Mass readings for Palm Sunday of the Passion of our Lord:
Mark 11.1-10 Isaiah 50.4-7 Psalm 22.7-8, 16-19, 22-23 Philippians 2.6-11 Mark 14.1-15.47
The changes to the liturgical calendar in the wake of Vatican II saw Passion Sunday, celebrated on the 5th Sunday of Lent, that would have been last week, moved to the 6th Sunday, that is Palm Sunday which is today, and the two observances were combined.
What occurs then, whether or not this was the intent of the reformers, is the framing of the Passion by the commemoration of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. We then have this contrast between the triumphal entry into the city, and defeated slog up the hill of Calvary; we go from cheering crowds to a jeering mob; and as the tradition is plain in teaching, we understand ourselves as participating in both. We celebrate Christ’s arrival among us, but then we turn on him at the prompting of the powers of this world who play on our fears and our sinfulness.
In our current situation, we must recognize who Christ is beyond vague notions of his being our Saviour. Indeed, we have now several lost generations of Christians who’ve effectively entered the ranks of agnosticism and atheism because they don’t understand what Christian faith is; they only know the world’s skeptical dismissal of the parody of Christianity they set up to mock just as they did to Jesus on that fateful Friday long ago.
When we speak of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are declaring not just a loyalty to and faith in the person of Jesus, but in the saving power of his divine nature at work in our lives. That is, if he is truth incarnate, then truth, as he tells us, sets us free. If he is love incarnate, then the love of God and of neighbor is integral to the life we lead. If this love is sacrificial, it’s not just his sacrifice that saves, but our sacrifices, small and large, united to his, that sanctifies us. We here have welcomed this into our lives; and I would say that at many an infant’s baptism, a youth’s confirmation, at our church weddings, and funerals, it is what is welcomed by the participants – even if independent of any belief in God – these are the principles they want to live by, to be governed by, and so, it makes sense to say the person who incarnates these principles is our king, our ruler, our leader.
Our salvation comes through more than a belief in a supreme being. Indeed, we are mistaken if we think of God as a supreme being because God is before being. God is prior to being, he is the principle of being. And so, he is the principle of truth, and the principle of love, and the principle of sacrifice. God is more than love and truth and the sacrifices that these require; these things are united and founded upon God as the source of all that is. And so, truth and love and sacrifice, kindness and compassion, courage and fortitude come of true being, of being authentically, fully a human being. It’s for these principles that we give our lives; as have countless numbers of our spiritual ancestors who didn’t enjoy a tenth of what we have in terms of lives that hitherto been safe and productive, wealthy and peaceful. Of course, we’re starting to see these things disappear.
Our fearfulness, our cowardice, our groveling before the powers of this world, this isn’t being; it’s its opposite, it is a lingering death that leads to a final and complete death. What is so baffling is how humanity will fall prey to the allure of the pact in death that worldly power will make with us. If we foolishly believe that in submitting to them, we will be made safe, and prosperous as individuals and as a society, then we are lost because this is a commitment that is never kept.
My sense is that at this late date, many are beginning to see how incrementally we have, as it were, agreed to our slow degradation as a society and personal corruption as individuals. No, we didn’t have the devil standing over us guiding our hands in signing in our blood an all-encompassing contract. Rather it was in a multitude of lesser decisions, like the unthinking way we might sign the credit card agreement and then go shopping, take the car loan for the flashy new set of wheels, believe the assurances of the loan officer that the mortgage payments are quite manageable. We’ve put ourselves into a position as moral debtors, and the world is happy to keep extending the credit, renegotiating the payments, and so, inch us toward our destruction such that the final push over the edge will require little effort.
Now, there is growing resistance. As much as we think of ourselves on this day as erstwhile supporters of Jesus who are turned at the first sign of trouble, or converted into Pharisees as we look to be on the winning side; Jesus himself is far more optimistic about us. Remember, as great a cowardly failure as St. Peter was on Good Friday, Jesus saw in the fisherman potential. Our Lord knew it would take his death and resurrection to give his disciples the confidence and strength to trust in the principles I spoke of. That while the Pharisees looked with condescension upon others for their spiritual shortcomings, and the Romans regarded the people with suspicions of possible treachery against the empire; Jesus trusted in their potential for good, and that of their gentile neighbors, to be truly great, and make of the world something splendid rather than the dismal plans the powers of the world have for us.
You may have read about the recent referendum in Ireland. The governing elites, those who hold political power, both government and opposition, have progressively assaulted the Irish in terms of their rights, particularly to free speech, which I find ironic for the land of Blarney. And for much of the last ten years, the people have gone along with it; convinced by their leaders that this was best for keeping the emerald isle a place of peace and safety and authentic community.
Despite the negligence of the mainstream legacy media, the truth of what has been done and why is slowly emerging, showing us that much of what was done, and current policy choices, have little to do with public safety and well-being. There is now more scrutiny of just what the “best and brightest” are proposing. The latest was the redefinition of family and the gutting of the constitutional recognition, rather unique to Ireland, that women as mothers are to be supported as indispensable contributors to the general welfare. These amendments to the constitution were resoundingly defeated in every county of the country save the one Dublin district that is recognized as a bastion of the nation’s elite. We will see what more may come of this quite peaceful rebellion that has been met with scorn by all the best people.
Jesus got into terrible trouble for doing what? Speaking the truth. He was critical of the religion of his day, not because the principles of the religion were false, but that they had been forgotten. He was critical of the day’s politics, not because he wanted to sit on the throne of Israel as a mere king, but that it was failing the people by giving them no good options: submission to the Romans, or a bloody uprising destined to fail.
In the years following his Passion, the Christian option was proclaimed through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We could have something more than what the world offers, what failed politicians can promise us, what pompous tyrants might concede to us; but that choice involves belief, in growing one’s faith in the real power of the truth, of love and the living sacrifice we can make to our God and for each other.
Amen.
Links:
The Global Rise of Unhappiness