Hosanna to the Son of David!

Homily on the Triumphant Entry of our Lord and Saviour into Jerusalem.

This Sunday we celebrate the beginning of Holy week with the Triumphant Entry of Our Lord and Saviour into Jerusalem. In this great Feast, we celebrate the reality of Christ’s Kingship over all! It was at this moment that the people of Jerusalem recognised that Christ is their King.

Yet this great feast also signifies the beginning of Holy Week and all that this entails for us Orthodox Christians. This is the week where we lay aside all our earthly cares and focus on that which will bring us closer to the All-Holy Trinity!

This is a week for us to pray to the All-Holy Trinity seeking His guidance for us as Christians in our lives. He is a loving God who seeks to bring us closer to Him – this is why the second Person of the All-Holy Trinity came down from Heaven and was incarnated! This is why the All-Holy Trinity seeks to have a relationship with mankind because He seeks to be close to His creation!

Indeed, it is in this week that He reveals the depth of His love for us! This is the week where our Lord and Saviour offered His life for the sake of the world! This is the week when Love opened His arms on the Holy Cross so that all who desire to have life may have it to the full.

As you travel through this week, focus on cutting off all the things that inhibit you from getting closer to the All-Holy Trinity! Use this time to pray to the All-Holy Trinity asking for forgiveness of your sins as well as guidance as to how to grow in your faith.

Moreover, this holiest of weeks is also a time to pray for all in the world that they might come to the truth of Christ’s Gospel! Many are called, yet few respond yes to this call! Let us pray for all that when they hear the call of the All-Holy Trinity that they may answer with a resounding yes!

Furthermore, I implore you to use this week to seek the guidance and counsel of your spiritual fathers and confessors. Seek their wisdom and guidance to help you grow in your faith.

It is worth noting that many of the same people in today’s Gospel who sang ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, became the very people who shouted crucify Him! So too can we become like these people when on paper we say that we are Christians, yet in reality, our actions say the opposite!

Unlike those who wanted to see our Lord and Saviour crucified, we must seek to let the light of Christ shine through us so that others may have the opportunity to come to the truth.

We need to show people that our faith is more than eggs at Pascha and gifts at Christmas. We have a message of hope for the world which our Lord and Saviour entrusted us to proclaim to all!

However, let us never become judgemental, as those who bash bibles on street corners telling the world that it is condemned! Such as these, turn people away from the truth of Orthodoxy.

Indeed, the current situation in Eastern Europe is just a sign of this hateful attitude – some clergy are proclaiming that their government’s armies have the right to invade another country because of its supposed sins!

These same clergy, who seek to justify bloodshed, seem to have forgotten that Christ commands us to look at our own faults first before telling another of their faults (Matthew 7: 3-5)! We are commanded to forgive our brothers and seek the best for them through our deeds and prayers.

Finally, we must remember that as Christians we are called to take up our crosses and follow Christ (Matthew 16: 24-26). One thing that is for sure is that we are living in a society that is ever more becoming hostile to the truths of the Gospel of love.

Many people will seek to mock us because of our Christian faith but like the early Christians, we must stand firm in our resolve and serve Christ. We must stand firm and even in the face of hardships not waver in our faith!

I am constantly amazed at how some Orthodox Christians suffer in hostile lands for their faith! Many of these people I have read about are the happiest and most generous people one could meet due to their wholehearted commitment to our Lord and Saviour and His Gospel.

There are times when being a Christian will be hard but like these admirable Christians, we must stand firm and let the light of Christ shine through us (John 13:35)! People will only be drawn to the truth of the Gospel through acts of love-hate and condemnation - never a convert make!

Let us show through our actions to a broken world that Christians are full of love and that this love comes from our love for the All-Holy Trinity.

We are called to show others that the All-Holy Trinity loves them, despite their sins and imperfections! This is why we have the Holy Mystery of confession - for the All-Holy Trinity seeks for us to grow and let go of that which impedes our spiritual growth! Holding onto guilt is never useful and can make one physically and spiritually sick!

Moreover, this is why our Lord and Saviour instituted the Holy Mystery of the Eucharist so that all who desire to come closer to our Lord and Saviour may do so! This great Mystery not only is for the forgiveness of sins but for the union between man and God! Through this great Mystery, mankind is brought closer to the All-Holy Trinity in a mystical union uniting the created with his Creator.

Therefore, focus on how you can be of service to others and show them the light of Christ.

Australia is hungry for the truth of the Gospel – let us be the ones that bring this truth to the wider community so that they may taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34: 8)!