Palm Sunday (Year C)
4The Lord
Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people, and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”
Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” (This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[ Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”]] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Commentary on Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11; Luke 22:14—23:56
After five weeks of preparation we now enter the climax of the Lenten season and what we call Holy Week. In a way, the whole week from today until Easter Sunday should be seen as one unit—the presentation of the Paschal Mystery. This Paschal Mystery includes the suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus into glory and the sending of the Spirit on the disciples of Jesus to continue the work he began. Although it is, for liturgical and catechetical reasons, spread over a period of seven weeks, it should also be seen as an indivisible single experience. This week sees the climax of the mission of Jesus Christ in which the deepest meaning of his life is unfolded, and in which his teaching becomes incarnated in his own words and actions.
Today’s celebration (for, strange to say, the terrible happenings we are about to listen to are truly a cause for celebration on our part) is divided into two distinct parts: the procession with palms and the Mass proper. (The particular Mass you attend may not include both parts, as many parishes will only do the first part at one of the day’s Masses.)
Joy and triumph
In the first part the prevailing atmosphere is one of joy, and the vestments in today’s liturgy are a triumphant red and not the violet which has prevailed during the other days of Lent. And the reading from the Gospel in this first part recalls the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem as King. He gets a rapturous reception from the crowd who acclaim him with words we still use in the “Holy, holy, holy…” of the preface to the Eucharistic Prayer. This scene is important, for in a few days’ time, the same triumphant Jesus will be reduced to a battered wreck of humanity:
So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!” [Latin, Ecce homo!].
As we process through our church, with our palms (or their equivalent) in our hands, we too may sing with enthusiasm:
“Christ conquers, Christ is king, Christ is our ruler”
(Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat).
There is a difference in our case for we know the end of the story and what is to come. Because of that, we sing with even greater conviction about the greatness of Jesus and a realisation of just why he is our King.
But even here there is shadow. For not all are spreading their clothes on the ground for Jesus to walk over or waving their branches. His enemies are watching and what they see only gives greater urgency to their desire to see the end of Jesus. In one way, they will succeed with a frightening ruthlessness to destroy Jesus. But of course, they will also fail utterly. Our presence here today is proof enough of that.
The mind of Christ
In a way, the real key to Holy Week is given in today’s Second Reading, which seems to be a hymn, incorporated by Paul in his letter to the Christians at Philippi, in northern Greece. It expresses the ‘mind’, the thinking of Jesus, a mind which Paul urges us to have also if we want to identify fully with Jesus as disciples:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…
(Phil 2:5)
The key word in today’s passage from Paul is “emptied.” This kenosis, or emptying, is at the heart of Jesus’ experience during his Passion.
In spite of Jesus’ identity with the nature of God, he did not insist on his status. He first of all took on himself in the fullest sense our human nature:
…who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4:15)
But even more, he reached down to the lowest level, the lowest class of human beings—the servant, the slave. That was still not the end. He let go of all human dignity, all human rights; he let go of life itself to die, not any “respectable” form of death, but the death of a convicted criminal in shame and nakedness and total abandonment.
To understand the sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus one must fully grasp what Paul is saying here and, not only grasp it, but totally appropriate it into one’s own thinking so that one would be prepared, with God’s help, to go exactly the same way. Our normal sensitivities over even trifling hurts show us just how far we have to go to have the “mind of of the Lord.”
With the focus of the first two readings, we are now—hopefully—prepared for listening to Luke’s version of the Passion of Jesus, up to, but excluding the climax of resurrection.
So much to reflect on
Although efforts are now made to make the listening to the Passion less of an endurance test, there really is too much to be fully digested as we stand listening to one or three readers. Perhaps we should set aside a short period later in the day to go through the dramatic telling more at our leisure. Or perhaps we could focus on a particular passage which speaks to us more at this time.
There is:
- the last meal of Jesus with his disciples—a bitter-sweet experience for all;
- Jesus’ struggle with fear (even terror) and loneliness in the garden, ending in a sense of peace and acceptance;
- Peter’s denial of ever having known Jesus, the same Jesus with whom he had just eaten and who had invited him into the garden;
- the kiss of Judas, another disciple, sealing the fate of Jesus, and leading to bitter remorse and suicide;
- the rigged trial before the religious leaders and again before the contemptuous, cynical Pilate and the brief appearance before the superstitious and fearful Herod;
- the torture, humiliation and degradation of Jesus;
- the way of Calvary—the weeping women and the reluctant Simon of Cyrene;
- the crowds, so supportive on Sunday, who now laugh and mock;
- the murderous gangster promised eternal happiness that very day;
- the last words of forgiveness and total surrender (emptying) to the Father.
The drama is truly overpowering and needs really to be absorbed one incident at a time. It would be worth reflecting in which of these scenes I can see myself—with which characters I can identify as reacting in the way I probably would.
Jesus—the focal point
Through it all there is Jesus. His enemies humiliate him, strike him and scourge him. Soldiers make a crown with thorns, a crown for the “King of the Jews” (an element of contemptuous racism here?), and Herod mocks him. Pilate, Roman-trained, makes a half-hearted attempt at justice, but his fear for his career prevails.
Jesus, for his part, does not strike back; he does not scold; he does not accuse or blame. He begs his Father to:
…forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
Jesus seems to be the victim, but all through he is, in fact, the Master. He is master of the situation because he is master of himself.
So, as we go through this day and this week, let us look very carefully at Jesus our Saviour. We watch, not just to admire, but also to learn, and to penetrate the mind, the thinking, the attitudes and the values of Jesus so that we, in the very different circumstances of our own lives, may walk in his footsteps.
If we are to be his disciples, he invites us to walk his way, to share his sufferings, to imitate his attitudes, to ‘empty’ ourselves, to live in service of others—in short, to love others as he loves us. This is not at all a call to a life of pain and misery. Quite the contrary, it is an invitation to a life of deep freedom, peace and happiness. If it were anything else, it would not be worth considering.
