Palm Sunday 2026

Palm Sunday draws us into one of the most powerful moments of the Church year—a liturgy that awakens every sense. From the waving of palms and the fragrance of incense to the cries of “Hosanna” and the solemn proclamation of the Passion, we are immersed in a story that is not just remembered, but experienced.

In this homily, we reflect on the striking contrast at the heart of the Gospel: the same voices that cry out “Hosanna in the highest!” soon shout, “Crucify Him!” It is a tension that doesn’t just belong to the crowds of Jerusalem—it lives within each of us. How often do we find ourselves moving between love and rejection, devotion and distance, even in our relationship with Jesus?

This reflection invites us to pause and make a decision. As we enter into Holy Week, where do we stand? Will we follow Him more closely, or turn away?

The episode concludes with an invitation to take a next step—opening the door to a deeper, more intentional relationship with Christ through Alpha.

A short, powerful reflection to help you enter more fully into the mystery of Holy Week.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Good morning. Today's home is going to be a little bit shorter because of our long gospel as well as our procession. And it will conclude with a short video on alpha testimony for those who are inviting to take the next step in their faith. On Palm Sunday, all of our senses are engaged. We have so many things going on. Outside, we had the palms, we sprinkled holy water on you and upon the palms. Some of you got a double portion of holy water. We processed in the church, we had the incense. We proclaimed the gospel with different lectures, with me, with Deacon Bob, with the voice you shouted out to in your own voice, crying out, crucify him, give us Barabbas, let the blood of Jesus fall upon us and on our family and upon our children. We're wearing red. Why are we wearing red today? What does it represent? The blood of Jesus shed for us on the cross. All of our senses are engaged. From the sight to the sound to the smells, as we shout out the taste as we receive holy communion, all of our senses are engaged, and all of this is saying to us something special is happening today. You know, I'm really struck how outside, as we are with the palms and we're blessing them, we cry out, Hosanna. Does anybody here know what the word Hosanna means? It means save us. You're the Messiah, come to save us. We believe in you, we trust in you, we we love you. And just a few days later, as we read the gospel account that we just heard right now, what does the crowd shout out? Crucify him. We don't want to have anything to do with him. We don't want him, we hate him, we don't want anything to do with you. It went from save us, Hosanna, to crucify him. I'm always struck by that on Palm Sunday. I have a question for you. In your personal relationships with your family members, with your friends, do you sometimes go from I love him to I hate him? How many people have ever gone through that before? And it's kind of a love-hate relationship, right? Do you experience that with your spouse? With your children. Children, do you experience it with your parents? Yes, okay. Mother-in-law, father-in-law, right? Daughter in law. I love him, I love her, I I don't want to have anything to do with him. In our personal relationships, that happens, right? Now, does that sometimes happen with our relationship? With him. Save us exactly. And then crucify him. Give us Barabbas. By the way, I'm going to share with you something very interesting about the name Barabbas. Does anybody know what the name Barabbas means? I'm going to teach you, I'm going to do a little study with you here on languages. The word bar in the ancient Hebrew, the Aramaic, does anybody know what that means, Bar? Son. Bar means son. Abba? Father. Dad. Daddy. So they're saying, give us Barabbas, don't give us Jesus. But what they're really saying is give us the Son of the Father. Who is the Son of the Father? Today's Palm Sunday celebration invites us to a decision. Jesus loves you. He loves me. And this is the proof of how much he loves us. Today's invitation. Will you love me? Hosanna! Save us. Or will we say? Crucify him. I don't want anything to do with him. I mentioned at the beginning of the Halniya, I would like to conclude with a little video testimony for Alpha. For those of you who uh are here today, maybe you're coming for the first time, or maybe you're visiting church after a long time, welcome. So happy that you're here. And this is such a special day that you're coming to church. Thank you for being here. If today God has touched your heart in some way, through the liturgy, through the word of God, through this whole celebration, I'm going to invite you to not let this day just be one day. I'm going to invite you to take the next step in your faith, to enter into a loving relationship with Jesus who loves you. I'm going to share this short video, it's like two minutes, on this initiative that we're launching called Alpha and how somebody's life was touched through this experience to enter into a relationship with Jesus. Let's put the video.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

I first started acting out just by lying, and lying just really escalated and just kind of got progressively worse and got into deeper and darker things as I got older. Probably around age 25, I realized that I was just going too far. I was losing control. I started coming back to the church because there was a girl that started going that I was interested in, so I was following her. I just got to the point where I needed something more, I needed community, and I told God that I would sign up for the next thing that came up, and it was Alpha. I honestly didn't expect much. The hardest part for me was just showing up the first night. There was just something inside of me that was like, don't go, but I knew I had to. Alpha ended up becoming a place where I could just be me, and just a place where I could kind of like air out all my questions and all my dirty laundry, and nobody looked at me any differently. It became a community of friends. We have that same group every week, and we just start to bond, and I started realizing that the way that people were treating me and the way that I think God looked at me was just love no matter what I thought, no matter what I said, no matter what I did. And that just changed me. I was a different person from that moment on. And I knew I had purpose.

SPEAKER_01 9:13

Today, the Lord's touched your heart. I invite you to take the next step. Join our alpha. We're starting right after Easter. That first Tuesday right after Easter. For 11 weeks from 6 30 to 8 30 p.m. It's free. And there's a free dinner every week, too.