Palm Sunday – Father Gavril Galev
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Today is the feast of Palm Sunday, that is, the triumphal entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, the King of glory, God of the highest. God who always exists, who for us and our salvation was incarnated from the Holy Virgin Mary and became man, in order to die, that is why He came.
He came because humanity, which God Himself created for glory, He created it for joy, for gladness, He created it for spiritual, eternal life – humanity chose to live an oppositional life, in dishonour, in impurity, in sin, in shame, in delight in bodily pleasures of this perishable world.
However, God’s love is immeasurable, that is why He did not abandon humanity. He even wanted to suffer voluntarily for us, no one forced Him to do so. Out of love for us He was incarnate. From the first days of His birth, He was persecuted by the world, by the people, by His own people among whom He was born, right up to the end when He even suffered death.
On this day, which is connected to the previous one, to the resurrection of Lazarus four days after his repose, God announces the truth that He must suffer, be crucified, die and rise again, in order to raise humanity with Him.
As we can see, the people were divided when the question was about Christ, each according to their passions. Mary anointed Him as King and God, as the Anointed of God. Judas, on the other hand, was troubled about the money, because the ointment was wasted, as it could have been sold and the money supposedly “given” to the poor. Although the money box was always with him, he could have given money to the poor at any time.
Also, the Jews, or rather the Jewish elders, who were supposed to have been the first to have recognised and welcomed Him for it had been prophesied about Him in the Old Testament, that He was the Anointed One, He was the Saviour, that He would come sitting on a young donkey, on a colt, and He would save the people. It is no coincidence that the Lord uses these words of prophecy through the mouths of the children to remind the Jewish elders, to wake them up and come to know Him. However, instead of coming to their senses, to glorify Him and to lead the people to Him, they darkened their minds yet again. They wanted to kill not only Him but also Lazarus, because Lazarus testified to the power of God.
The only reason for this is their selfishness, vanity, pride, and high opinion of themselves. Because they have become so proud, so self-loving to the point of self-worship, that they simply want to kill the truth, just so that they may be proved right.
And we are not far from them and we can ourselves recognise that we are hypocritical towards the Lord. The Lord calls us to the Liturgy every Sunday. Let us come and dine with Him, let us partake of the holy gifts of Christ. However, we, lazy and irresponsible ones always find some excuse not to come and not attend at that table.
Among you are parents, and some are children. If parents prepare a joint dinner and invite their children, and they do not come to that dinner, how will they feel? Is that a pleasant feeling?
That should be how we feel when we do not go to that dinner, to the table of Christ, when we do not come to the Liturgy and do not take communion.
Herein is the division of humanity. The freedom that God has given us as a gift, we abuse, as something with which we destroy ourselves. That freedom should be used to come to the One who gave us the freedom.
And yet, the children who are free from vanity and high opinion of themselves, they know Christ. They know Him because their souls, their hearts are pure. They are blessed. And as you can see, here in the church itself, when there are many children, they can be restless, but when the cup is brought out, or even before the cup is brought out, when the Holy Communion is prepared, they will line up in the most orderly manner and wait to receive Holy Communion. They receive only a small piece of the Holy Communion, but they eagerly await it every Sunday and receive communion with the greatest joy.
And the vain Jews even wanted to gag the young children so that they would not shout, because they exposed their vanity, their pride, their misconception, their delusion, their darkened mind and wickedness.
Children are children. And we also, are children of God. We are also called to cleanse our hearts from passions. And we will achieve this only when we love God with all our heart, with all our strength, with all our mind and our neighbour as ourselves. This is the new law, this is the New Covenant that God has given us, which God wants us to fulfil.
I think that it is not difficult to love. We all want and expect to be loved, so let us love God, let us love our neighbour, and let us stand on the side of the children and say: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Amen!
Father Gabriel Galev
Abbot of the Monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
14 / 04 / 2025
