Congregations from St. Mary’s Anglican Church, Ebenezer Methodist Church and St. Gerard’s Roman Catholic Church gathered at the Trough in The Valley for the annual Palm Sunday service of the palms and procession to the separate places of worship.
The officiating clergy were Anglican Priests the Right Rev. Errol Brooks and Rev. Menes Hodge; Methodist Minister Rev. Rose Marie Julius; and Roman Catholic Priest Fr. Pawel Czoch.
In his homily Bishop Brooks said that Palm Sunday was also known as Passion Sunday in many places. He continued: “The question before us today is: Are we just here to remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Are we here to remember the fickleness of human-beings crying out ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ and a few days after crying out ‘Crucify Him?’ That is all part of the Holy Week drama. But what does this day hold for us as Christians in terms of our daily living? This day presents us with making a choice. Is Jesus really our Messiah? Is He really the Christ? Do we accept Him as such, or do we reject Him?
“There are many people who would like the Christian life to be lived without them having to make a yes or no. Indeed, life would be simpler for us if we didn’t have to make choices. But this day confronts us with this fact: we have to make a choice.
“On the first Good Friday, as Pilate interrogated Jesus, he thought that there was nothing deserving death in Jesus and he wanted to release Him. But the clamour of the crowd calling for His crucifixion was such that Pilate found himself in a quandary so much so that he washed his hands saying: ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with this anymore.’ He wanted to be neutral. The thing about life is that we can’t sit on the fence all the time. There comes a time when we have to climb down from the fence on one side or the other.
‘And so this Palm Sunday again provides us with the opportunity of making a choice. Is Jesus the Son of God? Is He the Saviour of humankind? There were those on that first Palm Sunday who refused to accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God – as the Saviour of the world – because He didn’t fit into their expectation of Messiah. They were looking for somebody with military might; somebody who would restore the Davidic-Kingdom. So they thought that this man, who claimed to be the Messiah, would be coming through with horses, generals and courtiers. But Jesus came by on a donkey with his courtiers – if you want to refer to them as that – just a few ordinary disciples.
“Those who were looking for one with military might were disappointed. They couldn’t accept him because He didn’t fit into their expectation. Are we like them, want Jesus to fit into our expectation? Or are we prepared to call Him our Saviour and live for Him as our Saviour – to allow the claims that He makes on our lives to be the things which lead us as we go from day to day?
“We thank God that there were those who, on that Palm Sunday, accepted Him as Messiah and Saviour of the world. The list is long – Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene; James and John who were jostling for power and position; Peter who, in a fit of weakness, denied Him. They accepted Jesus as the Christ because they saw in Him what it means to be truly human. They saw in Him the possibility of a new life. They saw that He could bring about transformation in the lives of people and so they threw in their lot with Him.
“Have we come to that point in our lives where we see the possibility of new life in Christ – where we accept the fact that He has transforming power to shape and re-mould us into the persons that God would have us to be? Today, I am saying to you – it is about choice. And as we begin this Holy Week, can we truly say: ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord?’
“The choice is yours, the choice is mine.”
