Homily: Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – Cycle B
(Procession)
Friends, once again we enter
this solemn week to commemorate and “enter into” once again the great mysteries
of our salvation. To mark the difference
of this week above all others, today, even before we begin Mass, we commemorate
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Here we note that, on this particular day, Jesus did something
different.
The Passover was a “pilgrim”
feast, meaning that people would walk to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast. They would often congregate in groups outside
of the city and enter in the morning where groups already gathered in Jerusalem
would greet them and celebrate their entry with acclamations of joy. Jesus and his disciples certainly experienced
this in the previous years of his ministry.
This year, however, would be different.
Before entering, Jesus told his disciples to bring him an animal so that
he could ride into Jerusalem, instead of walk.
Only the most important people (namely, kings) rode on an animal or were
carried in a carriage into the city.
Thus, in doing so, Jesus was definitively declaring who he was and his
disciples recognized it. They proclaimed
him openly as he entered he city; and the people who greeted them were won over
by the enthusiasm and began to proclaim him also. “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord!” and “Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!” is
their acclamation. “Hosanna!” is their
jubilant song of praise to God that his promise to send a savior has been
fulfilled.
Friends, we enter again with
Jesus this holy week and we begin in this way in order to acknowledge that
everything that will follow throughout this week – the Last Supper, the
Passion, the Death, the Resurrection – is all about Jesus' triumph; and that, through baptism, we are beneficiaries of his
triumph. Therefore, today and all the
days of this week ought to be colored by the acclamation, HOSANNA: for the
kingdom that God promised to David has been fully established in Christ Jesus;
and we are citizens of it.
Given at St. Patrick Parish: Kokomo, IN – March 28, 2021
Homily:
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – Cycle B
(Mass)
Friends,
as we have heard again the reading of the Passion of the Lord, we are
confronted with the question: How could the people who acclaimed Jesus as king
on Palm Sunday, then condemn him to a violent death on Friday? I won’t attempt to answer that question
completely, but I do think that there are two ways that we can reflect
fruitfully on this question.
The
first way is to recognize that the capacity to turn radically against our Lord
is something that each of us possesses.
Think not? Just look at Jesus’
closest disciples in the narrative that we just read. As Jesus predicted, each of them abandoned
him when he was arrested. Peter even
denied him outright. They did not go so
far as to condemn him, of course, but the fact that Jesus’ closest friends
chose to abandon him rather than come to his defense should be a sign to each
of us that the capacity to turn from “follower” to “persecutor” exists in each
of us. Truly, this is the work that we
have been doing during Lent: examining ourselves to identify the ways in which
we still turn from Jesus so as to repent and be renewed in his friendship.
The
second way to reflect on this question is to recognize that in this situation
we are not talking about the same people in each instance. Rather, we are talking about two groups of
people: those who acclaimed Jesus and those who condemned him. The first are those who acclaimed Jesus as
king in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem while the second resented their
acclamations and later that week joined the conspiracy to condemn Jesus. When this happened, the first group stood by
stunned, not knowing what to do. Doesn’t
this sound much more like our life today?
On almost any issue, there are people who support and champion a
particular side as well as people who reject and resist it. Here in the United States, the Democrats and
Republicans in our government model this for us daily.
I
believe that this second way is important because it reminds us that, in this
world, there will always be, to greater and lesser degrees, those who acclaim
Jesus as king and those who would condemn him to death all over again. It is important to remember this because it
reminds us that our work of evangelization is never over. We must always give witness to what we
believe and invite those around us to recognize Jesus as their king, too. This has caused and will always cause
suffering for Jesus’ disciples, which is why Jesus himself suffered: to model
for us the self-emptying that would be demanded of those who would be citizens
of his kingdom.
Thus,
each year we solemnly recall Jesus’ passion.
We do this so as to make it present again to us. Like all of the great mysteries of our
salvation, Jesus’ passion is not something that happened in the past and has
ended. Rather, it is something that is
continually happening in his Body, the Church.
Therefore, we enter into his passion this week in order to be reminded
that Christ’s passion enters into our passions, wherever and whenever we suffer
them. In other words, the solemn
remembrance of Jesus’ passion reminds us that, in our sufferings, Jesus’
suffering is there with us so as to remind us that, as the Father glorified
Jesus for his obedience, so too will each of us be glorified after the
sufferings that we endure for being his disciples. Perhaps more plainly: Jesus’ passion reminds
us that God has not promised us a life without
suffering, but rather that he has promised us an exalted life after suffering.
Friends,
this great week is about making present again the mysteries of our salvation
and this should lead us to joyful praise!
It should also lead us to be so fully immersed in Christ's passion that
we are strengthened to bear the sufferings of our own lives with hope of the
exalted life to come. And so, this week
let us strive to see in our sufferings the sufferings of Christ and, thus,
decide to unite ourselves to him in his passion (which is always with us), so
that, on Easter Sunday, we may rejoice to know the glory to which our
sufferings are leading us: the glory of the new life we have received in
Jesus—the glory that we encounter here in this Eucharist.
Given at St. Patrick Parish: Kokomo, IN – March 28, 2021
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