Sunday, April 5

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”
—John 12: 12-16

Palm Sunday

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!” His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that it had been written and had been done to him.

If we’re honest, we never fully understand the entire story of Jesus. We see how God moves others to mission, outreach, and faithfulness in disease- and famine-torn areas of the world, and likely, we know first-hand of the love and pastoral care that can come from a Church or community of faith. But when it comes to actually understanding Jesus, understanding what we are called to do and to be in him, with the disciples, we remain confused.

But not understanding fully does not mean we fail to remember. Again and again throughout the Gospel according to John, we hear that simple phrase, “Then they remembered.” With the disciples, we too often do not understand the fullness of who Jesus is. But we remember. Remembering, more that just a cognitive skill, is the active realization that God’s story is still taking place in our lives.

Remembering, that act of anamnesis, is our recollection of the sacred story God has given since the foundations of the earth. By remembering Christ’s journey into Jerusalem, his willingness to endure death upon the cross, and his willingness to transform life into a new pathway, we re-enter the story of Christ’s passion for us. While we may not fully understand it, we, with all the disciples, come to remember, and in our remembering we come to know.

Let the remembrance of Christ’s passion for you be the focus of your week as we walk toward the cross. Let the remembrance of all that has happened in your life and in the life of God transform you as you prepare for the Paschal feast.

God, you give me your life through your story and ask that I remember it as I experience my own. In this the most holy of weeks, walk with me along the sacred path that together, I may remember your love, and receive your new life. Amen.