The Use Of Palm Branches By Catholics On Palm Sunday Is Biblical

The feast of Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem the week before his passion and crucifixion. [thus a week before the holy or passion week]. Some 450-500 years prior to Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, the prophet Zachariah had prophesied the event we celebrate today as Palm Sunday.

He is noted to have said ‘Rejoice greatly, Daughter of zion, shout daughter of jerusalem, see your king comes to you, Righteous and Victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey on a colt, the foal of a donkey.[cf . Zachariah 9;9]

For centuries, Christians have commemorated the feast day by waving branches of palm tree as well as with liturgical procession and other celebration . To many Christians this is a usual routine that occurs annually on every palm Sunday,here we either bring or are given a palm frond while we sing in procession but it must be noticed that on a greater perspective it has a religious,spiritual and theological implication on every individual Christians journey.

It must be recognized that the palm Sunday event is one of the few events that is said to have been recorded in all the four canonical gospels and that is to show how paramount it is to all the different authors of these books.

Particularly it is recorded in the Gospel of John that the crowd scattered in front of Jesus even as he rode into Jerusalem were waving him with palm branches and spreading it also on the path that he was riding on.

[Cf. John 12;13] ‘They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting Hosanna’. This waving of palm fronds still remains as an important element of today’s celebration. The question remains as why did John choose to portray to us emphatically the kind of branches that were used…? Where did the women of Jerusalem also choose to wave Jesus with this same branches because for all you know, there are a whole lot of trees and branches expensive and beautiful ones all around the city of Jerusalem.

Historically, in the Greeco-Roman culture of the roman empire which strongly influence the Christian tradition and culture, the palm branch was a symbol of Triumph and Victory.

Again, in the Jewish tradition, the palm is a symbol of rejoicing. [cf. Leviticus 23:40]

Similarly, in many lands in the ancient near east, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone worth of the highest honor as their king, it is in line with this that Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat was treated with this same honor during his coronation.

In line of this, when the people realized that Jesus was the awaited Messiah who had come to liberate them politically and spiritual, they welcomed him as their king, as one who has conquered and as the prince of peace. Remember that traditionally they couldn’t have welcome their king without the waving and spreading of palm fronds for him to pass on. By this they proclaimed the true identity of Christ as the victorious king and as the prince of peace.

In our days too, this celebration has not taken any so much different theological dimension at all, we too by waving our palm fronds on this feast day also only seek to portray Christ as the True son of God who had risen from the died ,the savior and victorious king and the one who has conquered the world.

For the Lord himself bears this testimony of himself when he said to us in [Cf. John19:33]” But rejoice for I have overcome the world “ and it is this that we celebrate on such a feast, it is with this that we are assured and able to proclaim Christ as the ‘HOPE OF OUR GLORY’ for He first symbolized this victorious glory we await [cf. colossians 1:27] “Christ in me the hope of Glory”

Now we haven realized the theological and spiritual relevance of the use of palm frond on Palm Sunday , one may be tempted to ask ,so what happens to places or countries where there are no palm trees? How do they also celebrate this important Christian feast in the absence of this Palm frond ? are they out of this celebration ? The answer is “NO“, they are not out of the celebration.

In many places in the world where there is the difficulty in procuring palms due to unfavorable climate, it led to the substitution with native trees including Olive and Yew and because the Sunday is often named after this substitute trees, in some of such places, this feast is also called the Yew Sunday or by its general term as the Branch Sunday. Or better still some modern churches will also have the option of sourcing palm fronds from also other regions of the world where the climate makes it possible for it to grow, that’s to say that the use of palm fronds on the feast of palm Sunday has a relevant theological, liturgical and historical implication.

I will therefore conclude by saying that the Christian use of the palm fronds on palm Sunday isn’t idolatry as some naïve and ignorant pastors and Christians will claim, simply because for them jesus never told us in anywhere in the holy scriptures to use palm fronds or to even celebrate palm Sunday. neither is it only a past historical event that has no spiritual bearing on our lives today as Christians and therefore needs to be abandoned but rather I must say it has a religious direct significant role in our lives as Christians.

Today Jesus no longer seek to enter into the city of Jerusalem but rather He seeks to enter into our Sinful Hearts. Similarly we do not also only wave him with palm fronds today but also with ever cheerful hearts filled with love we receive the coming Messiah into our hearts in today's celebration.