Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 29, 2026: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord…

Will we choose love? 

   When, in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus enters into Jerusalem upon a simple beast of burden, he does so as a king who is meek and humble. For all that his procession is triumphal – Hosanna to the Son of David, the very large crowd shouts to honor him, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! – Jesus himself holds to the humility he embraced when, as the Letter to the Philippians tells us, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. Emptying himself of all rights of divinity in order to be human, Jesus seeks not to control but to love humanity with a love that is merciful, that forgives, a love that includes even us. 

   And so, as Jesus enters into his Passion, though he may be degraded like the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, his back beaten, his beard plucked derisively, and also scoffed at and mocked, in fulfillment of Psalm 22, yet love is still at work. Jesus has benefitted from many gifts; he knows how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them, and he knows how to listen, ears open, that he might hear all that God expects of him. Like the Suffering Servant, Jesus has confidence in the ability of God’s love to transcend all things… even the worst that we as human beings can come up with. 

   Thus, even from the Cross, Jesus remains a witness to God’s love, enduring the torture and pain out of love for humankind, love even for those who are visiting pain upon him, love even for those close friends who betray him, as all do, one after another. Judas never sees that Jesus’ love is greater than his own betrayal of his Master. Yet, at the Last Supper, Jesus’ disciples all drink of his forgiveness and mercy and love, taking that love into themselves, preparing to bring his love to the world. We do the same in Eucharist, participating in his sacrifice, that we too – though we sin – might know God’s deep and abiding love for us, and bring it to bear upon our world. In the midst of pain, Jesus chooses love. Will we?

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 13, 2025: Obedient to the point of death...

Obedient to the point of death…
What does Jesus’ suffering mean to you? 

    One important motif in the writings of the Evangelist Luke is that of the journey. In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is the completion of his long journey to that city, an entry made on a colt on which no one has ever sat rather than on a war horse. Why? Because Jesus is not the kind of Messiah many people think he is; he has not come to save the Hebrew people from the domination of the Romans, but rather from their own sin. The loud praise of Jesus’ disciples as he enters the city causes some of the Pharisees to say, Teacher, rebuke your disciples, for they fear the Romans will hear the multitude and decide a revolt is underway. Jesus’ response is telling: If they keep silent, the stones will cry out! Nothing can stop God’s action on behalf of God’s people. 

    Another important motif in Luke’s Gospel is that of Jesus’ suffering, which has been foretold both in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and in Psalm 22. The Suffering Servant described by Isaiah does not turn away from the abuse inflicted upon him for bringing God’s word: I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. But the very human abuse inflicted on the Servant cannot cause him to feel shame because it is God who defines his life, and so the Servant sets his face like flint, allowing himself to be that which ignites the process of transformation that will awaken all to God’s will. Psalm 22 is similarly prophetic, as it describes the pain and suffering and rejection by others that Jesus himself will know during his Passion: They have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones. 

    As Paul tells the Philippians, Jesus himself is very much aware of the Father’s will, and so he empties himself, taking the form of a slave, remaining obedient to the point of death. Jesus comes to sacrifice himself out of love for humankind, and in Luke’s Passion Jesus himself details the suffering to come from the very opening of the Last Supper. The bread Jesus shares with the apostles is his body, which will be given for them; the cup he blesses is the new covenant in his blood. Jesus acknowledges the hand of the one who is to betray him, present on the table, as well as Simon Peter’s forthcoming act to deny three times that he knows Jesus. How painful knowledge of these betrayals must have been to Jesus, even before he submits to the ridicule and beating of those who take him into custody, the condemnation of the council of elders of the people, and the contemptuous, mocking treatment of Herod and his soldiers. Throughout his excruciating crucifixion, Jesus continues to bear the soldiers’ jeering and the revilement of one the criminals hanging with him. 

