Palm Sunday 2026 - What Did I Do To Deserve This?

 

Homily for Palm Sunday 2026

March 29, 2026

What Did I Do To Deserve This?

 

            Have you ever said to God, “What did I do to deserve this?” Maybe we lose a job, or get a bad diagnosis, or lose someone close to us, and we are filled with indignation – I’m a good person! What did I do to deserve this?

            Yet there has been only one perfect person in history – Jesus Christ. And for His entire life He had laid aside His glory to suffer the humiliation of human weaknesses – growing hungry and thirsty, suffering the pain of rejection, experiencing all the trials of human life. And this week He comes to the greatest humiliation of all.

            First, He enters Jerusalem, not on a chariot, but on a donkey. He is betrayed by His friend Judas. He washes the feet of His disciples. All of His friends desert Him. He is whipped, beaten, scourged, crowned with thorns, nailed to a tree, and abandoned to die. He, and He alone, has the right to protest, “What did I do to deserve this?”

            But perhaps we would be right to say, “What did we do that He deserved this?” It was precisely because we are sinners that He had to hang upon the Cross. He the Innocent One; we the guilty. We had sinned; He took the punishment. We had spat upon God; with His last breath, He forgives.

            So perhaps it is best that we do say, “What did I do to deserve this?” Not in anger or indignation, but in wonder and awe and gratitude. What did I ever do to deserve this forgiveness? This mercy? This depths of God’s love?

            Nothing. I could never deserve the death of God on the Cross. And that’s the whole point. It’s not about deserving. It’s a free gift of love.