WHAT HIS PASSION TEACHES US

PALM SUNDAY   

Mt 21:1-11; Isa 50: 4-7; Ps 22:8-9,17-20,23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Mt 26:14-27:66

The Lesson of Our Teacher and Master

Today is Palm or Passion Sunday. The celebration ushers us into Holy Week for the celebration of the Paschal mysteries of our Lord. The readings prepare our minds with a summary of the events of the coming days. The naming of the Sunday is from the major event of the day, which is the triumphant entrance of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. The first part of the celebration depicts this. The blessing of the palms at a suitable place outside the church and subsequent procession into the church are to recall these events from the Gospels. The major lesson from this initial celebration is the emphasis placed on the Lordship of the Son of Man. What we see clearly through the Gospel reading proclaimed outside the church in preparation for the procession is Jesus’ foreknowledge of all things and his command or control of every event. He knew the hour had come for his glorification, and he controlled every event leading to his trial and crucifixion. Hence, every word and action was intentional and for our instruction. We learn many lessons from his passion; we highlight the following.

First is Christ's knowledge of all things. He sent his disciples to fetch the colt destined for his triumphant entry, with details of location, and the answer they were to give to anyone who asked them any question. “When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village facing you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord has need of them,” and he will send them immediately.” The events played out as he informed and directed them. Second, he knew what the people would do regarding his entrance into Jerusalem on this occasion. The people would exalt and praise him despite themselves. For everything is willed by God and prophesied. Our witnessing of these events and understanding of the mastery of the Son of Man over things, people, and events ought to predispose our minds and hearts to understand the purpose of his passion and death that followed.

What is the purpose of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ? The purpose revealed by the prophet Isaiah is that we may be instructed in humble obedience. Since obedience is the greatest religious act, as we have come to understand, it must be the watchword and characteristic attitude of the redeemed or the new people of God, formed from all nations. Our Lord/Master teaches us this lesson as the most important for our incorporation into his body. “The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue. So that I may know how to reply to the wearied he provides me with speech. Each morning, he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear.” Because the ears of the Son of Man are open to listen like a disciple, he hears and understands the will of God and carries it out daily. This makes him Lord and Master of all things, for he rules all things by God’s power and authority, which are his by his obedience. His mastery of all things is twofold: the first is the mastery of his body, and the second is the mastery of other things. He demonstrated this by his passion and death. So, the prophecy continues: “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.”

The prophecy is shown to have been fulfilled in the Gospel as given by Saint Matthew. Jesus Christ, as God knows all things and commands all things, but as man, he knows by his attentiveness to God, as given in Isaiah’s prophecy. He plays the role of God during his life through his obedience. However, a lack of attention and disobedience causes sinners to play the role of the evil one. Judas illustrates this well for us. “One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you?’ They paid him thirty silver pieces, and from that moment he looked for an opportunity to betray him.” These are the two roles open to all of us: the role of God in various manifestations of his divine will, and the role of the devil and his varied and subtle manifestations. The Son of Man chose the path of humble obedience to the will of the Father until death to glorify the Father and to save us from our slavery to evil and death. He has taught us by words of preaching and by the example of his humble and obedient life. Our bounden duty is to study the lesson of humility and obedience he taught and be filled with his Holy Spirit, which makes us part of his mystical body on earth.

The second purpose or intention for his passion and death is to teach us that the path of humble obedience leads to everlasting glory and to reveal that glory to us in his resurrection. The example of his passion and death would remain unattractive without the glory of his resurrection, which reveals and proclaims his Lordship of all things, even sin, death, and evil. He rose from the dead to confirm the truthfulness of the word of God, that all who do the will of God live forever. Saint Paul summarises these two great lessons for us in his letter to the Philippians. “His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross.” This is the lesson of his condescension. He continues with the lesson of his glorification by the Father. “But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Thus, our entering the path of humble obedience to the Father’s will brings us to alternate the roles of God and man. Faith props us up when God allows us to feel the weakness of our human nature, and the humility learnt puts us in check when God gives us his glory and grace to enjoy. In the former state, we cry with the psalmist, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In the latter, we rejoice with him: “I will tell of your name to my brethren and praise you where they are assembled.” In both states, we follow the example of the Son of Man to share in his Holy Spirit.  

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Saviour to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.