PALM/PASSION SUNDAY (2025)
Readings:
Luke 19:28-40
Isaiah 50:4-7
Psalms 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24
Philippians 2:6-11
Luke 22:14-23:56
There is a deliberate dissonance between the beginning of the liturgy of the Word and the end of the liturgy of the Word. The liturgies of Holy Week, especially of the Triduum, are very unique to the Church year, and today’s liturgy is no less unique. In Churches with the most perfect of configurations and weather, the liturgy is meant to begin with a procession which commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. I can remember from my youth, carrying my imported palm branch (long before I lived in the City of Palms), and I somewhat felt transported back to the dusty streets of Jerusalem, just waiting for Jesus to pass by on the back of a donkey. The happiness of the Hosannas raised in praise of this itinerant preacher were obvious. This Jesus of Nazareth had most assuredly made a name for Himself, and a joy-filled crowd had come out, even just to see Him passing by. “As Jesus rode along, people were spreading their cloaks on the road.” The joy of the Pharisees in the crowd was tempered by the discomfort they felt hearing divine titles being bestowed on Jesus, and they serve as a warning that soon they will be controlling Jesus’ fate, and their animosity toward Jesus will blossom.
The stratified world of Jesus’ time was not unlike the world of today. There were princes, governors, and kings on the top rung of society, and not far behind them were the religious leaders of the day, more than amply cared for by the Temple taxes which paid their salaries. Ordinary men and women made up the bulk of the society, and like the bulk of any society, they could be influenced by who made the best offer, or gave the most convincing argument. They made livings by producing things (like furniture), or growing fruits and vegetables. Kept at a distance from masses was the disenfranchised, unclean, and those forced to beg for whatever kept them alive. We meet many in this last category in the gospels because Jesus Himself had a predisposition for the poor, and His message resonated greatly with this lower class of people. I suspect many shouting Hosanna on that road leading into Jerusalem were the lower classes of people, part of the crowds (like groupies) who followed Jesus around to hear Him teach. Jesus gave them a message that inspired hope, and while their understanding of the kingdom to come did not always match that of the understanding of the Master, it altered the overwhelming sense of oppression by the Romans that they so clearly felt.
The joy of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem begins to change with the first reading and the psalm response. Isaiah’s Suffering Servant discourse prefigures what is to come: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked by beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting.” The use of the psalm response further reminds us of the Passion Narratives of Mark (15:34) and Matthew (27:46), where Jesus utters a verse from psalm 22:2: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” While the refrain sounds like the depths of utter despair, the prayer of the psalmist ends on the highest of notes: “The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought (22:32).”
The Passion narratives are read today and on Good Friday so that we might be reminded of the cost of our salvation, a cost by God who loves us so much that He “became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:8).” It’s not as though as Christians we are unfamiliar with the details of all our Passion Narratives (Mark, Matthew, Luke, John), but at the close of every Lenten season it is fitting that as communities of faith we hear Christ’s Passion proclaimed, giving voice to what could become just empty words. Listening to our carefully chosen texts unfold should be a boost to our faith, for desiring to live like Jesus we are called to be obedient unto death. Our crosses are not the same, but each of us must embrace the cross that is ours, and ours alone. In Gethsemane there were signs that Jesus Himself didn’t even know if He could do what lay before Him. We struggle with physical, emotional, financial problems. We agonize when members of our families are hurt or afflicted with an unfair disease. We find life more than difficult when we find ourselves out of a job, or when a natural disaster strikes us or our loved ones. We do not know what will be asked of us, but we pray for a determination like that of Jesus. May this holiest week of the church’s year inspire us to be like Jesus, whose obedience to God, His Father, led Him to the brightness of Easter morning.
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