Palm Sunday, Yr B

Palm Sunday, Year B

Is 50: 4-7; Ph 2: 6-11; Mk 14: 1-15:47

Today is Palm Sunday, a unique Sunday in Lent.  It marks the end of the Lenten season and beginning of the most Holy Week of our Christian liturgy. In this Holy Week, our Lord will be betrayed, falsely accused, plotted against (Jn 11:45-53), arrested (Mt 26:47-56)' interrogated by Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin (Mt. 26:59-66), tried by Pilate (Mt 27:1-14), denied by Peter (Mt 26:59-66), mocked and executed in a Roman way (Mt 27:15-56). It is also a week we learn to resist evil not by violence, not by chopping off "Malchus'' ear, but by prayer, endurance and through peaceful process of dialogue and reconciliation. It is also a week when we also learn not to act like Pilate, remaining indifferent to truth or being in a hurry to condemn our neighbours, brothers, sisters, friends and children. Our country which is currently divided particularly as we prepare for the upcoming elections on tribal, regional, and religious lines can also learn from this week.

We begin our celebration today with the blessing of your palm leaves that you brought here in the church. The blessing of palm leaves and the procession we make mark the triumphant entry of Jesus to the city of Jerusalem. Jesus entered the city on a donkey and the people shouted: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and scattered palm leaves and branches on his road. The red vestments the priests wear also symbolize Jesus’ joyful and triumphant entry to Jerusalem.

But the gospel we read in the Mass today is the Passion narrative telling us about the shameful, cruel and bloody death of Jesus on the cross. It is surprising that the people who started with hosanna and waving palms finish with the crucifying, dying and burying of the one for whom they shouted hosanna. Who were the people who welcomed him and who were those who wanted him dead? The same people! How could this be? One moment they hail Jesus as “King of the Jews” and a little while later they want to torture him to death! How could people be so fickle? 

This is what is referred to as “crowd mentality” — how people can be swept up in the excitement of the moment — how their passions and feelings can rise to a fever pitch so quickly and then fade as quickly. Crowds are like that. People are easily swayed and carried along with the current of the majority. After all, its easy to be part of a crowd — all you have to do is agree with the masses and you are accepted. People accept you. They don’t criticize you. You are “one of them.”

Maybe that helps explain what happened in Jerusalem. People didn’t take a stand on what was right or wrong — they just went along with the crowd. And Jesus suffered and Jesus died — and the crowd went home and forgot all about it.

Has human nature changed since these over 2000 years of that fateful week? I am afraid not! We are still influenced by the “crowd” — the majority. As a result, the passion of the Lord continues and Jesus Christ suffers and dies again and again. He suffers in the poor and the weak, the falsely accused, the “illegal” alien, the mentally ill and the unborn child in her mother’s womb.

But this time, we are the crowd! Christians who profess Jesus as Lord and welcome him triumphantly each Sunday, and yet go along with the crowd the rest of the week. As long as the leaders of the crowd are delivering good economic news, we go along with them on all the other, “less important” issues. The “crowd” is seldom concerned with justice for the poor (“they’re poor because they are lazy”), or the falsely accused (“kill them all and let God sort them out”), or the alien (“send them back where they came from”), or the unborn (“a woman’s got the right to choose. Besides, many of these babies would be poor and a burden on society”), or facilities for the mentality ill (“not in my neighborhood”).

It is time to look inward, to ask ourselves if we are really any different from the people of Jerusalem over 2000 years ago.  I believe we are, but we are all sinners, we sometimes fail to look at what we do with an open mind, an open heart.  Yes, we came to sing “Hosanna in the highest, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” – we’re not on the street corner shouting “crucify him, crucify him!” but we do grow lax and easily give in to our desires. The mood also reflects how unfaithful we can be at times in our relationship with Christ. Today we are for Him, tomorrow we are against him. Christ is our friend when we are in difficulty, but our enemy when things are working well for us. It also shows how we relate with one another. Today we are friends and tomorrow we are archenemies. There are moments when we are enthusiastic about Christ, about our Church and our faith but then this is followed by moments of doubts, of rejection of certain things which we personally dislike because they go against our lifestyle and habits. Often we are like the palm leaves, green and beautiful today but dry, brown and withered in few days.

What do we learn from Christ in the readings we just listened to, you may ask? The most important lesson for me is that we need much patience and humility to survive and succeed in life. We can do better if only we can learn humility and patience from Christ the son of David that we honor today. We can do better if only we are ready to offer all for the good of our neighbours as Christ is about to do this week for our good. It is important therefore, that we ask God for the grace to remain steadfast to him and to our brothers and sisters at all moments of our lives. As we show solidarity to Christ today, let us also extend it to others. This is because in others there is both Christ the humble king, and Christ the suffering servant of God. This is also because this is the most practical way of expressing our solidarity with Christ.

Also, the readings teach us that suffering is part of life rather than a curse. However, only those who are ready to persist and endure to the end will triumph. Also, it teaches us that if we persist in our faith in God and his son Jesus Christ, they will help us carry out all that we need to do without losing our faith. 

The symbols of this Sunday,  the palms, the donkey, and the crowd, people etcetera, should also provide us with some food for thought. The Palms represent the royalty of Christ and his peaceful reign; the donkey is a symbol of the humility of Christ, the King as our first and second readings present him. Though he is king yet, he chose to ride on the lowliest and weakest of animals, the donkey. This is contrary to what we see today in our world, where our rulers and leaders live in the best conditions while their people live in poverty. By this act, Christ not only demonstrate his humility, but also His solidarity with the poor and the weak. It is therefore not surprising why people also came out to honor and show solidarity to Him as he enters Jerusalem today. 

I like very much the symbol of the donkey. We are not told who, the owners of the donkey, are but the fact that they understood that “the Lord” refers to Jesus and voluntarily gave up the donkey shows that they could be his secret disciples or admirers. Otherwise one would have expected them to ask, “But who is this Lord who needs my donkey?”

A donkey, as you probably know, was a very big thing in those days. The donkey was the equivalent of a car, a truck and a tractor all in one. It was a car because people used to move around and do their shopping, a truck because it was used to carry load, and a tractor because it was used in cultivating the land. Add to this the fact that the donkey had never been ridden, that means it was brand new and had a very high market value. You can see that giving up the donkey just because the Lord needed it was a very big sacrifice. It was a generous and heroic act of faith. A spiritual commentator, Max Lucado, reminds us that each of us has got a donkey that the Lord needs. Here is his reflection on using our donkey for the service of the Lord:

Sometimes I get the impression that God wants me to give him something and sometimes I don’t give it because I don’t know for sure, and then I feel bad because I’ve missed my chance. Other times I know he wants something but I don’t give it because I’m too selfish. And other times, too few times, I hear him and I obey him and feel honored that a gift of mine would be used to carry Jesus to another place. And still other times I wonder if my little deeds today will make a difference in the long haul.

Maybe you have those questions, too. All of us have a donkey. You and I each have something in our lives, which, if given back to God, could, like the donkey, move Jesus and his story further down the road. Maybe you can sing or hug or program a computer or speak Swahili or write a check. Whichever, that’s your donkey.

Whichever, your donkey belongs to him. It really does belong to him. Your gifts are his and the donkey was his. The original wording of the instructions Jesus gave to his disciples is proof: “If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, you are to say, ‘Its Lord is in need.'” So, what is the name of your donkey? The Lord has need of it.