Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Intentions: That all people will turn away from sin, live instead with compassion and justice, and embrace God’s gifts of faith, hope, and love.
Today’s Gospel | Mark 15:1-39
As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.” The chief priests accused him of many things. Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.” Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested. A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion. The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed. Pilate answered, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?” They shouted again, “Crucify him.” Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort. They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him. They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
They brought him to the place of Golgotha — which is translated Place of the Skull — They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself by coming down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.” Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
A Lenten Reflection
The first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, once said, “In order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.” What this seems to suggest is that what exists beyond our everyday reality is, in fact, what defines our ultimate reality. We are made for transcendence, for going beyond boundaries to gain greater understanding and rise to higher experience. This is a something to ponder as we prepare for Holy Week and to walk again through the harrowing yet majestic story of the passion and death of our Lord.
While human events seem random, the convergence of God’s time, people, and grace for God’s purposes is not. Therefore, there are no valueless experiences. If our endeavors soar, that is revelatory. If they stumble, that is revelatory. What is good and right ultimately can come out of whatever we do if we see and embrace the whole, if we realize that to be a person of faith is to have eyes that can focus on both here and beyond in a way that brings them together, not as an idealized vision but as promised fulfillment. We are called to be “sacred realists”, to see all moments, even the most mundane or profane, as doors to ultimate truth.
During this Holy Week, we are invited to enter into the greatest chapter of the saga of God’s saving love for us. It is a story in which we should not seek only the gentle moments. We must also seek the brutal ones. Our reality is that we are living a journey in which only by embracing all of life’s experiences will we gain an understanding of ourselves and the redemption to which we are being called.
Prayer
Eternal Father, your Son came to us to help us overcome the brokenness of our world and restore us to wholeness. During this Holy Week, open us to see and embrace the fullness of life, so that we will know in all of our experiences the grace of your presence and the purposes of your will. We ask this of you who lives and reigns with your Son and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.