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| Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem |
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Mark 1:15-47
As we come once again to this
opening of the most holy week of the year, the entire community is invited to
take part in the proclamation of the Gospel – that beautiful narrative of the
entry of Christ into Jerusalem up until His death and burial. With this we all
truly enter into Holy Week. We are not simply bystanders; we are not men and
women simply reflecting on an historical event that unfolded nearly 2000 years
ago. We are there among the people of Jerusalem. With our palms today we
welcome the King of Glory into our presence. And as happens so often in our
lives, we quickly turn away from Our Lord and begin to look to ourselves and
our own desires. Today we join the Jews of 2000 years ago in crying out
“Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” We cry out only twice, but sure we intend it many
more. And it’s not them. It’s us. It’s me and it’s you.
As we watch His Passion unfold,
we are blind to the reality of what is truly taking place before our very eyes.
We do not fully understand that every sin of ours today is another wound to Our
Lord.
Every time we decide not to
attend Sunday Mass because something else came up, we are the three who fall
asleep and are awakened by Jesus’ sorrow words, “Could you not keep watch for
one hour?” When we fail to stand up for Christ or His Church, we are Peter
turning away saying, “I do not know this man!” though only a bit ago we
promised, “I will not deny you.”
Each act of greed or anger is
another stripe across the back of the Lord. Our lustful acts and gluttony tear
open His flesh because we have failed to properly make use of ours.
Our vengeful, impure and
judgmental thoughts are thorns piercing the Sacred Head of Christ. Every word
of profanity, gossip, degradation, or self-exaltation is another curse hurled
at Our Lord as people spit upon Him. And when we exclaim ‘Oh my God’ or ‘Jesus
Christ’ without really meaning it as a prayer, we are the guards that mock
Jesus by dressing Him up and saluting Him, “Hail King of the Jews!” before
slapping his head once more.
As we pass by those in need when
we can help, we are the bystanders who watch as Our Lord continues to fall face
down into the dirt path, buckling under the weight of the Cross pressing down
upon Him. As we offer the drugged wine, we hold out to Him the times we have
given in to drunkenness or drug use.
The nails that pierce His Holy
and Venerable Hands are the many times where we have sought to tear control
over our lives and our world from the hands of our God – our lack of trust and
faith, our lack of openness to the Holy Spirit, and more physical things such
as trying to build up unnecessary wealth for ourselves or using unnatural means
of contraception to control our family.
And now after these many things
we gaze upon our handy work. God has been rejected, bruised, beaten, pierced
and now hangs nearly lifeless for all to see. And the amazing thing is that He
let every bit of it happen. Like the suffering servant from our first reading –
He has given His back to those who beat Him, his cheeks and face to be struck
and spat upon. Rather than strike out in anger at us, He has permitted every
one of these offenses to happen because He loves us.
My brothers and sisters, these
are harsh things to ponder, but they are no reason to despair. In the Passion
of Our Lord we find a sad story of creation’s rejection of the Creator. But
more importantly, we find the story of the depth of the Love of that Creator
for us, His creation, such that He would undergo anything to join them to
Himself for eternity. He would go so far as to empty Himself of His glory and
become obedient “even to the point of death – death on a Cross.”
This love is too much for us to
understand and these things too far beyond us. Our Lord knows this clearly and
for that reason He cries out, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do!”
Father, forgive us. For we know
not what we do.
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