Another Round Around the Palms
Armodoxy for Today: Another round around the Palms
The Sunday between the Feast of Ascension (40 days after Easter) and the Sunday of Pentecost (50 days after Easter) is referred to as Second Palm Sunday in the Armenian Church.
The Second Palm Sunday designation is unique to the Armenian Church and is referred to as such for a few reasons. Following the Feast of Resurrection, all four Gospels are read in the Church in order, up to the day of Pentecost. (Luke in the morning, John at noon, Matthew during the evening hour and Mark at night). The Palm Sunday narratives coincide with this Sunday between Ascension and Pentecost, hence the name “Second Palm Sunday.” And if you’re counting, this is the seventh Sunday of Easter.
But there’s more to the Second Palm Sunday moniker. Palm Sunday is when Jesus entered triumphantly into Jerusalem. All four Gospels record this event. On Ascension, Jesus enters the eternal Jerusalem. The Apostles witness Jesus ascending into heaven, as we read in the Book of Acts, with the promise that he will be with us to the end of the ages.
According to Church Tradition, while St. Gregory the Illuminator (4th century) was imprisoned in the dungeon called Khor Virab an angel would visit him daily to bring him nutrition and spiritual comfort. On the Sunday following Ascension, the angel does not appear. The following day, Gregory asks the angel its whereabout. The angel replies that the angels celebrate in heaven, the feast of the return of Jesus, taking his place at the right hand of the Father.
Jesus’ entry into the eternal Jerusalem is a reminder to us all that life is much more than the tangible realities that consume our time and energy. There is a spiritual side that needs to be nurtured.
During the Artemis II mission, which took men back to the moon after over a half-a-century, the NASA astronauts witnessed sites and visual phenomena could not be expressed by words. NASA astronaut and Artemis II mission commander Reid Wiseman, in an interview following the mission said, “I’m not really a religious person, but there was just no other avenue for me to explain anything, so I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship (this is the boat that picked up the astronauts after splashdown) to come visit us for a minute.” Wiseman admitted, “When that man walked in … I saw the Cross on his collar, and I broke down in tears.”
The birth of a child, falling in love, losing a loved one, illicit similar overt outpourings of emotions. There are senses beyond the five physical ones, which every so often, if we put our guards down and allow the spirit to move with us, can and will be experienced. The Armenian Church, long before space exploration – try two millennia before – pointed to those ultra sensory expressions in its theology, by referring to mystery, Khorhourt khorin anhas anuzgisbn =Mystery Deep, inscrutable, without beginning… (From the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church)
The Second Palm Sunday feast reminds us that there is more to life than the tangible and the physical. We pray, Lord, open my senses wide to the events and expressions all around me, so I may be a participant in all the wonders you bless upon us in this world. Amen.
