Mark 14: 1 - 15:47
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
The Word: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032821.cfm
Friends, the holiest week of the Church year begins for us this weekend with the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord. There we move quickly through joyful adulation as Jesus enters Jerusalem as a peaceful king to the acclaim of the adoring crowds. They proclaim him "Hosanna - the King." While that may sound appropriate, and indeed it is, we can only imagine how the leaders of the Jewish people who were already plotting a way to capture and kill him might interpret this as the final threat to their authority and a direct challenge to the tight grip of the Roman authorities. “There is no king but Caesar” from the Roman perspective and anyone who dared to appear a rival must be eliminated! Of course Jesus was aware of their dark intent.
Not only does
Jesus rightly claim to be the ‘light of the world” but also claims to be “one
with the Father in heaven” and that comparison portrays Jesus as a great threat
to the stability of the Jewish order but also appears a direct confrontation
with their authoritative position. The
crowds amass around Jesus and the appearance of a potential revolution against
the Romans and the Jewish leaders may be on the horizon. Or so it is thought. This is enough! Something must be done to destroy this leader
of the uprising. Basically then, we see that Jesus was crucified more for
political than for religious reasons since, as we hear in the reading of the Passion
both this Sunday and on Good Friday, it is only the Romans who had the
authority to enforce the death penalty and they were experts at enforcing it! Still, the narrow mindedness of the Pharisees, the alleged guardians of Jewish purity, never understood Jesus' intent and saw him as a danger. They plotted with Caiaphas the High Priest who was himself in league with the Roman authorities.
Our Sunday liturgy begins this continuous unbroken story with the blessing of the palms and the reading of the Passion,
this year from St. Mark the Evangelist. Our mood of joy changes to one of
shock and sorrow. In John we see Jesus goes
to the Temple to symbolically cleanse the Temple from corruption and idolatry, to
destroy the old order and to proclaim a new “temple” in his risen body – the Church. Shortly before, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead so the fever pitch around him was very high as were the hostile forces. How
much time elapsed between the praise of the crowds with branches and Jesus' arrest seems
very short, likely only a few days at the most beginning with the betrayal by one of his inner circle, Judas Iscariot, who handed Jesus over to his suspicious enemies.
The rest of our week on Holy Thursday and Good Friday
moves to the establishment of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper and that of
the Priesthood. Here, knowing that his
time was short on the earth, Jesus gives us himself in the meal of remembrance,
our Mass, and appoints his Apostles and successors with authority to lead the
community as they proclaim the good news of forgiving salvation for all and
make his presence true among the people who are formed into the new Temple, the
Church, with Christ as its Head.
Good Friday, of course, is a somber day of reflection on
the death of Jesus. Yet, as Christians
far removed from the original event, we well know that sunrise and great
rejoicing is just on the horizon as Jesus' tortuous death is replaced by his
glorious resurrection from the dead and his promise of forgiveness, mercy, love
and eternal life to all who would follow his Way. Through Jesus' death and resurrection
humanity is reconciled with God and our celebration of the Holy Mass each time
makes this event present to us.
What greater moment and gift could their possibly
be? So, let's enter this dramatic week
with joy and anticipation and our sacred liturgies this week with
participation. If you've never been to
Holy Week services, make this the year you will begin - with your families as
well. Most thankful of all is that we
are now able to participate in person more fully than last year when the
pandemic began. While we still have a
way to go, there is reason for optimism and hope on the horizon.
If you've never been to the great Easter Vigil service on
Saturday evening, come this year. There
we hear the Old Testament stories of salvation, give birth to new members in
Baptism and Confirmation, and rejoice together in the resurrection of the Lord
as we feast on his presence in the Eucharist.
Give thanks for our generous and merciful God!
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Almighty ever-living God,
who as an example of humility for the human race to
follow
caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross,
graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient
suffering
and so merit a short in his Resurrection.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
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