It’s such a contrast. the two Gospels we heard this morning.
First, Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph. They had all heard about the raising of
Lazarus and his other miracles. And so, Jesus
is heralded by a crowd proclaiming: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name
of the Lord”.
But just a little while later, things have changed. Now the crowd shouts “crucify him” over and
over again. And Jesus is subjected to
the most cruel and inhumane treatment. He
is sentenced to death on a cross. What
happened?
Well, make absolutely no mistake about it, Satan was alive
and active in the world sewing seeds of descension; orchestrating evil deeds; waiting
and lurking for any opportunity to make things worse; looking to corrupt those
who are vulnerable; and playing on pride, greed, and all the other sins of the
heart.
What happened is really very simple. The people of Jerusalem lacked real Faith. They believed in a God who rewarded them for
keeping the law, but their faith was weak and vulnerable. They were happy to
praise Jesus as long as he worked miracles and fed them abundantly. They also
expected this miracle worker to get rid of the Romans for them.
But when Jesus came, he preached in the temple. He preached things the authorities didn’t
want to hear. And when he attacked the
motives and methods of their leaders; when Jesus offered a new and better way, one
that would require them to change; and when it became clear he wasn’t
challenging the Romans; well, then the worst qualities of human nature took
over.
Jesus did not follow the detailed p’s and q’s of the law. He even drove money changers out of the
temple, ridiculing their motivation to make money. You have to wonder what the common folk felt
when they saw this. Because rather than
“getting right” with the Lord in a simple pigeon or dove offering, they were
being told that it takes more than that; it takes a conversion of the heart; an
offering that is a real sacrifice; not just some token offering.
So, Jesus called into question the motives of both the
leaders and the people, and even identified their hypocrisies in the process. Their self-image was hurt; they fell victim
to pride. I can hear it now: “I’m not as
bad as all that”. And the miracles he
worked just made the matters worse, diminishing the leader’s reputation even
more. The Jewish authorities became
jealous and angry. They were ready to do
anything to get rid of this “imposter”.
And then there was Judas.
Jesus was not bringing a revolution to bear against Roman rule as Judas
hoped he would do. Jesus’ revolution
meant changing the heart not the government.
And so, Judas was upset and impatient with Jesus and his greed for money
and control took over, so he betrayed Jesus.
And so, Satan had a welcome audience- vulnerable people who
were so taken with their own self-interests that they would do anything to get
rid of Jesus. They wanted this voice of conscience
out of the way. And Satan was all to
ready to whip them into a frenzy.
Our readings today talk about suffering in general. Isaiah’s prophecy addressed the suffering of
the entire Jewish people during the Babylonian exile. But it also predicted the sufferings of
Jesus.
Our second reading is a first century hymn incorporated by
St,. Paul into one of his epistles. It
summarizes Jesus sacrifice for all of us quite well. Here is God made man, humbling himself in the
most extraordinary way. A totally
innocent man who gives freely of his own life to save all of us and offer us a resurrected
life in the kingdom of God.
And so, God highly exalted Jesus- and that is what
Christianity is all about. We are to follow
in the footsteps of this God-made Man so we too can share in everlasting life
and joy.
But wait a minute; there is a catch. It seems that all of us need to share in the
sufferings of Christ. Yes, all of us are
given a life of challenges where we have to face choices- choices between
comfort and suffering; choices between right and wrong; choices between
standing up for what is right or taking
an easier more comfortable road; choices between doing things in the light of
day or doing them in the deceptive cover of night. All of us are confronted with these types of
choices. Only the strength of our faith
and the graces that come with it can sustain us in these situations.
The Gospel of the passion is uncomfortable for us to hear. It is even more uncomfortable when it is effectively
dramatized, as it was in Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ”. And there are even more challenging descriptions
of the Passion than that which we can voluntarily look at, like “The 24 hours
of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ” by Luisa Picareta, which is an hour by
hour chronicle of the horror of the passion.
The purpose of these vivid descriptions is for us to appreciate just
what Jesus Christ did for us. It was not
just physical suffering, but intense mental and spiritual suffering as well- more
suffering than any of us could possibly bear.
And that is the point.
God was willing to send His son to do that for each and every one of us. We surely can endure the sufferings that each
of us has been called to endure for the sake of our Faith.
Palm Sunday and Holy Week are that time each year when each
of us is called to reflect on all of this.
And to make our commitment to believe- really believe. And really believing means putting your faith
into action.
All of you here are making that choice on Easter Sunday. God bless you all and your Faith.
