Lent, REFLECTION Sunday´s Gospel

Palm Sunday 

(Fr James McTavish)

Today the whole Church celebrates Palm Sunday. This commemorates when Jesus entered Jerusalem to accomplish his Passion, and was greeted by the crowds waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”. In the account of the evangelist Mark (Mark 11, 1-10), Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him to find a young donkey which he will humbly ride into Jerusalem. In this way the prophecy of Zechariah will be fulfilled “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” (Zech 9,9). 

Jesus then gives instructions to his disciples - "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, 'Why are you doing this?' reply, 'The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.'" The disciples go ahead and find the colt just as Jesus had told them. Jesus is the Word through whom all things come into being. He speaks and it happens. This is an expression of his divinity. “So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it” 

Although divine, Jesus does not cling onto his divine nature to save himself. He knows that at any moment he could call down 12 legions of angels to save him but he chooses another Way, a way that is both divine yet very human. He chooses to suffer out of love for us. He empties himself, as St Paul so beautifully describes in Philippians 2, 6-11 – “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” However behind this ignominious death is a passionate love for us. Only a love that is passionate about another could give itself up. Like a mother whose baby was sick. She wanted to take the sickness of the child upon herself. This is love. Jesus seeing the sickness caused by sin takes the suffering upon himself and goes to the cross with it to put it to death. The love of Jesus is passionate and strong. He will be mocked, betrayed, handed over, tortured but behind the scenes is a great love in the heart of Jesus, who goes to his Passion for us and for our salvation. To enter into this great quality of love and not just remain on the surface of the events of Holy week requires an attentive and contemplative gaze. St. Ignatius of Antioch wrote “The death of the Lord is a mystery discovered in the silence of God. It is a mystery hidden from the princes of the world and only revealed through love”. 

Jesus is a man of conviction and he knows that riding on a young donkey is part of God’s salvific plan. He enters on to the scene of the drama of his Passion play with so much humility! Many kings and emperors would make their appearance with fanfare, trumpets and horse drawn carriages. This King is different. The other day I was going to a computer shop in a Trisikad (in Philipines this is a motorcycle with a sidecar) and I was reflecting on the humility of Jesus. When I arrived in the shop I was trying out my tagalog. I asked the computer technicians if their work was ‘mahirap’ (difficult). Their answer surprised me. They said that what is mahirap was not the computers themselves but rather the attitude of some customers especially “the educated ones”. It seems that many customers are arrogant especially those who think they are in the know. It made me reflect “When I am in front of others, is my attitude of arrogance? Or is it humble like Jesus, coming on a donkey?” One teacher of mine during my studies in Rome was a very humble man. He was so intelligent but he never made you feel stupid. On the contrary he was so happy to listen to you. He did not have to try and impress you and prove himself. Lord, help us to be more humble! 

The image of Jesus choosing a donkey to enter Jerusalem and begin his Passion week really helps me. The donkey is known as the beast of burden. Donkey’s are also known for their stubbornness. I imagine that donkey carrying Jesus was complaining and moaning. But when he saw the crowds, the welcome, the smiles, the applause, imagine the donkey saying “Thank you, thank you. You are very kind.” How great to remember that we are not the Saviour! The merit belongs to Christ. As the Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias of Bombai said “The bishop, like the donkey, must carry Jesus high on his shoulders for all the people to see and hear and follow. The hosannas and the alleluias, the palm and olive branches, the clothes strewn before it on the roadside are not for the donkey, but for his lord and master". This applies for all Christians too, we are just little donkeys, a bit stubborn, sometimes complaining, but Jesus loves us and chooses us for his work. 

Let us remember this Holy Week that Jesus is the real protagonist of all the events. Let us not lose confidence in him and his ways when he is betrayed, let us not fall away in faintheartedness when he is handed over. May we live the events of the next week with a contemplative gaze so we can understand the great love Christ has for each one of us. The love of a God who becomes man, suffers for our ignorance and indifference but he loves us so passionately that he goes to his death to save us from our sins. Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.