This weekend we have completed the 40 day period of Great Lent and are traversing from Lazarus Saturday thru to Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. These two days, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday, are moments of Triumph and joy and a prelude before the solemn days of Holy Week.
The raising of Lazarus from the dead, according to the Church Fathers, is interpreted as a sign of our spiritual Resurrection during this present life. Just as Lazarus came out of the tomb and was freed of his grave clothes, so also every Christian, through repentance and baptism, comes out of the darkness of a spiritual death and likewise is loosened from the bounds of sin, thus being granted a new life in Christ. Palm Sunday, we faithful, symbolically proclaim Christ as King, by holding within our hands palms, symbols of adoration for a King. Palm Sunday ushers in Holy Week, for this week brings us to the very gates of the Kingdom of God. For Christ’s voluntary sacrifice on the Cross gives us, the worshipper, access to the very presence of God.
This is the week where we relive the last days of Christ on earth. Where we relive the great moments of His passion through a continuous liturgical drama with hymns, prayers and services bringing us directly into the suffering of Christ. This Holy Week is the foremost liturgical treasure of our Holy Orthodox Church. We, by our participation, become a part of His betrayal, trial, crucifixion, death and burial, leading us to His Glorious Resurrection, being lifted up to a life of newness filled with the Holy Spirit. During this Holy Week we receive the supreme gift which is the incarnate love of God for as it says, “Who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all”!
Let us ponder the words of Jesus Christ that he said to us, “I go now, not to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer, but unto my Father and your Father, and my God and your God, and I will raise you up into the new Jerusalem in the Kingdom of Heaven”! Amen!
