Palm Sunday Readings

The Exodus will be completed in Jerusalem. That is why it is necessary to cross the Jordan River in order to enter the Promised Land, the land of our new inheritance. Christ must pass through Jericho, bringing down its walls first, and destroying the strongholds of sin before ascending to Jerusalem. The matins gospel presents us with Christ’s meeting with Zacchaeus in Jericho, where the walls of sin fell under the feet of the new Joshua. Under the tree of disobedience, Adam stood awaiting salvation. After thousands of years, his son Zacchaeus stood at the same site of disobedience under the tree, and the years exhausted him with evil. His spiritual stature was shortened to the maximum extent, “And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.” (Luke 19:3) Therefore, Christ came and He took the form of man in order to save humanity, which in represented by Zacchaeus. The meeting with the sinners was fulfilled in Jericho – above the tree of transgression and disobedience. Christ then completed the meeting in Jerusalem with the cross, transforming punishment into salvation.

The four prophecies of Lazarus’ Saturday prepare for Christ’s entry into Jerusalem. As for the vespers psalm, it is the important fifth prophecy for this event, “Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.” (Psalm 118:25-27)

This psalm, which the multitudes sang when they greeted Christ upon His entry into Jerusalem, is a declaration that the true sacrifice enters the altar in order to be kept for the great day of salvation.   The church sings this beautiful psalm each Sunday during the offering of the lamb (Alleluia, this is the day that the Lord has made…O Lord save us…” In this, the church declares the entrance of the sacrifice into the altar; Christ’s entry as the High Priest in order to offer the eternal sacrifice. For this reason the congregants prostrate themselves to the great High Priest when the priest of the church raises the lamb saying, “Glory and honour, honour and glory to the all holy Trinity…”

The Pauline Epistle, (Hebrews 9:11-28) explains the same theological idea – presenting Christ on the great Day of Atonement, Who enters into the Holies, “He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Hebrews 9:26) Therefore, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem is represented by the entry of the high priest into the tabernacle, where according to Jewish tradition, the high priest secluded himself for a week prior to the Day of Atonement, in order to prepare himself. As such, “Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.” (Hebrews 9:11) Christ is the High Priest and the sacrifice, simultaneously.

The catholic epistle always presents us with the practical application for the readings, from 1 Peter 4:1-11, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.”

The four gospels present Christ the King, the son of David, entering Jerusalem in order to establish the eternal kingdom of David upon the earth, to gather everyone into one.

The Exodus and its Spiritual Meaning:

“Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem…” (Luke 9:51) “…who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31) Christ concluded His exit in Jerusalem by His death and resurrection and His ascension into the heavens and sitting at the right hand of the Father. Our exit also is completed in Jerusalem as we are united in Christ’s death and His resurrection. The journey of the exodus begins on the first Saturday of the Holy Lent and is concluded by the entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday in order to complete our exodus by the crossing (Passover) from the earthly Jerusalem to the Heavenly Jerusalem. In the days of St. Athanasius the apostolic, the book of Exodus was read on joyous Saturday (the fourth Paschal letter)

St. John’s gospel explains to us the meaning of the spiritual exodus, “To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep byname and leads them out.And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:3-4) and then he says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)

We notice the following: exiting requires entering from the door first, “If anyone enters by Me” Christ is the door and the entrance is through Him, that is, entering through the church doors – His body. Here is an indication of the fellowship in the body of Christ, which He completed for us in the mystery of His incarnation. Here He puts the word “if” and this means that the entry is by a person’s choice. Everything that follows requires that we first enter by our choice into the fellowship of His body so that we may become one of His sheep.

The sheep hear His voice first, and then He opens the door so that they may enter. His voice is the holy word. The sheep become accustomed to Christ’s voice and they distinguish it, hear it, and as such they follow Him. The sheep reject to listen to any voice that is foreign and different from Christ’s voice, the holy word, “Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” (John 10:5) “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” (Hebrews 5:14) Knowing the shepherd’s voice and distinguishing it from others is a sign that distinguishes the sheep themselves. He who does not know the shepherd’s voice is not one of the sheep.

He calls them by name because they are His sheep, ““He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17) “And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:4) Notice the phrase, “And when he brings out…” notice that entering happened first before exiting. Entering happened by choice, as for the exiting, the shepherd is the one who brings out his sheep who belong to him, and he goes before them. Christ says, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) By the words, “and will go in and out...” Christ brings us out to the freedom of the glory of God’s children, and we go out into victory through the cross in the mystery of redemption.  As for the phrase, “and find pasture…” this means that the going out is to the green pasture and this refers to the Holy Spirit Who works in the church’s mystery.

He who enters is saved. The entry by choice is followed by the entry from the door to the sheepfold, which is the church, the fellowship in Christ’s body. Following this, we leave the body of sin for the freedom of the glory of God’s children through the fellowship of the cross, baptism, and fellowship in Christ’s resurrection.

Therefore, the entry from the door and the exit out to the green pasture refers to the mysteries of the incarnation, redemption, and the church’s mystery. Those three mysteries are the mysteries of the Divine plan for salvation and they are the subject of the readings presented by the church in the three chapters of the Coptic year.