WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:10.240 Today begins the most important week of our lives, not just in the church calendar, not just symbolically, but personally. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:18.879 Because we have just heard in the Passion that it that this is not just something that is happening to Jesus. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:22.559 It's something that is happening inside of us. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:33.679 We began at the beginning of Mass at the doors of the church with our palms in our hands shouting Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. 00:00:34.159 --> 00:00:41.039 And then just minutes later we stood here saying, Crucify Him, let him be crucified. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:43.439 And no one flinched. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:48.000 That's the uncomfortable truth of Palm Sunday. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:53.039 We didn't just listen to the passion, we participated in it. 00:00:53.759 --> 00:01:00.320 Because the same heart that praises God on Sunday can ignore him on Monday. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:07.359 The same voice that says, Lord, I love you, can choose to sin on Tuesday. 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:13.439 The same soul that wants him close can push him away when it costs something. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.519 So don't distance yourself from the crowd. 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:19.840 You are the crowd. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:23.519 And yet this is where it gets dangerous in the best way. 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:25.200 Jesus knows that. 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:35.920 He sees the instability, he sees the inconsistencies, he sees the moments where we mean it, and in those moments when we don't. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:38.319 And he comes anyway. 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:48.879 And he rides into Jerusalem knowing the same people shouting Hosanna will not be there on Friday. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:51.359 He doesn't turn around. 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:52.959 He keeps going. 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.560 Not because we're faithful, but because he is. 00:01:57.280 --> 00:02:01.599 Not because we're strong, but because his love is strong. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:06.079 This week is not about how much you love God. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:09.680 This week is about how much God loves you. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:13.840 And if you miss that, you miss everything. 00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:17.680 Because the cross is not an accident. 00:02:18.479 --> 00:02:28.159 It's not a tragedy, it is a decision, a deliberate, intentional, chosen, unwavering act of love. 00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.560 Jesus is not caught in the passion. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:35.199 He walks right into it. 00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:37.360 Think about this. 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:39.199 Today's Sunday. 00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:51.520 Imagine if you knew that by this Friday you would be betrayed, you would be abandoned, you would be tortured, you would be nailed to a cross. 00:02:51.840 --> 00:03:02.159 You know every detail, you know every wound, you know the exact moment your life will be taken from you, and still you get up. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:04.800 You walk forward. 00:03:05.520 --> 00:03:09.199 You don't run, you don't hide, you don't delay. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.080 Well, that's what Jesus is doing. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:17.360 He rides into Jerusalem with full knowledge of the cross for you. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.960 Not for a crowd, not for humanity in the abstract, but for you. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:36.719 Your sins, your struggles, the parts of your life you don't like to talk about, the things that are that you're tired of carrying, the sins that you keep hidden. 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:39.039 He sees all of it. 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:42.879 And he says, I'm not walking away from you. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.199 So here's the question that matters this week. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.080 Are you going to walk with him? 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:53.280 Or are you going to sit on the sidelines? 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.560 Not in theory, not emotionally for a moment, but concretely. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:02.319 Because Holy Week is not something you watch. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.039 It's something you enter into. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:17.920 I urge you to come on Holy Thursday, not just to see the washing of the feet, to hear about the Eucharist, where he gives himself to us. 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:20.639 Come on, Good Friday. 00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:22.959 Don't avoid the cross. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.199 Stand right in front of it. 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:33.680 Come to the vigil, not just celebrate Easter experience, but how we see the darkness breaking into the light. 00:04:34.160 --> 00:04:36.879 Or the light breaking into the darkness. 00:04:37.600 --> 00:04:46.240 Don't let this be just another Palm Sunday where you show up, you receive your palms, and then disappear until Sunday. 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:52.480 Because if you walk away now, you'll miss the greatest act of love the world has ever seen. 00:04:52.800 --> 00:04:57.199 And maybe, just maybe, that's why some hearts never change. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.959 So take one line with you this week. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:02.639 Just one line. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.279 He didn't turn back. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:12.800 Not when it got painful, not when it got humiliating, not when it cost him everything. 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:14.720 He never turned back. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:16.720 He didn't turn back. 00:05:17.519 --> 00:05:22.720 So my brothers and sisters, the question for us this Sunday will we turn back? 00:05:22.959 --> 00:05:28.800 Or will we we we will we be there with him every step of the way? 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:29.839 Amen.