REFLECTIONS FOR PALM SUNDAY

After five weeks of preparation we now enter the climax of the Lenten season and what we call Holy Week.

In a way, the whole week from today until Easter Sunday should be seen as one unit – the presentation of the mystery of Easter (or “Paschal Mystery”). This mystery of Easter includes the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus and the pouring out of God’s Holy Spirit onto the disciples of Jesus to continue the work he began. For liturgical and catechetical reasons the celebration of those events is spread over a period of seven weeks. They should, however, be seen as an indivisible single experience, the central experience of our Christian faith.

Our celebration of Palm Sunday strangely mixes an atmosphere of exuberant joy and a foreshadowing of the cruel events that soon followed.  In the midst of the joy of the palms there are hints of shadow. Not everyone is spreading clothes on the ground for Jesus to walk over or waving branches. Jesus’ opponents are watching and what they see only gives greater urgency to their plot to end kill Jesus. In one way, they will succeed with a frightening ruthlessness to destroy Jesus but, of course, they will also fail utterly.  Our celebration of Palm Sunday – almost 2,000 years after his death -- is proof enough of that.

The eight days of Holy Week (from Sunday to Sunday) are packed with remembrances. We remember

• Jesus’ triumphant entry intro the city of Jerusalem as residents and pilgrims alike prepared for the Passover celebration;
• Jesus’ last supper with his disciples and his washing of his disciples' feet;
• Jesus’ struggle with fear (even terror) and loneliness in the garden, ending in a sense of peace and acceptance;
• Peter’s denial of ever having known Jesus, the same Jesus with whom he had just eaten and who had invited him into the garden;
• the kiss of Judas which sealed the fate of Jesus and lead to Judas’ bitter remorse and suicide
• the rigged trial before the religious leaders and again before the contemptuous, cynical Pilate, the brief appearance before the superstitious and fearful Herod;
• the torture, humiliation and degradation of Jesus;
• the weeping women, the reluctant Simon of Cyrene;
• the crowds, so supportive on Sunday, who now laugh and mock
• the murderous gangster promised eternal happiness that very day;
• Jesus’ last words of forgiveness and total surrender to God’s will;
• and finally, three days later, the empty tomb.

The drama of these events is truly overpowering and needs really to be absorbed one incident at a time.

Through it all there is Jesus. His opponents humiliate him, strike him, scourge him. Soldiers make a crown with thorns, a crown for the “King of the Jews.” Pilate, Roman-trained, makes a half-hearted attempt at justice but fear for his career prevails.

Jesus, for his part, does not strike back, he does not scold, he does not accuse or blame. He begs his Father to forgive those who “do not know what they are doing.” Jesus seems to be the victim in this drama, but all through he is, in fact, the master. He is master of the situation because he has mastered surrender to God.

So, as we go through this week, let us look very carefully at Jesus. Let us observe Jesus’ mind, his attitudes, and his values, so that we, in the very different circumstances of our own lives, may walk in his footsteps.

Jesus invites us to walk his way, to share his sufferings, to imitate his attitudes, to “empty” ourselves, to live in service of others – in short, to love others as he loves us. This is not at all a call to a life of pain and misery. Quite the contrary, it is an invitation to a life of deep freedom, peace, and happiness – freedom, peace, and happiness that come from surrendering our thinking, attitudes, and values to God’s providence.