Palm Sunday of the Lord´s Passion

We listened carefully to the report of the Passion of the Lord Jesus as captured by the evangelist Matthew. In addition to this complete account, Matthew wrote the gospel for the Jews who became Christians. They knew the Scriptures well and knew many passages by heart. They knew well that the Scriptures contain many prophecies and prototypes that relate to the Messiah. Matthew identifies these images precisely and shows how they were fulfilled in the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Many hundred years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would come to Jerusalem on a donkey. Donkey, young donkey. He foretold his death: he sacrificed himself because he wanted to and did not open his mouth; as a lamb they led him to the slaughter, and as a sheep, before his shearer. Finally, he predicted that the body of Jesus would be buried in the rich man’s grave: He gave him a grave with the criminals, but he was dead with the rich man, for he did not do violence, nor had deceit in his mouth.

Zechariah predicts that the Messiah will be betrayed for 30 silvers: I said to them, If you consider it good, give me my wage; if not, leave! So they weighed me a wage: thirty silvers. The Lord said to me, “Throw it to the Creator, the wonderful wage for which they rewarded me.” So I took thirty silver pieces and threw them in the Lord’s house to the creator.

In Psalm 42, Jesus’ anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane was predicted and captured: Why are you sad, my soul? And why do you tremble? Trust in the Lord, for I will still glorify him, the salvation of my face and my God. Therefore, when Peter drew his sword to defend Jesus, he admonished him and said, But how then would the Scripture be fulfilled, that it should be like this? And in Psalm 21 it was foreseen that the soldiers would not divide Jesus’ garments in parts, but they would give him a lot to one of them: Lie they measure and examine me; they share my clothes, and they throw my clothes on my clothes.”

With Daniel, we find the prophecy that Jesus applied to himself in the judgment before the Jewish great: I saw in a vision at night, and behold, in the clouds of heaven came someone like the Son of Man, who came to the Old Man’s days and brought him before him. He was given government and kingdom so that all nations, tribes, and dialects would serve him; his government is eternal and will not perish, and his kingdom will not perish. And for these words he was sentenced to death.

In the second book of Samuel, it was predicted how the multitudes would shout: David said, Let your blood be on your head…” The prophet Jeremiah suggests that Judas’s money was not put into the temple treasury but into the field for burying aliens. Jeremiah said, The Lord spoke to me as follows: Behold, Hanameel, your uncle Selum’s son, will come to you, saying, Buy my field, which is in Anathoth.” Hanameel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the guard courtyard, as the Lord said, and said, Buy my field, which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin; for you have the right to acquire it; ho! I knew it was the Lord’s word. So I bought the field in Anathoth from Hanameel, my uncle’s son, and weighed him seventeen shekels of silver.

The prophet Amos implied that at the moment of Jesus’ death an earthquake and an eclipse of the sun would occur: On that day, says the Lord, I will give the sun to set in the morning and darken the earth on a clear day. , admires the Gospel of Matthew because it reveals so closely the connection between the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and the events of Jesus’ Passion. He says, “Given that the Gospel, Jesus’ passion and death was not a sad tragedy or unfortunate coincidence, but a long-programmed work of God’s love for the world.” Through the holy men of the Old Testament, the Heavenly Father hinted at God’s love for the world by torturing and crucifying His Son, Jesus Christ.

The evangelist John, an eyewitness to this great act of God’s love, described it with these words: For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, not to perish, but so that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn it but to save it through him. May we all see in the Passion of Jesus Christ how much God loves us. Let us rejoice in this fact and thank the Lord for revealing God’s love for us through His Passion. In this way, we will live the Holy Week and show our gratitude for our grace and the gift of redemption.