Passion Sunday (Year A)

In Year A, we read of the Passion story of Matthew. Before Mass, there was a procession in which everybody held a palm branch to celebrate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. This procession kick started the Holy Week. The Jews welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem as a king to liberate them from the Roman Occupation. They had no red carpet. They spread their garments on the ground instead. They had no national flags to wave, but branches from the trees instead. After Mass, we brought the palm branch home and hung it up. This is our 'national flag', showing our identity as citizens of the Kingdom of God.
Mark 11 told us that the disciples fetched an ass for Jesus to ride on. Matthew, who was an eye-witness and knew of Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah 9:9, corrected Mark to have the disciples fetching an ass and a colt (Matthew 21:7). Which one did Jesus ride, the ass or the colt? Matthew does not make it clear, leaving room for Fr. Patrick Sun to assign the colt for Jesus, showing his humility.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, "Hosanna ὡσαννὰ to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:9) Hosanna ὡσαννὰ
is in fact a cry for help, save. Save us, Son of David! The whole atmosphere was explosive and would trigger a riot. Jesus was indeed a very dangerous person in the eyes of people in authority.
When Pilate asked whether he was the king of the Jews, Jesus said, "You have said so." (Matthew 27:11). Other than that, Jesus said no more. That was enough to condemn him to death. Throughout the whole Passion story in Matthew, Jesus said very little. When he was hanging on the cross, he uttered
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) Jesus rounded up his Passion with Psalm 22. He has accomplished his mission as the Suffering Servant.

My God, I thank You for giving me Your Son to die for my redemption. Allow me to embrace my Redeemer who lives. May my soul find repose in Him, my Lord and Redeemer. Amen.