Glory and thanks to the Lord for everything!

METROPOLITAN OF SIMFEROPOL AND CRIMEA

A Word for the Week of Fronds

We are now celebrating one of the greatest events in the earthly life of our Lord Jesus Christ – His triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

It is necessary that all of you understand what the meaning of this feast is, that you understand what is the meaning of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, for when someone first becomes acquainted with the Gospel, his thought stops at the chapter that tells about the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, stops with surprise, even with bewilderment, for they have read in many other places of the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ always and unfailingly rejected all honors from Himself, all exaltation, for He was meek and lowly in heart.

He forbade the demons, whom he cast out from those possessed by them, to divulge that they knew who He was, that they knew that He was the Son of God. Almost always He also forbade those healed by Him to divulge about the miracle.

When Saint Peter confessed Him as Christ, the Son of God – the Messiah, then Christ said to him: "Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed these things unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven." The Apostles knew, but the Apostles were also commanded not to divulge to anyone that He was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God.

Thus, everything that had existed before, as it were, stood in some contradiction with the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. Never before had we seen the Lord except walking on foot; here they saw Him sitting on an ass for the first time. He had never been seen to shy away from all honors, but now He accepted them.

What did it mean? Why has the way the Lord Jesus Christ acted changed now? Why had He never before, in three and a half years of His preaching, allowed anyone to divulge that He was the Messiah, the Savior of the world? Why did He Himself never speak about this?

Why? Because the time had not yet come to reveal it to the people, because it was not the right time for Him to reveal Himself as the Messiah.

What would have happened if He had rushed to reveal His messianic dignity? You know how fiercely the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees fought against Him. Could they have tolerated then, at the beginning of the Savior's earthly activity, that He proclaimed Himself the Messiah?

No, by no means! This would only increase their hatred and enmity against Him, and would lead to an early, untimely death at their evil hand. Then, before the Lord's entry into Jerusalem, the time had not yet come to declare Him to be Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah.

And now it's here. The Lord knew when to reveal His dignity as Christ to all the people, and the Lord's entry into Jerusalem had just that purpose: to reveal Jesus as Savior, Son of God, and Messiah.