The Lord's Entry into Jerusalem:
Teaching 1
(On the Meaning of Palms and Lit Candles in the Hands of Christians)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Teaching 1
(On the Meaning of Palms and Lit Candles in the Hands of Christians)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. Yesterday's all-night vigil, as you know, brethren, had this peculiarity, that after the reading of the Gospel, the Holy Church blessed the willows, or branches of the tree, with prayer and sprinkling with holy water, and distributed them to you. Having received this branch from the hands of the priest, each of you attached to it a lighted wax candle, and the interior appearance of our church was quickly transformed. Until the end of the service we were as if in a garden, and the abundance of light in it transported us in our imagination to another place and another time.
It was evident that the Holy Church, with this peculiarity in the divine service, had the intention of reminding us of one of the most important events in the life of Jesus Christ – His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. How it happened? You know from the Gospel that was read today. Therefore I will focus your attention on the peculiarities of the rites of the feast, in order to extract from there edification for all of us.
Before His suffering, the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected Lazarus, who had died in Bethany, whose body had lain in the grave for four days and had already begun to decay. And the next day He went to Jerusalem, but this time He did not enter it as before: in previous years He remained unnoticed among the crowd, but now the eyes of the whole people were turned to Him. If His word attracted the minds and especially the hearts of the people, who called Him Rabbi (Teacher), nevertheless, this people knew that there were other teachers who could be more or less like Him. As for the miraculous actions of the Teacher from Nazareth of Galilee, in this regard no one could compare with Him. Healing the sick in body, healing the souls of the possessed, exorcising demons, and especially the resurrection of the dead were the most obvious proof that Jesus Christ is not a simple man, but the God-man - the Son of God. When the news reached Jerusalem that Jesus Christ had raised the dead and buried Lazarus, many not only of the city's inhabitants, but also foreigners, on the occasion of the Passover, desired to see both Jesus Christ and Lazarus. And so, on the morning of the day after the miracle of the resurrection, the entire road from Jerusalem to Bethany was occupied by a multitude of people. Jesus Christ desired to go to Jerusalem, but this time in a special, solemn manner. He sent two disciples to fetch a colt with a donkey from the opposite village, and they brought it. The apostles laid their clothes on the colt and seated Jesus Christ on it. Many of the people spread their clothes along the road, others cut branches from the trees and threw them along the road; but all those who went before and those who followed cried out for joy: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Hosanna in the highest, that is, "salvation from heaven" came to them in the person of Jesus Christ.
II. In remembering this solemn entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Holy Church, so that we may picture the event being celebrated, hands us willows, or branches of a tree, and by this helps our thoughts to be transported to the time and place of the event that took place. But the Holy Church gives its children more than just a simple remembrance.
a) In its hymns it glorifies Jesus Christ as the conqueror of death in the resurrection of Lazarus, and by this it makes it clear that all of us will one day, by the will of the same Lord, rise again. "By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your Passion, You confirmed the general resurrection, Christ God. Like the children with palms of victory, we cry out to You, the Conqueror of Death: Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.” Thus we praised the Conqueror of death both yesterday and today in the divine service. The branches that we held in our hands, according to the understanding of the Holy Church, were symbols or signs of the victory of Jesus Christ over death. But at the same time they can serve us as a visual image and explanation of the truth of the resurrection of all people from the dead. During the winter, these branches were lifeless and dead, but now, when a ray of the sun touched them, they show signs of life. The same thing will happen with our body: being in the earth, it does not show the presence of life, but as soon as the ray of the Sun of Truth touches it – the almighty word of the Lord, it will come to life and will live forever. Therefore, holding the palm in your hands, imagine, brethren, the truth of the general resurrection of the dead. Each one say to yourself: if Lazarus, who died and gave himself over to decay, was resurrected, if the branches of the tree, frozen for a time, came to life, then our bodies will also one day come to life, even if they gave themselves over to decay and crumbled in the earth. This is the first lesson of edification for us from the palm on the feast of the triumphal entry of the Lord into Jerusalem.
b) Further, the light from the candles lit by our zeal should remind us that after the general resurrection and judgment we will be deemed worthy to be in the realm of light if we live righteously, as God commands, and cleanse ourselves from sins in the mysteries of repentance and communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. Being in communion with God, we will be in eternal, unfading light, because God Himself is light, lives in unapproachable light and enlightens every person coming into the world under the banner of His grace, with faith and love in His name. If we live in this world so that the light of faith and good deeds shines before our neighbors and they glorify the Heavenly Father because of us, then in the future life we will not only be deemed worthy to be in the abodes of light, but we ourselves will shine like the sun, according to the word of the Lord Himself. And this is all the easier for us because a certain luminous spark, although small, is already lit in our soul and shines, more or less strongly, in our mind, in our feelings and in our desires.
III. Let us take care on our part that this divine spark not only does not go out in us through our negligence of it, but, on the contrary, with each day of our life it flares up more and more and with the flame of its fire embraces our entire being. Then our thoughts will be bright and pure, and our feelings holy and immaculate, and our desires directed toward the heavenly and spiritual. And in such a case, the shadow of bodily death will not frighten us, and the very night of death will be bright for us as the day that never fades in the Kingdom of God. Amen.
Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
