March 24
Palm Sunday
“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”
Readings
Reflection
And so begins our most solemn week of the year! I’ve always been intrigued by our entrance to Mass today. With the Sacred Triduum just days away we of course know what’s coming…and so because of the looming passion and death of the Lord, it just feels superficial or maybe even forced when we sing ‘hosanna’ and praise to Jesus the Messiah and King. We know and experience in today’s Mass that this momentary joy flees.
St. John Henry Newman says not even Jesus could enjoy or receive the “hosannas” in this moment, because he himself knew he had not yet suffered, which is what he came to do: “This [entrance into Jerusalem] was but a vain and hollow pageant, nor did our Lord take pleasure in it. It was a shadow which stayed not, but flitted away. It could not be more than a shadow, for the Passion had not been undergone by which His true triumph was wrought out. He could not enter into His glory before He had first suffered. He could not take pleasure in this semblance of it, knowing that it was unreal.”
Newman goes on to remind us that before our very eyes this week we see Jesus when he is most powerful, and specifically it comes when he allows himself to be powerless (so-to-speak). Power is stripped away from him, he is anointed with the spit of passersbys, hailed with shouts to crucify him, and the attendants at his ‘throne’ of the cross are thieves…all unthinkable.
Yet, if this is where we see Jesus’ greatest power on display, especially in his power to suffer, why do we feel such defeat when we experience the reality of the cross in our lives? In our experience of the cross, we inevitably confront a powerlessness in not having the ‘control’ that we’d like—e.g., a change in health, the loss of a job, fractured trust in relationships, frustration or bitterness toward children or families—these things and more often bring us to a place of desperation. When at one point we might have had it all together, in another, we’re humbled and hopelessly in need.
St. Paul’s beautiful hymn captured in his letter to the Philippians is one that should be visible in an icon of our lives, because it teaches us how we experience the wisdom of God alive and accompanying us when we feel powerless and defeated while striving to live our discipleship. Jesus, though he was in the form of God (though he had it all), he emptied himself, took the form of a slave, and became obedient to the point of death on a cross. Yet because of this, God greatly exalted him (cf. Phil 2).
So for us, we must keep our heart and our mind fixed on Jesus, who knew the suffering, rejection, and desperation that we experience. While our temptation might be to turn inward or toward helpless discouragement, there is power for us when we allow Jesus to conform our hearts to his in the midst of our powerlessness. Jesus’ complete surrender, trust, and communion with the Father is what brought him through the Cross and grave to the glory of the Resurrection. So will be the case for you and me, if we allow ourselves to be carried by Christ. This is not something to be feared, but rather this is how he fills us with life.
Peace,
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