    Yet there is grace, too, in this heart-wrenching Passion. For example, in spite of Simon Peter’s imminent betrayal, Jesus prays that Simon’s faith may not fail, and instructs him, once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers. Jesus even heals the ear of the high priest’s servant, encourages the daughters of Jerusalem who weep not to mourn (not yet!), and responds without rancor to Pilate’s interrogation. Ultimately, Jesus creates peace where one would not anticipate finding it. This is what his death and resurrection do, for who expects to find peace in violence? As Jesus breathes his last, the veil of the temple is torn down the middle, opening access to God’s presence to all humankind. 

    No matter how twisted or broken humankind becomes, God loves us; this is why he sent his Son to die for us. Nothing stops God’s action on behalf of God’s people. We, in turn, can but open our hands to the Lord in praise, giving glory to him in gratitude, so that we can be born, through Christ’s suffering, into eternal life and know perfect union with him in paradise. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 24, 2024: He emptied himself...

He emptied himself…

Does the Passion of Jesus change how we see ourselves? 

   A paradox occurs when two facts that are both true and conflict are nevertheless true at the same time. Scripture starts with a paradox: God who is a power beyond description creates all things out of nothing, and God who is described like one of us, shaping man out of clay, breathing life into his nostrils. Both images are true. Wherever we come across a paradox, we are entering into the realm of mystery. We celebrate a paradox this week: a juncture of two facts that are both true but which conflict with one another. Jesus is God, therefore he says, I AM, which in Hebrew is the name for God (YHWH). And yet Jesus is also fully human, otherwise he could not effect salvation for us. 

   Paradoxes begin to pile up this week – all to emphasize the fact that this week is a mystery that we are a part of. In Isaiah, the Suffering Servant speaks of the cruelties that are happening to him – his beard his plucked, his face is buffeted and spit upon, and so on. All of these could bring disgrace and shame upon him and yet he claims tht he will not be disgraced, he will not be shamed, because he has confidence in God’s ability to save him. He stands for the truth that God has sent him to stand for, and so all of this will be temporary. It will pass, but God’s love for him will not. Jesus stands at this juncture. 

   In the Passion narrative, Jesus says little in the second half, once he reveals who he is, once he knows his death will be certain because he declares himself to be God’s Son – a blasphemy to the high priest found only in Mark’s Gospel. The people do not recognize the Messiah God has sent; they struggle with the paradox that God has sent a human being to effect salvation, because it’s only through our humanity, our brokenness, that salvation can come. This is part of the truth that we celebrate this week. 

   Pilate releases Barabbas to the crowds; he is bar (son of) Abbas (father) – the same term Jesus uses in his prayer during his agony in the Garden. Pilate releases one whose name is son of the father instead of one who is Son of the Father. We, through baptism, are made God’s children, Bar-Abbas in truth. We have to choose whether we live it as if it were truth or if we live it as if it were just a name. It’s easy to wear the name of Christian without living as if it meant something. Does Barabbas learn anything? Do we? Does the Passion of Jesus change how we see ourselves – as those who are subject to his mercy? 

   As we celebrate this week, we gather together in this paradox, in this mystery that is our faith in salvation, that through sin, we have been redeemed. For our own sin, Christ forgives us and we find mercy, so that we might be mercy – a paradox we are asked to live every day. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s 2021 Homily on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 2, 2023: He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death...

He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death…

How can we join in Jesus’ journey for salvation?

    In his Letter to the Philippians, St. Paul describes the trajectory of Jesus from the time of the Incarnation, when Jesus took on flesh, through his death and resurrection. Jesus emptied himself, Paul says, coming in human likeness – he humbled himself, dying on a cross, yet was ultimately exalted by his Father. Jesus’ life was that of the Suffering Servant described by Isaiah, who knows how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them, but who is rejected by the masses: I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard. The Servant is called by God and given the capacity to offer comfort, strength, and encouragement, but receives only buffets and spitting in return for his efforts. 

