Palm Sunday, 2008

"The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying: 'Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is the he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.' And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, 'Who is this?' And the crowds replied, 'This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.'"

- Matthew 21.9-11

Who is this man, this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is he for you?

Is he the great teacher, the master preacher, who taught us how to love one another? Or is he the perfect model of faith and prayer, who showed us how to trust in God even in the midst of suffering and feelings of abandonment? Or is he the king, the ruler not just of one peoples, but of the whole world?

Who is this man, this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is he for you?

For us who bear his name, and who now enter this Holy Week, he is all these things, but much more: for he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God whose death destroyed our death and whose rising opens for us the gates of heaven.

Who is this man, this Jesus of Nazareth? Who is he for you?