Catholic Gospel Reflection: Do we follow the real Jesus or just our idea of Him? | Holy Week (Year A)
Are you following the real Jesus or just your idea of Him? As we enter Holy Week 2026, Nicole reflects on the Palm Sunday transition from glory to the Cross.
Palm Sunday 2026: Do we follow the real Jesus or just our idea of Him? In this episode of Rebel Saints, we enter into Holy Week (Year A). We explore the dramatic shift from "Hosanna" to "Crucify Him" and ask a difficult question: Did the crowds turn on Jesus because He was not the King they expected?
If we are honest, we often do the same. In this Catholic reflection, we walk through the Palm Sunday readings including the Passion of Christ (Matthew 26 to 27), Isaiah 50, Psalm 22, and Philippians 2. We uncover a truth that cuts deep: we do not just follow Jesus. We often follow our own expectations of Him.
In This Episode
Holy Week 2026: Navigating the transition from the triumphal entry to the silence of the Cross.
The Passion of Christ: Why the expectations of the crowd led directly to betrayal.
Catholic Spiritual Growth: Moving from a surface level faith to a real, sacrificial relationship with Christ.
The Liturgy of the Word: Breaking down the specific readings for Palm Sunday (Cycle A).
The Kingship of Jesus: Contrast between a political revolutionary and the Suffering Servant.
Liturgical and Scriptural References
Gospel (Procession): Matthew 21:1 to 11
Gospel (The Passion): Matthew 26:14 to 27:66
First Reading: Isaiah 50:4 to 7 (The Suffering Servant)
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22 (My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?)
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6 to 11 (The Kenosis of Christ)
CCC 559 to 560: The Messianic entry into Jerusalem.
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Transcript
Edited transcript for readability
This is Rebel Saints, the podcast where you and I try to make sense of this whole messy, beautiful, exhausting life where we trip over our weaknesses one minute, reach for holiness the next, and somehow believe God is still writing a story with all of it.
Because He is.
Amen to that, friends.
Today we are talking about Palm Sunday.
This week’s readings are essentially a collision:
celebration on one side,
suffering on the other.
We begin with palms in our hands, and we end at the Cross.
So friends, I just popped open a can of Red Bull, I am ready to dive into this with you, and even though Holy Week is chaotic and I know many of us have full plates right now, let’s take a moment to slow down and focus on what we are reflecting on today.
Let me paint the scene for you.
Jerusalem is loud.
Dust rises in the streets.
There is movement,
anticipation,
electricity in the air.
And then He comes.
Jesus enters the city riding on a donkey.
Not a warhorse.
Not surrounded by soldiers.
No banners.
No weapons.
No visible display of political power.
And yet the crowd erupts:
“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
People throw cloaks onto the road.
They wave palm branches in the air.
This is how you welcome a king.
The crowd recognizes something real about Jesus, but they misunderstand the kind of king He actually is.
And honestly, if I’m being fair to them, these poor people were desperate.
They had spent generations living under Roman occupation.
They wanted freedom.
They wanted a Messiah who would overthrow the empire and restore Israel politically and visibly.
So when they saw Jesus entering Jerusalem, they loaded Him up with every expectation they had.
They wanted a liberator who would fix the world in the way they imagined salvation should look.
But Jesus deliberately rides in on a donkey.
And that detail matters.
In the ancient world, a king riding a warhorse symbolized conquest and military dominance.
A king on a donkey symbolized peace.
Jesus was making a statement.
He was not hiding His identity.
He was redefining kingship itself.
He does not reject being king.
He rejects being that kind of king.
He comes not to conquer through violence, but through sacrificial love.
And the wild thing is:
He knows exactly where this road is leading.
Straight to Calvary.
And still, He rides forward.
That is the kind of king we follow:
a king who chooses humility over domination,
obedience over glory,
love over power.
And honestly?
What drives me crazy is that the people had seen this pattern before.
David and Goliath.
God constantly working through weakness instead of worldly power.
And yet just one week later, the same crowd shouting “Hosanna” will cry out:
“Crucify Him.”
The same people.
The same streets.
The same hearts.
And I have to stop and ask myself:
Would I have done anything differently?
Or is it only easy for me to judge because I already know how the story ends?
Because if I’m honest, we do this too.
We praise Jesus.
We call Him Lord.
We say we trust Him.
But underneath all that, we are often carrying our own expectations.
We want Him to fix things on our schedule.
Remove suffering immediately.
Open the doors we want opened.
Close the doors we want closed.
We want a king who makes life function the way we want it to function.
So Palm Sunday forces us to ask a hard question:
Do I actually follow Jesus?
Or do I follow my own idea of Jesus?
Because Jesus does not reject being king.
He rejects the version of kingship we keep demanding from Him.
And the truth is:
the king we often want cannot actually save us.
In the first reading from Isaiah, we encounter the suffering servant:
“I gave my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who plucked my beard.
My face I did not shield from insults and spitting.”
These words were written centuries before Christ, and yet they describe Him almost perfectly.
The servant does not retaliate.
He trusts.
He endures.
