The olive trees are witnesses of the two moments in the life of Jesus that we celebrate on this Sunday. Palm and olive branches were waved by the inhabitants of Jerusalem as a sign of joyful welcome for the coming of Jesus; the olive trees have always been silent witnesses of his anguished prayer in that garden that Mark calls Gethsemane and Luke places on the Mount of Olives. After a few days, from this place Jesus will live through two entrances into Jerusalem. The first, acclaimed with cries of hosanna, greeted as the blessed one who comes in the name of the Lord, riding a colt that he himself had ordered to untie from his bonds. A few days later he will enter Jerusalem again, this time in chains. He will no longer lead a colt; others will escort him like a dumb sheep led to the slaughter. Instead of being hailed as the “blessed” who comes in the name of the Lord, he will be treated as the “accursed” hanging from the wood. The olive trees are silent witnesses of both scenes, because they must each be understood in the light of the other. Jesus lets himself be bound like a criminal in order to be able to untie both the foal and Lazarus and each of us. He, the blessed one, agrees to hang like a cursed man from the wood so that God’s forgiveness can reach everyone, even those who curse him at the foot of the cross.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey