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Jesus says: ‘It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’305 Jesus recalls the martyrdom of the prophets who had been put to death in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he persists in calling Jerusalem to gather around him: ‘How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!’~°6 When Jerusalem comes into view he weeps over her and expresses once again his heart’s desire: ‘Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes.’307 Jesus’ messianic entrance into Jerusalem 559 How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although
Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king,
he chooses the time and prepares the details for his
messianic entry into the city of ‘his father
David’.~°8 Acclaimed as son of David, as the one
who brings salvation (Hosanna means ‘Save!’ or
‘Give salvation!’), the ‘King of glory’
enters his City ‘riding on an ass’.309 Jesus
conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church,
neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that
bears witness to the truth.31° And so the subjects of
his kingdom on that day are children and God’s poor,
who acclaim him as had the angels when ~ they announced him
to the shepherds.31’ Their acclamation, ‘Blessed
be he who comes in the name of the LoRD’,312 is
taken up by the Church in the Sanctus of the Eucharistic
liturgy that intro- 1352 duces the
memorial of the Lord’s Passover.
1560 Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem manifested the
coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to
accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It
is with the celebration of ...iat entry on Palm Sunday that
the Church’s liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week. 561 ‘The whole of Christ’s life was a continual teaching: his silences, his miracles, his gestures, his prayer, his love for people, his special affection for the little and the poor, his acceptance of the total sacrjfice on the Cross for the |
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