gospel from the Hebrews and in Hebrew language, adds mention of the donkey, with provident dispensation for both, so that by writing they may seek the salvation of those, and mystically teach that they are foreshadowed to be saved by the Lord.
And if anyone says anything to you, he said, say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them. And it is instructed to the teachers that if any adversity opposes them, if anyone prohibits sinners from being released from the snares of the devil and brought to the Lord through the confession of faith, they should not desist from preaching, but steadily indicate that the Lord needs such people for building the Church. For though the persecutor is cruel and brutal, he cannot prevent the salvation of those whom the Lord knows as his own, for he has preordained them to eternal life. The testimony of the prophet is also applied to this fact, to show that the Lord indeed fulfilled all that was written about him, but the scribes and Pharisees, blinded by envy, were unable to understand what they were reading.
Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king comes to you, meek, and sitting upon a donkey, and a colt the foal of a donkey. The daughter of Zion is the Church of the faithful, pertaining to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all, of which a not insignificant portion was among the people of Israel, having a meek king: for he does not customarily give earthly things to the cruel, but heavenly kingdoms to the meek, saying: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Mt. XI). Of whom the Psalmist says: The meek, he says, shall possess the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace (Psalm XXXVI). The meek king indeed grants the land of peace to the meek, that is, to those humble in heart, whom once a cruel king, that is, the devil, laid low with the wound of pride in the land of war and tribulations. Sitting, he says (Isaiah LXVI), upon a donkey and a colt the foal of a donkey, because he rests in the hearts of the humble and quiet and those who tremble at his words, whether they who in the synagogue know how to bear the yoke of the law: or those who, long lawless in pagan freedom, are turned by the urgency of the same synagogue to the grace of faith and truth.
However, the disciples, bringing the donkey and the colt, placed their garments on them, and made the Lord sit above them. The garments of the disciples are works of justice, with the Psalmist as witness, who says: Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (Psalm CXXXI). The disciples pave the donkeys, which they find naked, with their own garments, and thus place the Lord above, when the holy preachers find anyone empty of the habit of holiness, and with examples of their virtues, they instruct them to receive the faith and love of their creator. For the Lord did not wish to ascend a naked donkey, nor a naked colt, because whether Jew or Gentile, unless adorned by the words and deeds of the saints, cannot have the Lord as guide, but rather sin reigns in his mortal body to obey its desires.
A very large crowd spread their garments on the road. This large crowd designates the innumerable army of martyrs, who gave their bodies, the coverings of their souls, for the Lord, so that they might make smoother the path of righteous living for the elect who follow: so that those indeed might not hesitate to place the foot of good action in peace, where they saw many have already gone before in the battle of martyrdom.
Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The branches of the trees are said to be the examples of the preceding Fathers. And whoever discloses what the prophets, apostles, or other saints said or did, as an example of right believing or working, truly cuts branches from the trees, with which he smooths the path of the Lord bearing the donkey, because he extracts sentences from the books of the saints, through which he builds up the hearts of Christ's simple ones in the way of truth so that they may not wander.
The crowds that went ahead and those that followed shouted, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David! With one and the same voice of confession and praise, they exalt the Lord, both those who go before and those who follow: because there is indeed one faith of those who were proven before the Lord's incarnation and those afterward, although they had different sacraments according to the times, as Peter attests, who says: But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus we shall be saved, even as they (Acts 15). And what they say, Hosanna to the Son of David, this is what is read in the psalm: The salvation of the Lord is, and upon your people is your blessing (Psalm 3), this is, what in great devotion of praise the chorus of saints resonates in the Revelation: Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb (Rev. 7).
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord signifies in the name of God the Father, which He elsewhere says to the unbelieving Jews: I have come in the name of My Father, and you did not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive (John V). For Christ came in the name of God the Father, because in all that He did and said He took care to glorify the Father and proclaim Him as to be glorified by men. The Antichrist will come in his own name, who, although the most wicked of all men and full of the devil as his companion, will not disdain to call himself the Son of God: for he opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. But the crowds take up a verse of praise from the one hundred and seventeenth psalm, which no one doubts is sung about the Lord. Whence it is beautifully stated about Him in the same psalm: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; because indeed Christ, whom the Jewish builders rejected with their decrees of traditions, has become the foundation of the believing people, namely the Jews and the Gentiles. For what is called the cornerstone in the psalm is Christ, who is praised in the Gospel by the voices of the preceding and following crowds. And what is furthermore added in the prosecution of the same praise, Hosanna, that is, salvation or save, in the highest, clearly teaches that the advent of the Lord in the flesh is the salvation not only of the human race on earth but also of the angels in heaven: because while we, being redeemed, are led to the heights, their number, which was diminished by the fall of Satan, is surely filled. For this Paul says that all things in heaven and on earth are restored in Christ (Eph. I). Therefore, rightly is Hosanna in the highest sung in His praise, whose whole dispensation of incarnation was present for the fulfillment of the glory of the heavenly fatherland. Hence it is necessary, my brothers, that with full devotion of mind we strive toward the promised fatherland, always remembering that, although the way by which we enter is difficult, the dwelling place to which we hasten is blessed. For it is more fortunate to be led through a rough path to the kingdom than through a pleasant and smooth one to punishment.
It is happier to earn everlasting joy through the restraint of the flesh than to achieve eternal punishment for a brief period of lasciviousness. Behold, with the Lord's help, we have already mostly completed the Lenten fast, as each one's conscience bears witness; for as much as one remembers having more strictly dedicated themselves to the Lord during these holy days, so much more joyfully does one expect the holy time of the Lord's resurrection. But if perhaps someone feels that their conscience accuses them of being less perfectly chastised, there is no doubt that they await the arrival of such a great solemnity in fear and trembling. Yet, let such a one not despair of salvation, nor be confounded by the multitude or enormity of their sins, lest they fall into the abyss of despair, according to that word of Solomon: "When the wicked man comes into the depth of evil, he despises" (Prov. XVIII); but let them consider carefully that if the time of the annual festival of the resurrection of our Creator affects the chaste with joy and the impure with fear and confusion, much more so will the time of the strict judgment, when the general resurrection of all is celebrated, and the sentence of the judge is already heard, bring joy to those with a clear conscience and condemn forever those whose guilty conscience accuses them. Therefore, dearest brothers, whoever, armed with the weapons of the restraint of the flesh, began to struggle against the proud tempter at the beginning of Lent, let them watch carefully not to abandon what they have begun, until, having overthrown the enemy, they are rewarded with the ministries of angels. But those who have not yet donned the armor of virtues, let them begin today; today let them join with those faithful crowds in taking up the works of faith, implore the mercy of Him who brought blessing to the world in the name of the Father, proclaiming "Hosanna in the highest," and beg to be saved in the heavenly homeland. Let them spread their garments on the way, that is, humble the members of their body in the present, that God may exalt them in the future, remembering that Davidic word: "The bones that have been humbled will rejoice." Let them cut branches from the trees and spread them on the way, that is, earnestly recall to memory the writings of the saints, which encourage those standing to not fall, exhort the fallen to not lie prostrate any longer, instruct those rising to be exercised in virtues, and uplift those exercised in virtues to hope for heavenly rewards. Thus, let them protect their actions so that they do not strike against the stone of offense and the rock of scandal, and thus follow the footsteps of their Redeemer with the other faithful, and with a pure mind worthy of honoring the mysteries of His passion and resurrection, He who granted to all His chosen members a remedy for their wounds and also a pledge of heavenly joys, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for all ages of ages. Amen.