A Homily for Palm Sunday 2020

Art in the Christian Tradition:
Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University

Palm Sunday is the celebration of Jesus' triumphant entrance into the city of Jerusalem.  The crowds enthusiastically greeted Jesus as he entered into the city.  Yet it would be the crowds that would also shout "crucify him"! later in the week.  Perhaps the people recognized some qualities in Jesus that set him apart, but in one respect they may have been quite off the mark.  In this homily, I use the words PALM to mark four characteristics of Jesus that led people to so joyously welcome him into the city, but it is perhaps the last one that resulted in some confusion as to Jesus' ultimate end goal.