Palm Sunday Year B | Homily for 24th March 2024

 

My dear friends, today we enter into the Holy Week with the celebration of Palm Sunday. In a previous video, I covered the history of Palm Sunday, the entry into Jerusalem, the first reading about the suffering servant and the second reading about the kenosis. You'll find the link up here. I shall therefore focus in this video primarily on the gospel.

We can divide the Passion narrative in Mark into four parts - the first part is the Anointing and Passover. The second part is about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. The third part is the trial of Jesus and the last part is the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Let’s look at some of the major themes that emerge from Mark’s gospel which are useful for our reflection.

One of the dominant themes that run through the Gospel of Mark, is that the disciples of Jesus are not sure about the identity and mission of Jesus. The disciples are portrayed as fearful and ignorant, and they eventually abandon Jesus. We also see another theme emerging - the contrast between the behaviour of the male disciples of Jesus with the female disciples of Jesus. On the one hand, we have the woman who anoints Jesus and on the other hand, we have Judas who betrays Jesus. We have the male disciples who abandoned Jesus and we have the women who were at the site of the crucifixion.

We also have the theme of the fragile and weak human nature. Jesus’ prayer in the garden of Gethsemane shows us that he didn’t want to die. The same Peter who had declared that Jesus was the Messiah, now denies Jesus three times. We also see the sinful and selfish human nature in how the Jewish authorities and Pilate condemn Jesus to serve their own interests. 

The last theme is that of the Suffering Servant. The trial of Jesus does not follow the required rules and regulations, false and conflicting accusations are used. The high priest then asks Jesus directly if he was the Messiah. Mark shows Jesus accepting that is the Messiah but not the political Messiah that the people were expecting, he was the Messiah in the mode of the suffering Son of Man mentioned by the prophet Isaiah.    

Generally speaking, we refer to today only as “Palm Sunday,” but if we look closely at the liturgical calendar we will see that it is actually called “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord” The name is appropriate as it celebrates not only Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem but also commemorates the beginning of Holy Week and Jesus’ final journey to the cross. I feel therefore that today it is beneficial to reflect on the question of suffering in our lives. Each one’s suffering is different. It could be either a medical condition, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or financial loss, the list is endless. We have either suffered in the past or are currently suffering or will undergo suffering in the future. Whenever we are faced with any suffering, we spend a lot of time trying to ask the question why? Why do I have to undergo this suffering? What wrong have I done? Then there is also the question of why a loving God allows us to suffer in the first place. I found an interesting perspective on this in the novel ‘Silence’ by Shusaku Endo. While reflecting on why God was silent in the face of persecution faced by the Japanese Christians, he writes, God was not silent, He suffered beside us. Over the centuries the question about suffering has been reflected upon by different people, different philosophies, different cultures and different religions. However, suffering continues to remain a mystery.

I believe that instead of focusing on the Why of suffering, we must focus on the How of suffering. How must we respond to the suffering that we experience in our lives? To be able to experience the presence of God in our suffering requires a change of perspective. Pope Francis once mentioned that by embracing the wood of the cross, Jesus embraced the nakedness, hunger, thirst, loneliness, pain and death of men and women of all times. The universal condition of pain is a place of encounter with the closeness and compassion of God, the good Father, Who, with infinite mercy, takes charge of His wounded creatures to heal them, raise them up, and save them. In Christ, “even suffering is transformed into love,” with the hope of ultimate resurrection and salvation.

So when we look at the suffering in our lives we can turn inward, start complaining against God and turn bitter or we can look at the cross and attempt to see our lives through the eyes of Jesus. Our suffering surely doesn’t go away, but contemplating Jesus on the cross helps us to look at our suffering with a new perspective. Our attitude to life begins to change and it gives us the strength and courage to carry our crosses to our Golgotha.

As we reflect on the passion of Christ this Palm Sunday, we need to ask ourselves which character in the passion narrative we resemble the most. Do we see ourselves in the woman who anoints Jesus? Do we see ourselves as the disciples who flee? Do we see ourselves as Judas or as Peter? Or are we near the cross like the women?  At different times of our lives, we resemble some of these different characters. The challenge before us is to see ourselves as Jesus who humbly and obediently submits to the will of his Father in heaven, preferring to die to oneself and to live in sacrifice for others.

Just as the centurion who was at the cross declared “Truly this man was God’s Son!” following Jesus to the cross, standing near the cross, we encounter God. I pray that each one of us may receive the strength and courage to carry our crosses and that we may experience the presence of God even amid our suffering. May this experience and transformation bring hope to everyone in the midst of our broken, suffering, unjust world. May God bless us all.