Palm Sunday

The passion story is a perfect example of the contradiction between the ones that abuse their power, which they think they have, and the one that has real power but doesn't use it. It tells us also how people almost worship their leaders instead of looking up to the only One that can save them, which is God. If we look to Jesus in his suffering, we can see He did exactly that. He did not trust in human leadership for his salvation. Human leadership is corruptible and fallible, whether in the Church or in the world. Not only that but you can also not put the salvation of the world unto their shoulders. The only one who was capable was Jesus Christ. Not only did he carry it but also pointed us to Our Heavenly Father for our help.


And yet what do we do? We look up to human leaders for our salvation. As if they are able to save us from anything. I think this whole pandemic is a good example of that. With every leader we choose we think we invited the Messiah. At first we praise them (Hosanna) and if they don't do what we want we shout: “crucify him”. Just like the people in Jesus day did. That is how it can go. The same for our own lives. One day they praise you and the other day they reject you. It happened to Jesus. On Palm Sunday they shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David” and on Good Friday they shouted: “Crucify him”. And of course Jesus is different from any human leader. But the bottomline is that only God can save us....even from our own self created chaos. Don't look up to human leaders and put them on a pedestal because they won't save you. Only the one that has been “pierced for our transgressions” can save you.

If we look in the passion story we can see that the people in Jesus time did the same as we did. When Jesus enters Jerusalem they want to make him a king. They want him to deliver them from the Romans. But it ain't going to happen because it is not Gods plan. Of course there is a difference between Jesus and any other religious or political leader but still the message is the same. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Everything happens in Gods way and in Gods timing. Jesus let's it happen to the point that we might think: “why is he not doing anything”. Very likely that is the same thought that his disciples had. “He was oppressed and was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth” (Is 53:7). Christ was no stranger hardship, privation and suffering, long before that final day of his life.


He, the most high God, suffered the hardships of the poor, at times not even having a place to lay his head. He endured hunger and thirst, and after long days surrounded by crowds seeking a cure, he often spent whole nights at prayer in the hills. Despite his compassion for all who came to him, he met with hatred and rejection. How this rejection and hatred must have grieved him. King Lear knew “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is, to have a thankless child;”. So when we are rejected by people, know that we have a savior who experienced it as well. It was a terrible inner struggle for Jesus. He struggled with humans and with God. Why does God wants this to happen? Only God knows. But Jesus eventually submitted to Gods will. On the cross Jesus recites Psalm 22. We only hear the words: “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me”. But if we read the psalm carefully it is also about putting your trust in God. And that is what Jesus did. His last words are: “in your hands I commit my soul”. These are the words of a Jewish child when it lays it's head down to sleep.


Each of the four Evangelists give an account of the Passion, but each tells the story with his own particular style and emphasis. The account read this year is written by Mark, Saint Peter’s helper and companion in Rome, and it shows the stark human abandonment of Jesus. The behavior of the disciples is portrayed negatively. Yet, as Jesus breathes his last, God acts to confirm his Son. The veil of the temple was rent in two, and a Roman Centurion confesses: “Truly this was God’s son.” There are moments in our lives when we need desperately to cry out with Jesus: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”, only to find, as Jesus did, that God is listening, and can reverse tragedy. It is above all a comfort to those who find it hard to bear the cross to know that it wasn’t easy for God’s own son, either.


There is great hostility in the story we have just heard. Alongside the hostility of those who rejected Jesus, there is the failure of those who had been closest to him. His disciples all deserted him and fled. Yet, there were a few people who responded to Jesus in that dark hour faithfully and nobly. There was the anonymous woman who in an extravagant gesture of love and respect anointed the head of Jesus. Then there was the Roman centurion. And Joseph of Arimithea took the bold step of going to Pilate to ensure Jesus had a dignified burial. The women disciples who looked on from a distance noted where Jesus was buried and went away to prepare spices to anoint his body at the earliest opportunity. All of these people men and women saw Jesus with eyes of faith and love. The story we have just heard invites us to identify with those who saw Jesus with the eyes of faith and love, who recognized the light of God in the darkness of Jesus’ passion and death. This Holy Week, the church invites us to travel that journey with these men and women back then. We have to place ourselves in the story, which is a perfect spiritual practice to experience the story. We see the story with the eyes of our heart and recognize the good Shepherd who laid down his life for us all, so that we might have the fullness of life. Amen.