Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is my favorite Sunday in church, even more than Easter, which traditionally is the high point of all the liturgical seasons. Like opening day of the baseball season or the beginning of any event or life experience, Palm Sunday sets the stage for what is to come. It is a clean slate, everyone starting fresh with expectation, excitement, and passion.

Palm Sunday is always the Sunday before Easter. It commemorates the triumphal entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover with a feast. The event is reported by all four Canonical Gospels: Mark 11:1-11, Matthew 21:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19, all of which recount the event with amazing similarity.

As Jesus made his entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, the crowds lined his path with palm fronds. This is the beginning of Holy Week with His arrest on Holy Thursday, His Crucifixion on Good Friday, His resting in the tomb on the Sabbath Holy Saturday, and His Resurrection on Easter Sunday. Today Palm Sunday is often celebrated with a procession, the blessing and distribution of palms to the congregation and a reading of the Passion usually from the Gospel according to Matthew. In the past, when palms were hard to obtain, pussy willows and other bushes were substituted. That’s why Palm Sunday is also known as Passion Sunday or Willow Sunday.

In some churches it is customary to make crosses out of the palms. I think it is a nice tradition. Having a cross to keep for the year is much more manageable than finding a place to store palm fronds as a reminder of our faith. I have been making palm crosses for years and it is not as hard as it looks.

On a personal note, my Dad died on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Since my Mother had predeceased him by 8 months, that Palm Sunday was a new beginning for me. I was now in charge. I would no longer be able to solicit their advice, be comforted by them or be guided by their experience in person. I would only be able to remember them and reflect on what they had instilled in me from memory. They are, however, always with me in spirit.

The Bible gives us the opportunity to keep Jesus with us in spirit too. By following a yearly tradition to observe Palm Sunday and what follows, culminating with Easter, we are reminded of the significance of Jesus’ experience. As we head into Holy Week, it is important to remember Jesus’ sacrifice and know that his death was a new beginning for us that started with Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday gives us the strength, passion and faith to face the pain and joy that we will experience in the near and distant future. This SPF protects us no matter what.

Joan Shisler