Friday Mar 22, 2024
Repent, and Believe in the Gospel
Homily
Palm Sunday
24th March 2024
At the beginning of lent, Ash Wednesday, we had the sign of the cross marked across our forehead, and the words said were, “Repent, and Believe in the Gospel”.
Today, in the first Gospel, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem riding a donkey’s colt. He did not arrive with the splendour of an earthly king, with an entourage. He came in a simple way, humble and meek. Jesus is equal to God the Father, yet he took on the condition of a slave like all humans are in this world. He wanted to share our experiences and suffer the same temptations that we do.
Jesus is the pure sacrifice, one without sin, who became the sacrificial Lamb of God. Just a week after the crowds had shouted “Hozanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” the same people were shouting for him to be crucified. They had been led astray by the Pharisees, who feared the Romans would take away their power and authority.
Jesus humbled himself even to death of a cross, sacrificing himself for all our sins, in order that by our repentance, we can be forgiven. All we must do is trust in Jesus, have faith in him and follow him and his way.
When our hearts tell us we have done wrong, we should not hide in fear of being punished, we should not hide in the darkness expecting the one with authority to pass us by. God’s love reaches into the depths of darkness. Everything about us is revealed and cannot be hidden. God knows us, every heartbeat, every hair on our head counted. He knows us intimately. He created us, knowing us before we were conceived.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world; anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark, he will have the light of life”. He also said, “Whoever, loves me, loves my Father. If we believe in him, we know he is speaking the truth, but if we do not, we are believing deceived, and are following the father of lie, the devil, because we prefer to do as he wants.
In our hearts we know the truth. If anything is holding us back, now is the time to confess and let it go. Let nothing hold you back from the love of God.
Jesus said, “I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies her will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.”
Do we believe this?
“Hozanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hozanna in the highest!”
Amen.
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