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

Sunday Gospel Reflection, March 25, 2018: Hosanna in the highest!

 Hosanna in the highest! 

Are we ready to journey with Jesus into death and beyond? 

   Everything about Jesus’ procession into Jerusalem is a sign of his messiahship.  Pilgrims normally entered Jerusalem on foot; Jesus distinguishes himself by calling for a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat – a colt unprofaned by human ridership, born for this purpose and this purpose alone, to carry the Messiah on his journey of triumph into the city.  Moreover, only a king had the right to claim use of another’s possessions without question.  The Master has need of it, the disciples are to explain. Cloaks were not normally spread upon the road, but Mark’s Gospel tells us that Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 

   As Jesus enters the city of Jerusalem, those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:  Hosanna!  Why?  It is a prayer, a request:  help us, save us!  The people are looking for a Messiah, someone to shift the oppressive political structure under which they live.  Jesus will instead shift the power structure of their faith and devotion so that they might embrace a deep and meaningful relationship with God as their king. 

   Once inside the city walls, Jesus will prove to be the suffering servant foreseen in Isaiah, whose crucifixion will fulfill so much of Psalm 22, but who will pray that psalm on the cross not only as a lament but also with an element of praise for deliverance.  Having emptied himself, he will obedient to the point of death, and yet ultimately, as the hymn in Philippians makes clear, God will greatly exalt him.  May we keep Jesus’ journey in mind through this Holy Week, meditating on that parabolic descent and ascent, following him without question, without reserve, as he takes humanity to the cross and raises us up with him on Easter Sunday!

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

Image source:  www.wordle.net