Palm Sunday

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 19. 

Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 

When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, saying, 'Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, "Why are you untying it?" just say this: "The Lord needs it." ' So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, 'Why are you untying the colt?' They said, 'The Lord needs it.'  

Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, saying, 

'Blessed is the king 

   who comes in the name of the Lord! 

Peace in heaven, 

   and glory in the highest heaven!' 

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, order your disciples to stop.' He answered, 'I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.' 

As you enter Westminster Abbey on Palm Sunday, everything might appear just as usual. The same soaring columns, the same painted screen, the same light pouring into the space… But as you walk through the screen into the Quire of the Abbey, things look different. Gone are the gold and statues at the High Altar; instead, we have our Lenten Array – vast unbleached curtains veiling the glitter and confronting us with Jesus on the cross. A series of images are stencilled across the top, which at first glance might seem a little random, but in fact are some of the Arma Christi: the instruments of Christ’s Passion. There are eight of them – from the Cock that crowed when Peter denied Jesus, to the lance that pierced his side, and in the centre, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.   

The drama of walking through the Abbey mirrors the drama of Palm Sunday in Scripture. We begin outside in praise and glory, hearing of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the disciples acclaiming him, and move through to the singing of the Lord’s Passion – the pain and death encapsulated in those Arma Christi.   

This drama is not just a fun procession and the chance to hear some nice music, it draws us into the reality of the events of Holy Week, encouraging us through physical movement and the Word to ask ourselves how this relates to our own lives. We ourselves often begin with all the right words on our lips, all the right feelings in our hearts, but as time passes, we suddenly are confronted with how we have fallen short – with the sins for which Christ suffered and died for us. In this moment, we can’t pretend that everything is as usual, we are called to turn back to Christ, when our footsteps have led us down the wrong path.   

This journey can be hard, even painful at times, but because of the reality of Christ’s Passion, which we see above our Altar, we can always begin again. Through Jesus Christ, we can set our feet back on the right path and join in singing out in praise “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!”