He keeps going.
And honestly, looking at the world today with all its suffering and division, I think this spirit is still being offered to us.
When life hits you:
financial stress,
health struggles,
relationship wounds,
fear,
loneliness,
anxiety…
Do you run?
Or do you remain with God even there?
Jesus is not a king who dominates.
He is a king who freely offers Himself.
Then we come to Psalm 22:
“My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?”
The same cry Jesus will later speak from the Cross.
And yet even inside that despair, the psalm still turns toward hope:
“You who fear the Lord, praise Him.”
Then in Philippians, Saint Paul the Apostle gives us one of the most beautiful descriptions of Christ ever written:
“Though He was in the form of God,
He did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, He emptied Himself…”
That contrast is everything.
The crowd expects salvation through visible strength and political victory.
But Jesus reveals salvation through humility,
surrender,
obedience,
and sacrifice.
The world wanted a king who would rise through power.
Jesus became the king who willingly descended into suffering for our sake.
Not because He was weak.
Because He was saving us in a way we never would have chosen ourselves.
And that is why the Gospel today moves so quickly from triumph to tragedy.
Because when Jesus refuses to become the king they imagined, the crowd rejects Him.
And honestly?
We do the same thing.
We trust Him one moment and question Him the next.
We praise Him when things are going well and become frustrated when suffering enters our lives.
Because most of the time, the struggle comes from the same place:
He is not following the script we wrote for Him.
But what if Jesus is not failing us at all?
What if we are simply asking Him to save us in ways that are too small?
What if we want comfort while He is offering transformation?
Whenever life becomes painful, I try reminding myself:
God is stretching me.
God is forming me.
What is He trying to teach me through this?
Because suffering, when united to Christ, can transform us.
And this is where Holy Week becomes deeply personal.
Jesus is not only showing us who He is.
He is showing us what discipleship looks like.
If He is a king who embraces the Cross, then following Him means we cannot avoid it either.
If He empties Himself, discipleship requires letting go.
If He loves sacrificially, then real love will cost us something.
That is the invitation of Holy Week:
not simply to observe the story,
but to step into it.
Then we arrive at Matthew’s Passion narrative.
We walk with Jesus through:
Judas’s betrayal
the Last Supper
Gethsemane
the trials
the scourging
the crown of thorns
the road to Calvary
the nails
the darkness
the final breath
It is heartbreaking.
And it is the greatest act of love in human history.
Because the crowd was right about one thing:
Jesus truly is king.
Just not the kind of king they expected.
And maybe not the kind we expect either.
But He is exactly the king we need:
a king who redeems souls,
transforms suffering,
and walks directly into the darkest parts of human life saying:
“I am not leaving you here.”
The Catechism reminds us that Christ’s Passion was not an accident.
Jesus offered Himself freely as the spotless Lamb whose sacrifice reconciles humanity to God.
What Isaiah foretold,
what the Psalms cried out,
what Saint Paul proclaimed,
all of it reaches fulfillment in the Cross.
So what does Palm Sunday mean for us now?
It means we do not simply wave palms today and forget about them tomorrow.
Many Catholics place palms behind crucifixes,
inside Bibles,
near doorways,
inside cars.
And honestly, I encourage you to place your palms somewhere visible this week.
Let them remind you daily that you are walking with Christ through Holy Week.
And here is my challenge for you this week.
Years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter, a friend once told me:
“Lay your worries at the foot of Christ during the consecration at Mass.”
And honestly, that advice has stayed with me.
So this week:
whatever burden you are carrying,
whatever fear,
stress,
suffering,
confusion,
or exhaustion…
Offer it to Him.
Maybe it is a financial burden.
A painful relationship.
A fear about the future.
A private grief.
Lay it at His feet and simply pray:
“Jesus, I give this to You.
I trust You.”
And if life feels peaceful right now, then thank God for that and offer your prayers for someone else who is suffering.
Empty yourself a little more.
Trust a little more.
Love a little more.
And watch what God can do with even the smallest acts of surrender.
Palm Sunday is not ultimately about pretty branches.
It is about a king who enters humbly,
suffers willingly,
and rises victoriously.
So this Holy Week, let’s follow Him all the way through the Cross and into the empty tomb.
Because we do not follow a dead hero.
We follow the living God who conquered death for you and me.
Let’s pray together.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Lord Jesus,
on this Palm Sunday we shout “Hosanna” with the crowds,
but we also walk with You toward Calvary.
Give us the courage to empty ourselves,
the humility to obey,
and the hope to trust that Easter Sunday is coming.
Virgin Mary, Mother of Sorrows and Joy, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, protector of the Holy Family, watch over us.
And all you holy saints in Heaven, pray for us.
Amen.
Friends, grab your palms and let’s live this Holy Week like the rebel saints we are called to be.
I’ll see you back here as we journey through Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and into the joy of Easter.
And if this episode encouraged you, please hit follow, leave a review, and share the show with another restless heart who might need it.
I’m Nicole, and this is Rebel Saints:
for restless hearts called to be saints.
Restless hearts, you are welcome here.
