Palm / Passion Sunday

Palm/Passion Sunday

Sunday, April 01, 2012

Obedience Till Death

Mk 11:1-10 and Mk 15:1-39

An elderly lady visited the grave of her departed husband. Her attention was caught by the sight of a man who was kneeling at a nearby grave, obviously overwhelmed with grief. She could overhear him repeatedly saying between sobs, "Why did you have to die? Why did you have to die?" The lady approached him and said, "Sir, I wish to extend my deepest sympathies. Forgive me for asking, but how are you related to the departed? Is she your wife? Your child? Your mother?” The man took a moment to wipe his tears and to compose himself. Then he replied, "This is the grave of the first husband of my wife."

This Sunday, we begin the celebration of Holy Week. We call this Palm Sunday. But more accurately, this is called Passion Sunday. That is why our Gospel is the long narrative of the Passion of the Lord. Today we join Jesus as he begins his passion and sufferings, which will end up in his death on the cross. This is in obedience to the will of the heavenly Father for the salvation of sinful humanity.

Jesus is both true God and true man. As God, he must have known and accepted without question the plan of the heavenly Father. But as man, his human nature would be in turmoil and repeatedly asking the Father: “Why do I have to die? Why do I have to die?”

In the Gospels, there were many attempts by the scribes and Pharisees to apprehend and even to kill Jesus. But he would always be able to elude them. The reason is simply because his “hour has not yet come”. Later on, he would just keep away from the crowd so that he would not expose himself to the authorities. But this Sunday, we see Jesus not anymore hiding or avoiding the people. He boldly exposes himself to the crowd and openly enters the city of Jerusalem. He knows that it is in Jerusalem that he will die. But he enters the city amid all the cheers of the people holding palm branches in their hands: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

His “hour” has already come. It is the hour when he has to offer his life as sacrifice on the cross. This is also “the hour for the Son of Man to be glorified” (Jn 12;23). His hour of sacrifice is at the same time his hour of glory, for it is when he will be able to accomplish his mission and completely fulfill the will of the heavenly Father.

Surely, obeying God’s will is not that easy and simple. Jesus himself struggled with it. His human nature must have rebelled against the thought of dying: “Why do I have to die?” In fact, even towards the end, at the Garden of Gethsemane, he pleaded, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me.” Notwithstanding all these, his sheer desire to obey the will of the Father took over his whole being: “Yet not what I will but what you will be done” (Mk 14:36). He knew all along that it is the main purpose of his life in this world. This he already expressed at an early age of twelve, when he told his parents at the Temple, “Did you not know I must be about my Father’s business?” (Lk 2:49).

As Christians, doing the Father’s will is our business. It is the only guarantee of having complete relationship with Jesus: “For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Mt. 12:50). It is the only way to our glory as God’s children. Unfortunately, for many of us, this is not the case. We insist on our own will, even against the will of God.

This is one thing we have to seriously reflect on. We profess to be followers of Jesus, but do we really follow him? Or we readily abandon him when things do not happen according to our plan? Take for example our celebration of Holy Week. This Sunday our churches are filled with people. Well, perhaps it is due to the palms. But come Holy Thursday and Good Friday, this multitude is nowhere to be seen. They will reappear at dawn on Easter Sunday when they expect another “added attraction” with the traditional “salubong” or “encuentro”. When we think we do not get something, we abandon Jesus right away. This explains why many Catholics are also into superstitions, feng shui, faith healers and horoscopes. This is why we have lots of Catholics who constantly live in immorality, corruption and perversion.

Jesus enters Jerusalem to fulfill the will of the Father, even though he knows that it means his own death. But he does not really mind because he knows that both life and death lead to the same glory – as long as they are in fulfillment of the will of God.

Let us, then, not be afraid to obey the will of God. It is the only way to remain pleasing in His sight. In his message to St. Faustina, Jesus said, “My daughter, know that you give Me greater glory by a single act of obedience than by long prayers and mortifications” (Divine Mercy in my Soul, 894). And according to St. John of the Cross, it is the best penance we can do in order to unite ourselves with the sacrifice of Jesus: “Obedience is a penance of reason, and, on that account, a sacrifice more acceptable than all corporal penances and mortifications.”

In moments when we feel our cross becomes heavier, may we take courage and strength from the words of Pope Benedict XVI: ‎"The Cross often frightens us because it seems to be a denial of life. In fact, the opposite is true! It is God’s “yes” to mankind, the supreme expression of his love".  

Fr. Mike Lagrimas

Sta. Lucia Church

JP Rizal Street, Bgy. Sta. Lucia

Novaliches, Quezon City 1117