Palm Sunday Gospel A

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’ Then he will send them at once.” 
· How did Jesus know this? This is another manifestation of one of the gifts of the Spirit which Jesus exercised: the gift of word of knowledge. Can you imagine the reaction of the disciples when they experienced this as Jesus had said? What would have been your reaction?

This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: Say to daughter Zion, “Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
· The prophesy is found in Zechariah 9:9. Read it. It reflects the humility of a great person as he rides not on a stallion but on a donkey.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them, and he sat upon them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” 
· The disciples and the accompanying pilgrims going to Jerusalem recognize that Jesus was the Son of David prophesied in the scriptures, the Messiah. Their actions are a response to this conviction.

And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?” And the crowds replied, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
· Can you picture the consternation in the city when this throng of people, shouting and waving branches, enter Jerusalem. It was a procession akin to that of a victorious king after a battle.
· See yourself among the pilgrims and then among the people in Jerusalem, what do you feel and experience? What application do you make in your life?