As I’ve said in prior years, the Church’s altering of the liturgical calendar to combine the once separate celebrations of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday results in a dramatic presentation of opposites with regard to our Lord: we see people ecstatic in his presence, hailing him as their king; then we see much the same crowd baying for his blood. The turnaround in sentiment would give us whiplash if we didn’t already know the story. Indeed, it is that aspect of the story that challenges us all.
The presumptuous thought that “I would not have been like those people” should be resisted. We know how Peter and Thomas, and the other disciples swore their allegiance unto death to Jesus, but in the moment of testing, turned and ran. They were the inner circle, they knew him, they broke bread with him, they witnessed all the miracles, the healings, the feeding of thousands; they had seen Jesus handle the Pharisees, the scribes, the Temple officials, exposing the truth about them; that they were hypocrites, uncharitable, self-seeking, and so on. For them, Jesus was the real deal.
They are us, the faithful gathered today – this isn’t to say that we would run, but rather, that we need to mindful of our need of grace to persevere in the faith, especially when challenged to uphold it in the face of danger. God grant that we can do it in the time of trial.
Now those were the disciples; and in this story they disappoint. Should we be more generous in assessing the crowds in Jerusalem that Passover?
Now, I’ve said before that Jerusalemites were apt to think a little too well of themselves, that they were the best and truest of the remnants of Israel. We shouldn’t be surprised that they would be offended by some of what Jesus says. He is very critical of the Temple establishment, sees the Temple itself as a broken institution, that its time as a spiritual centre was coming to an end. His proposal to reconstitute the Temple as the home of God in people, that is, his followers, likely horrified a great many in the city. You have to remember, a temple is not just a place of worship, it’s a centre of economic activity. Pilgrims come to it, and they need a place to stay, they need to buy food, and more often than not, they also bring trade with them. Such was the case with the great pagan centres of the ancient world, the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the great altar of Pergamum, the Oracle at Delphi. To speak against the Temple was to threaten Jerusalem’s economic well-being. Jesus was very critical of that; when he cast out the money-changers from the Temple, it wasn’t simply them he was criticizing. So, for all that Jerusalemites might protest in defense of their religious sincerity, they were compromised by their dependence on religion as a source of wealth – religion was their business.
I can’t help but consider my own role within the Church as a priest, how my self-interest in the place, in this institution can compromise my thinking, make me apt to resist what Christ might be calling me to as I may see it as threatening what is already here, already established, what is the source of my spiritual, and frankly, material security. At the end of the day, it’s not this place that matters, but the people who are here; and the people who aren’t, who perhaps have been put off by a sense of the Church having been a little too self-serving in the past.
Now, at the Passover there were more in the city than its regular inhabitants. The city’s population swelled, some think quintupling because of the influx of pilgrims from the surrounding countryside, from the Galilee, from all over the Roman Empire, and even beyond that. Who were these people?
Well, they were mostly Jews, with perhaps a few curious pagan tourists mixed in, but really this was a gathering of people who held religious convictions centred on what we know as Judaism. Now with regard to Jesus, some may have known quite a bit about him, the more local people. Others, from further abroad would be catching up on events with respect to Jesus and his clashes with authority. And we would also have a lot of “low information” folks. This sort of person is often referenced in connection with politics. These are the sort who don’t really pay much attention to the issues, do little if any personal research, and are infamous for what is referred to as “low information cues”. For example, a politician poses for a photo with a Big Mac in his hands, wearing the local sports team’s jersey, and many then say, “hey, he’s one of us – I’ll vote for him.”
There can be negative cues, spread by an enemy – “Jesus said what?!!” is then the reaction to our Lord’s words taken out of context, and thereafter he is seen with suspicion despite knowing little aside from the distorted picture created by the slanted report.
In all things we must make the truth of them our concern, and not take anything on the word of those whose credibility is uncertain, whose motives for telling us these terrible things we don’t know. We should look at the source, and in the case of Jesus, that should have raised some scepticism among the crowd as it became clear that it was the Jerusalem establishment who were the real source of the slander.
And then there is simply the confusion of people when faced with complexity, novelty, a proposal for substantial change: this makes them anxious. People who pay little attention to the world around them, even as they can see things changing, are themselves resistant to change. Jesus called for us all to change, and change profoundly. Who is this guy? Who is he to propose this?
So, we should be more than casual observers of Catholicism, but instead earnest Christians serious in learning our faith and so comprehending what Jesus teaches, and why. One certain test of this is whether or not Jesus conveniently shares our politics, our personal philosophy, our interpretation of the tradition that nicely endorses everything about our manner of life, what we say and what we do. If our assessment leads us to the inescapable conclusion that we are saints among the saints, and so, really don’t need Christ, it’s time to think again; and pray for the humility to see ourselves properly.
Today is an essential call to humility that we pray will open us up to receive the fullness of the mystery of our Lord’s sacrifice, and so, have real hope for our salvation. Amen.