Welcome!  Today is Palm Sunday and the Genesis of Holy Week.  A week before the Passover celebration, The Lord Jesus entered the Holy City, and he was honored as the New Messiah by the many people holding palm branches and singing hymns for him. 

Let us reenact that scene today and place ourselves there with the Lord and welcoming Jesus into the Holy City.  Let us hold our palms high, so that we can renew our commitment to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 

Please hold up your palms for the blessing. 

Homily

The Gospel of Jesus according to Matthew has many details about the Passion of Jesus. 

Matthew points out that Jesus already knew what will happen to him.  He informed the disciples countless times about the inevitability of the cross. 

The son of man must suffer, be rejected by the chief priests, elders and scribes and die, and on the third day be raised again. 

One way to show that Jesus is the true 

Messiah is that the death of Christ was not an accident.  It was part of the plan of salvation. 

The kiss of betrayal

Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him.  Why did Judas greet Christ with a kiss?  Because it was the customary greeting.  It is so that Judas could conceal the act of betrayal.  But the Lord already knew.  Have you betrayed the Son of Man with a kiss. 

Matthew writes that the Lord was arrested after the Last Supper while they were in the Garden of Gethsamane.  And Christ was brought to trial before the high priest Caiphas and the Jewish Council.  This trial was taken place not during the day but at nighttime.  The trial was unfair, hurried and very messy.  They quickly came to a decision about the accusations towards Jesus.  

A few things worth noting is that Jesus didn't have a defense attorney.  There were witnesses against him, but they were false ones. There was no jury to examine the evidence and make a decision. 

Even among the witnesses, they had disagreements.  During the trial, there was much violence done towards Christ.  It ultimately came down to the decision of the high priest.  The accusation against Jesus was for blasphemy, because he claims to be the Son of God and equal to God.

But blasphemy was not a reason to have someone crucified.  But treason was.  So they had to force Pontius Pilate to have Jesus crucified.  Although Pilate found Jesus to be innocent, but because of the crowd, he washed his hands and ordered for the crucifixion.

Pilate saw one way out of this mess which is to set Barabbas next to Jesus and ask the people to decide which one to release.  It's interesting because the name Barabbas which means Son of God.  Do you want me to release for you a man literally named Son of God, or Jesus who is literally Son of God.  But the chief priests and elders got the people to demand that Barabbas be set free and Jesus to be crucified. 

When Jesus died, it was around 3pm on Friday which is considered Divine Mercy Hour.  But it was only 3 in the afternoon.  And suddenly there were these natural phenomenons.  There was darkness, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in half, there was an earthquake, rocks were split, tombs were opened.  A centurion who witnessed these events said: This truly this was the Son of God.  That's interesting because Matthew writes that the true identity of Jesus came forth from the mouth of a gentile, a Roman soldier.