ENTERING OUR OWN JERUSALEMS

Christ’s entrance to Jerusalem marked the beginning of the fulfillment of His mission; the salvation of man. He was welcomed by a rejoicing crowd with palm branches laid on the ground and waived through the air. It was a festive welcome as people shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David.” They welcomed Him as the Messiah who would liberate Jerusalem from her foreign invaders the Romans. They greeted Him as one who will deliver a political victory to them and freedom from their oppressors. But Christ intended to liberate not them but the entire humanity from a far greater oppressor than any human persecutor. He would free man from sin and death. These same people would grow frustrated in their expectation from Christ, so much so that they will be the same people who would later shout, “Crucify Him!” A cry of condemnation far from their words of adulation to Christ in His entrance to Jerusalem.

Christ comes to our life too; desiring to enter our hearts. Are we ready to welcome Him as the Messiah; as the Lord who will direct our life? Or are we welcoming Him because He can be of use to us in achieving our personal desires and personal plans in life? We will be frustrated should we seek Christ to enter our heart to fulfill our desires for worldly achievements. Christ will not bring to us victory for material wealth and worldly powers. He will bring to us far greater things we ever conceived for ourselves; liberation from sin and death; heaven as our destiny. May we allow Christ to be the Messiah He is supposed to be, rather than demand or make a role for Him to play in personal plans and schemes. Allow Christ to be Christ, the Messiah, in our life.   

God as He is, Christ knew that as he entered Jerusalem, He had to suffer so that He may redeem man. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, the Messiah is bound to receive biting on his back, his beard will be plucked, his face will be buffeted and spat on. He knew people will be frustrated since He will not give them the political victory they so desired. He knew He would be condemned to die on a cross, like a criminal. Human as He is, Christ must have been afraid too of the horror of suffering and death in Jerusalem. Despite these mixed emotions of joyous cheers from the crowd and the sorrows of His impending suffering and death, Christ proceeded to Jerusalem to obey the will of the Father. He proceeded for the love of God towards man.

We too, like Christ, enter our Jerusalems with the intent of fulfilling the mission entrusted to us by the Father: mission to become parents, friends, teachers, engineers, spouses, etc. As we entered our Jerusalems and assumed these missions, we experienced joy and excitement. We have received a lot of gifts and greetings, words of praise and encouragements. Like the fresh palms, we are filled with vitality and energy. But as time pass, the joyful crowd grows thin, and words of encouragement become rare, sufferings and difficulties take place in our journey through our Jerusalems. Our palms are dried and withered. 

In silence, we walk through our Jerusalems.

As we enter our Jerusalems, and experience agony and struggles, we may say “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Thus, how are we to fulfill the mission entrusted to us? How are we to remain in our Jerusalem? How can our palms remain evergreen? We can learn from Christ. By becoming obedient to God, like Jesus, who though was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. He emptied himself, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Obedience is the key to the fulfillment of God’s will in our life; not our will but the will of the One who sent to us to these Jerusalems. And obedience is only possible for those who know how to listen to the Lord. Obedience is only possible for those who know how to be silent and are thus able to listen to God who speaks to man through silence. Most of the time, in the passion narrative, Jesus was silent, uttering a few words. It is an image far from the Jesus who narrates parables, stories, and preaches in length. He was silent, meditating the will of the Father, drawing strength from the Father that He may carry out the mission He gave to Him. In the midst of challenges in our Jerusalems and plights of life, we are not to surrender and leave our Jerusalems. We are to remain there in silence so that we may hear the voice of the Father calming us and strengthening us to continue. The Father will be the water that will sustain and constantly renew our palms. Not by our strength but by God’s grace can we get through our miseries. The sufferings will not be the end of our Jerusalems. Christ never remained in the Calvary on the cross. His suffering was only a passageway towards His glory. And so are our sufferings. Let the Father sustain us in our struggles as He accompanies us in silence and walks with us in our Jerusalems leading to the everlasting joy of Easter.