Passion/Palm Sunday – Year A
Readings: Is 50:4-7, Phil 2:6-11, Matt 26:14-27:66
Theme: The Attitude of Jesus in His Passion
By Rev. Fr. Daniel Tetteh Tackie
After five and a half weeks of preparation, we now enter into the climax of the Lenten season viz. Holy Week, the chief week of the Liturgical Year. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Today is Passion Sunday, otherwise known as Palm Sunday. It is the great doorway leading into Holy Week, the week when the Lord Jesus makes His way towards the culmination of His earthly existence. He goes up to Jerusalem in order to fulfil the Scriptures and to be nailed to the wood of the Cross, the throne from which He will reign forever, drawing to Himself humanity of every age and offering to all the gift of redemption. We know from the Gospels that Jesus had set out towards Jerusalem in company with the Twelve, and that little by little a growing crowd of pilgrims had joined them.
Who would have thought that the crowd which welcomed Jesus with such enthusiasm during His entry into Jerusalem would turn against Him so quickly within days and demand His crucifixion and the release of Barabbas who had been condemned for murder? Their welcome and shouts for Jesus were superficial. Their support for Him was only skin deep. It was easy to be part of a crowd that welcomed Jesus and it was easy to be part of a crowd that condemned Him to death.
Reading the account of the Passion of Jesus each year is a special time in our lives. It is special because it is the account of our salvation, of Jesus giving His life to save us. It was because of our sins that Jesus died. He would not have had to die if we did not sin. His sacrifice of Himself on the cross on Calvary to His Father atoned to God our Father for our sins. This week, Holy Week, is indeed a Holy Week, a week like no other in the year, a week when we celebrate in our special celebrations on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil, what Jesus did for us. Hopefully you can be present for these celebrations. This week is a week to take time out, to stop, to reflect, to spend time with Jesus who gave His life for you, a week to pray.
As we read the account of Jesus’ Passion, we see many incidents in His Passion that speak to us. In Gethsemane we see that prayer to God gives us the strength to face the worst. When Jesus began His prayer in Gethsemane He said His soul was sorrowful to the point of death (Matt 26:38) and even asked His Father to take the cup away from Him. He was asking His Father to grant that He would not have to suffer and die. But during His prayer He gained strength to face His Passion and was able to pray, “not what I will but what you will” (Matt 26:39). This is an example in the life of Jesus for us.
Prayer helps us, and strengthens us. Jesus went from being down (take this cup away from me) to being up (not what I will but what you will). When you have problems, turn to prayer more than ever because prayer helps. Prayer helped Jesus to face His Passion and prayer helps us.
We cannot but be shocked at the amount of physical suffering Jesus underwent during His Passion as well as the amount of verbal abuse and disrespect he endured. Firstly, Jesus was tried before the religious leaders and they judged that he deserved to die. Since they did not have the authority to have Jesus killed they had to have Jesus tried a second time, this time before Pilate the Roman Governor, in the hope that he would judge Jesus worthy of death. Jesus was mocked, crowned with thorns, stripped, crucified, and even mocked on the Cross. And all of this for you, for us, that our sins would not have the last word but that when the Father would see our sins he would have to look through his Son on the cross making up for our sins and so forgive us. The preface to the Eucharistic Prayer today says it all:
For, though innocent, he suffered willingly for sinners and accepted unjust condemnation to save the guilty. His Death has washed away our sins, and his Resurrection has purchased our justification.
When Jesus died, the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matt 27:51). The curtain was before the Holy of Holies, God’s dwelling place in the temple, where no one could enter except the high priest, and he enters there only once a year. But when Jesus died this curtain was torn in two showing that Jesus’ death has now opened the way for all of us to God. The curtain was torn from the top down, not from the bottom up, to show that God is responsible for this curtain being torn. God is giving a message. Previously only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, now we can all approach God, obviously not in the temple but one of the letters in the New Testament, the Letter to the Hebrews, says we now enter God’s sanctuary by the flesh and blood of Jesus, i.e. through the Eucharist (Heb 10:19-20). Until Jesus died, only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. After Jesus died we all enter God’s sanctuary when we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus in the Eucharist, as we celebrate Jesus giving his Body and Blood for us on Calvary.
The Passion of Jesus moves us. It moves us because Jesus suffered. In the First Reading today we heard what we could describe as a prophecy of Jesus’ passion,
For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my face against insult and spittle.” (Isa 50:5-6)
The Psalm today is also in many ways a prophecy of the Passion of Jesus,
All who see me deride me. They curl their lips, they toss their heads. ‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him; let him release him if this is his friend.’ Many dogs have surrounded me, A band of the wicked beset me.
They tear holes in my hands and my feet. I can count every one of my bones. They divide my clothing among them. They cast lots for my robe.” (Ps 22:7-8, 16-18)
The Passion of Jesus moves us because it is we who have inflicted this suffering on Jesus. It was not just the chief priests and it was not just the cruel Roman soldiers who brought this suffering on Jesus; it was our sins that inflicted this suffering on Jesus.
The crowd which welcomed Jesus with palms turned against him just as quickly and abandoned Jesus. Peter too turned from Jesus to save himself. Do we hear our conscience crowing any more when we sin? See what we have done to Jesus. Flee from sin, and be healed, for “through his wounds we are healed.” Amen.