    Jesus will live and ultimately die, so that he can rise. His suffering, or Passion, at the hands of the Roman occupiers and the Jewish authorities, is chronicled in every Gospel; Matthew’s version is fraught with moments of disruption and difficulty, from the time Jesus makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on an ass, a simple, pedestrian animal, a beast of burden. Though the crowds cry out, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Matthew also notes that the whole city was shaken by his presence. The disruption he describes will be echoed in the Passion narrative when Jesus gives up his spirit, at which moment the veil of the sanctuary is torn, the earth quakes, rocks are split, and tombs are opened. Jesus’ journey to this point has been fraught: from his sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane to his betrayal by Judas to his abusive treatment at the hands of the Sanhedrin. Peter will deny him, the crowds will choose Barabbas over him, and the soldiers will crucify him. From the cross, Jesus will pray Psalm 22: my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 

 Jesus abandoned his divinity to embrace humanity; he emptied himself that he might be truly one with us, so that he could die and bring us to God. It is our sins that are nailed to the cross, our salvation that his sacrifice ensures for all time. Through his obedience, Jesus shows us the way to God, the path we too must follow, the journey we too must make; his death gives us access to God in our lives. In baptism, we die with him, that we might rise with him. To accept to walk this journey is to know that we too will be shaken, rattled, that our journey will be disrupted. Embracing Christ’s journey means our life will not go on as normal, ever again. Are we ready to take that first step, during this most Holy Week? 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 10, 2022: I gave my back to those who beat me...

I gave my back to those who beat me, 

my cheeks to those who plucked my beard…

What has Jesus done for you?

     As Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, in Luke’s Gospel, he knows he is about to fulfill God’s mission for him, though not as the people anticipate it. When the people proclaim, Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord, they believe that a political upheaval is about to take place. What is taking place is indeed inevitable, but its nature is beyond their control, and beyond the control of the Jewish authorities. Even if the Pharisees succeed in silencing Jesus, or the crowds, they cannot silence nature: if my disciples keep silent, Jesus tells the Pharisees, the stones will cry out! Jesus’ Passion will include multiple cataclysmic events that point to the truth of this statement, but the proclamation of the truth will be left to the disciples he leaves behind. 

     Jesus is the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, meant to bring the people of Israel, who had been captive in Babylon, back to life. God gives him the words to speak to those who have given up, that they might live again; the prophet is to raise the hopes of those in exile who have lost all hope. He will also suffer on their behalf, as he faces opposition. Yet he remains faithful to God no matter what happens – I have not rebelled, not turned back, he says; the prophet will not become weary; rather, he speaks to the weary a word that will rouse them. The Suffering Servant allows himself to be that which ignites the fire that gives life; the abuse he receives as he sets his face like flint will bring the salvation God has promised to God’s people. Jesus is the Suffering Servant, the Messiah sent to experience pain and rejection at the hands of others. He prays Psalm 22 in a moment of absolute loss: My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? In his full humanity, he will suffer on behalf of all: they mock him; they pierce his hands and his feet; they cast lots for his clothing. 

    The evangelist Luke also understands Jesus as the Suffering Servant; Jesus will be counted among the wicked yet, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus never questions that he will die, for it is his destiny, though he prays that his disciples’ peace may not ultimately fail. Through death, Jesus creates peace where one would not anticipate finding it, for who expects to find peace in violence? Yet Jesus actively accepts his destiny. As Paul tells the Philippians, Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Jesus embraces humanity in a way Adam and Eve did not – with humility, emptying himself and taking the form of a slave. His journey will culminate as he sacrifices himself out of love for humankind, raising them up; the crucifixion reveals he is the Son of God, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth. The man Jesus who commends his spirit into the hands of the Father is greatly exalted by the Father, that all might recognize in his suffering that Jesus Christ is Lord! May we too not keep silent, that all might know the salvation that Jesus, the Suffering Servant, has attained on our behalf. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class. 
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 28, 2021: Truly this man was the Son of God!

Truly this man was the Son of God! 

