Sunday Readings for March 28-29, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
By Lyn Zahorik | For On Mission
Palm Sunday tells the story of Jesus’ divinity and his humanity — and it refuses to let us separate the two. Jesus enters Jerusalem as the Son of God, fully aware of what lies ahead. He also enters as a man with nerves, memory, and a heart that feels deeply. His divinity does not shield him from the moment; it sharpens it.
The crowd’s joy is loud and genuine. Palms wave, voices shout “Hosanna,” cloaks are thrown onto the road. For a brief moment, Jesus is adored. How could a human heart not feel something stir at that — perhaps gratitude, perhaps tenderness, perhaps even a flicker of relief?
But Jesus, in his divinity, knows these people are cheering for a king they want, not at all aware of the Savior they need.
Aside from Jesus, the donkey is the other star of the show. What a strange choice Jesus made for his grand entrance. Not a warhorse. Not even a respectable parade animal. A donkey. A young colt that most likely was straining and stumbling under the burden it carried. One can almost imagine the awkwardness of it all — the Savior riding humbly on a beast with no qualities for bearing a great King. The humor, if we allow it, is tender: God keeps his promises, but rarely in the way we expect.
As the cheers rise, Jesus also sees to the edges of the crowd. Roman soldiers stand stiff and watchful, eyes narrowed, hands close to their weapons. Pharisees scowl, whispering urgently, already calculating how to stop this. Jesus sees the danger. This journey is not safe. Divinity does not dull the tension in his chest. He knows what Jerusalem will do to him. He knows how quickly palms will become fists, how soon “Hosanna” will become “Crucify Him.”
This is the mystery that matters: Jesus does not use his divinity to protect himself from his human emotion. His divinity gives him purpose, not insulation. His divinity ensures that love will not fail — but it does not make love painless.
For us, in our own time, Palm Sunday is not meant to simply open the door to Holy Week so we can rush through it distracted by shopping lists and Easter preparations. Rather, Palm Sunday is an invitation to linger, to stay with Jesus as he enters the city knowing what awaits, and to walk with him deliberately, not hurriedly. We are to enter slowly into the beauty and mystery of the Sacred Triduum that lies ahead. Resurrection cannot be rushed, pushing ahead of suffering.
It is important to remember, whatever burdens our inner little donkey carries into this Palm Sunday — hope and fear, faith and confusion, praise and resistance, tiredness and purpose — that Jesus has already carried those feelings. He knows what it is to be celebrated and rejected in the same breath, to be obedient while misunderstood, to walk faithfully into a future he would never have humanly chosen.
The readings for Sunday, March 29, can be found at Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion | USCCB.