Word XVII. On Palm Sunday, or the Day of the Lord’s Entry Into Jerusalem

April 15, 1907.

The exact and strict righteousness of God, made manifest in the Cross.

“«Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the ruler of this world be cast out: and when I am lifted up from the earth (upon the cross), I will draw all men to Myself» (Jn 22:31-32).”

We celebrate the feast of the Palms, or the solemn final entry of our Lord Jesus Christ into Jerusalem, to His all-redemptive sufferings and death. This entry took place in an extraordinary manner, accompanied by His disciples and a multitude of people and innocent children—not on a horse, but on a young donkey, covered with the disciples’ garments. The people cut green branches from the trees, held them in their hands, and cast them beneath the feet of the One journeying, crying out: hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel! (Lk 19:38).

The cause of so joyful a welcome was Jesus’s raising from the dead of Lazarus, four days dead, as proof that He, Jesus, by His cross and death would destroy death and hell, and would deliver all mankind from eternal death. Glory to You, O Christ, who came to Your voluntary passion and death for our salvation!

And so today we call to mind the going forth of the meek and humble David to single combat with the spiritual Goliath—Satan, who held the human race captive and was conquered by Christ. David conquered him with a stone from a wooden sling, in the name of the Lord God; and now the Lord Himself, of whom that stone was a type, has conquered the spiritual Goliath—Satan—with the wood of His cross, by His sufferings and His death upon the cross, voluntarily and redemptively taken up for us.

One cannot fail to notice here the inward, causal connection between the tree of disobedience (in paradise) and the tree of obedience (the cross), on Golgotha. The tree of disobedience cast mankind into corruption; the tree of obedience—that is, the voluntary sufferings and death of the God-Man for men obedient to Him—has led them to incorruption and the life of paradise. Now is the judgment of this world, the Lord said to the people before His sufferings; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out, that is, out of those men who believe and are devoted to Christ, and when I am lifted up from the earth (upon the cross), I will draw all men to Myself (Jn 12:31-32).

What a fearsome and strange sight! The adulterous and sinful world unjustly, enviously, and maliciously judges its Creator and the righteous Judge of the whole human race; and He, the Lord and Savior, the righteous Judge, by His very humiliation, patience, and obedience to His heavenly Father—obedience even unto death—judges the world, sunk in its sins, and the ruler of this world, Satan, and delivers mankind from his malice, having given as a ransom for the guilty His own innocent soul and body—He descends through death into hell, binds Satan himself and all his confederates, breaks the fortress of hell, and leads its captives out of that eternal prison, and all believers into the freedom of the heavenly kingdom, opening the paradise of delight to all the faithful.

The flaming sword no longer guards the gates of Eden; for upon them the tree of the cross has found a most glorious union (the union of heaven with earth); the sting of death and the victory of hell are broken: for the Lord appeared to the captives of hell, proclaiming to them: enter again into paradise (Triodion, Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, ikos after the 6th Ode).

Thus, through the cross of Christ, judgment was revealed to the sinful world. What judgment? All the unbelieving high priests, scribes, and Pharisees, hypocrites, all the proud unbelievers of that time and of ours, rich and puffed up with earthly wisdom, learning, and rank, have pronounced and still pronounce judgment upon themselves, condemning to the cross, or denying, the Righteous One, the Benefactor of mankind, who wrought countless beneficent miracles and signs—and when His cross appears from heaven at His second coming, then they shall look on Him whom they pierced, horrified at their own malice and boldness (Jn 19:37). Believers, obedient to the Gospel, will find full forgiveness of their sins for the sake of the Savior’s wounds, like the wise thief; but the unbelieving, the hardened, the unrepentant, will find eternal condemnation for themselves, and a certain fearful expectation and fiery indignation, which will devour the adversaries (Hebr 10:27). What do the Savior’s words mean, when I am lifted up from the earth, that is, upon the cross, I will draw all men to Myself? These words become fully clear when we recall how, by the invincible power of the Crucified One, Saul was drawn to faith in Christ—Saul, who afterward became Paul the apostle, the most zealous of them all; then the archdeacon Stephen, the first martyr; and then the countless multitude of the followers of Jesus Christ in the East and in the West, among all nations.

Recall the countless multitude of martyrs, who joyfully endured every torment for their faith in Christ and ended their lives in manifold torments. Recall the deserts, populated like cities, of the ascetics, who led an angelic life in the deserts of Egypt, the Thebaid, Athos, Sinai, and many others. What a divine, wondrous, saving power of the Crucified drew to Him all this countless multitude of people, who believed and knew and loved Him with their whole heart and their whole soul! This is what the Crucified One accomplished by His redemptive sufferings and death! But without the cross the world would have perished—for then this all-redemptive power, drawing men to God, would not have existed. Only by the cross has the world been saved and is being saved. — And therefore all who now do not believe and have fallen away from the cross and from the Church of Christ will, without any doubt, perish, unless they turn, like children, in the simplicity of faith, to Christ, as the God, Savior, and Giver of life, and the righteous Judge of the whole world.

While it is not yet too late, turn, all you who do not believe, to faith, to repentance in tears and contrition of heart. Let no one be too late! Perhaps tomorrow the Creator’s judgment will follow for you, O man. Amen.