Salvation is happening now – are you ready to participate? 

   On Palm Sunday, the palms we carry mark our participation in salvation, an ongoing event in which we have a role right now. And yet shortly after Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, hailed as King by the crowds proclaiming Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, he will soon stand alone, with sin and brokenness and fear all around him. He even has to stand before the high priest and say I AM, a statement identifying himself with God considered blasphemous in the minds of the religious and political leaders of Jerusalem. They have not seen God in their midst; they have closed themselves off from him. And so they all condemn him as deserving to die. 

   In Mark’s Passion narrative, many abandon Jesus. One young man flees, leaving behind his clothes – a linen cloth; how will he be able to enter anywhere, exposed as he is in his cowardice? Yet he fears being arrested because of his proximity to Jesus. Jesus’ disciples abandon him as well, out of fear, Peter first among them: I do not know this man about whom you are talking. Yet in all this chaos there is a place of calm in the person of Jesus, who does the will of the Father, that his love should be made known, revealed in its entirety, knowing no limits. The Lord God is my help, says the prophet Isaiah, speaking for the Suffering Servant. Jesus stands in the midst of their anger and all their persecutions because he loves them; having emptied himself, as Philippians tells us, he dies for those who crucify him as much as for anyone else. His is an act of mercy that transcends all differences. Mercy is always about the other, about reaching beyond ourselves. This is the model we are to follow. 

   Lent has called us to act out of charity and generosity, our hearts reaching out from ourselves with God’s love; this is how we follow Jesus through death to resurrection. Jesus held his enemies close as they tried to destroy him; our common heart must be Jesus’ heart; our common love must be Jesus’ love. Our common journey is our journey with him to death, every day, that we may rise from all hatred and all insult, and find life, and salvation, in one another, as he did. 

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s homily for Palm Sunday 2018.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 5, 2020: Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass...

Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass…

Do we see Jesus for who he truly is?

  What a contrast between Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Matthew’s Gospel and his subsequent passion and death on the cross!  Jesus knows he is to go to Jerusalem in order to die, and he enters the city proclaimed for who he truly is:  Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the crowd shouts.  But they do not truly comprehend who Jesus is, they don't know Jesus:  a king who approaches the city in humility, riding on an ass, a beast of burden.  His entry causes the whole city to be shaken, physically roused out of their norm, rattled out of their capacity to understand normally.  This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee, the crowds assert – but what Messiah could possibly come from Nazareth?

  The truth is, the people weren’t expecting a humble servant as their Messiah, although Isaiah had prepared them for one who gives his back to those who beat him and his cheeks to those who pluck his beard.  Yet in spite of such abuse, the servant, called by God, will not be deterred from the direction he has been set in.  Paul tells the Philippians that Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, so that nothing could get in the way of doing his Father’s will.  This doesn’t prevent Jesus from knowing the Father’s love, however, a love he will remember when he prays Psalm 22 on the cross:  the famous question, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me turns into a song of praise as it progresses, because Jesus prays with confidence that God will deliver him even through death.

  On the cross, instrument of torture and utter humiliation, Jesus hears the people passing by reviling him:  save yourself, they mock, take yourself off that cross.  They do not recognize that in order to save them, he must not save himself – he must embrace death, follow it through, allow it to happen.  The Messiah they want would free them in this moment from Roman domination; they are looking for restoration of a Davidic king right now, and they renounce Jesus out of a narrow ignorance.  Judas betrays Jesus, Peter denounces Jesus, and the rest of the disciples run and hide.  None of them really understands why this has to happen; they are caught between their love for Jesus and the reality of the moment.  Only Jesus knows with confidence that God will greatly exalt him, bestowing on him the name that is above every name.  For Jesus Christ is Lord, King, Servant, Messiah… if only understood by most in hindsight.

This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.

Image source:  www.wordclouds.com

Sunday Gospel Reflection, April 14, 2019: Because of this God greatly exalted him...

Because of this God greatly exalted him…

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