How do we embrace
the paradox of salvation history?
Palm Sunday of the
Lord’s Passion is a study in contrasts.
We first hear the story of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem: spreading
their cloaks on the road, Luke tells us, the whole multitude of his disciples began to praise God aloud with joy. When the Pharisees want Jesus to rebuke the disciples, Jesus
refuses: I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out! Jesus enters Jerusalem to fulfill the prophecies
made over the centuries; it is time to accomplish all he set out to accomplish,
time to reveal the truth God sent him to reveal. And there is no rebuking the truth of
salvation: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is the
culmination of the people’s appreciation of his activity in the world, of his
teaching, preaching, and healing.
Or is it? Those very same people who cry glory in the highest will be those who
cry Crucify him! in Luke’s account of
Jesus’ Passion, and Jesus’ crucifixion will rip the carpet out from under all
the recipients of his miracles. Jesus’ well-trained tongue has spoken to the weary a word that roused them; now,
like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, Jesus will not rebel, not turn back. He
will be beaten, buffeted and spat upon, but he will set his face like flint, knowing he will not be put to shame. Paul
tells the Philippians that Jesus emptied
himself, taking the form of the slave, obedient to the point of death, even
death on a cross. That death will
fulfill the prophecies of Psalm 22: Jesus
will be mocked by men who say, He relied on the Lord, let him deliver him,
if he loves him; his hands and feet will be pierced, his garments divided. But even as he asks, My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?, Jesus knows that Psalm
22 is ultimately a psalm of praise, for only God can deliver him; only in God can
we find salvation. And so, we, embracing
God’s truth, must, like Jesus, work to fulfill the psalm’s final invocation: The generation to come will be told of the Lord, that they may proclaim
to a people yet unborn the deliverance you have brought.
Palm Sunday of the
Lord’s Passion is a study in contrasts, from joy and glory to suffering and death. It is a paradox of our faith that we must embrace
all of these at the same time, rejoicing in the suffering, exalting our Lord in
death, that we too might on bended knee confess
his truth and proclaim his name to our brethren. For Jesus
Christ, in joy and in suffering, is
Lord, lifting us up through his death and resurrection, taking humanity to
the cross with him, that we might be saved.
Let us meditate this Holy Week on that paradox, Jesus’ triumph and his
Passion, his death and his rising, to the
glory of God the Father.
This post is based
on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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