April 13, 2014

Bulletin 

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord A

Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2: 6-11; Matthew 26:14 -- 27:66
In walking my dog these past few mornings, I’ve been noticing the occasional palm trees that dot the neighborhood. Some of the branches have fallen to the ground after the long cold winter and the thought has come to me of the Jesus Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem. I wonder if I would have been one of those celebrating His arrival and still more would I understand why He came to die horrendously and not be crowned as the Messiah King? It is interesting that Jericho is known as the city of Palms and I remember my recent trip to the Holy Land and noticing all these palm trees. According to John’s Passion, the disciples bore palm branches at the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Also the palm in Christian liturgy and art has become the symbol of the martyr.
It is also interesting to note that the passion narrative appears in all four Gospels. Not only this, but scripture scholars believe that the Passion narratives were the first portions of the Gospels to reach their final shape, form and unity. It is also very probable that the first proclamation of the Gospel consisted in the recitation of the passion with no further material about the words and actions of Jesus. Paul also never expanded his teaching to the life and teachings of Jesus, he just stayed with Jesus Christ crucified.
All this is looking back at the historical event but I am here living in the now, what will help me to ‘get into’ the Passion and its meaning. It is interesting for me as I celebrate Palm Sunday that there is no mention of the ‘palm entry’ in today’s passion that is located in Matthew 21: 1-11 so my reflection has to come from the readings before me.
And Jesus said, “This night all of you will have your faith in Me shaken...Remain here and keep watch with Me...Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak...” God is talking to me, am I listening, and am I responding? What am I to do?
I go back to the first reading from Isaiah. The predictions in this portion are addressed to the people who are in need of encouragement. (I need encouragement constantly in my spiritual journey.) The years the Israelites have spent in exile away from their homeland has done a number on them. They are convinced that they will not leave Babylon, but Isaiah is telling them that God will bring them home. The ‘Servant’ God sends will rekindle the faith of the people because God has a plan for them. There has been much writing on this ‘servant of God’-- is it the ‘ideal Israel’, will it be a Servant King, will it be the Messiah, will it be Israel personified by an individual, is it Jesus? I’m thinking that in looking at the ‘servant motif’ that this explains what I am to do because the servant in Isaiah is focused on doing the will of God. The people have grown spiritually tired in exile; they must overcome their doubts and trust that God is leading them to a brighter future. Isn’t that part of the role God has given to each person? Each one is created in the image and likeness of God and we are to be grateful and to BE this image to those God places in each person’s life.
Paul continues this theme of humility and obedience by reminding the Philippi community that they are to have the same attitude that Jesus did. Actually this passage was an early Christian hymn describing what Jesus did to complete God’s plan.
Living the Word sums this up beautifully: “What Paul seems to be saying is that we should seek to possess the kind of ‘know how’ that Jesus displayed in choosing a life of humility over a life of self glorification. The radical humility that Jesus shows in His taking the form of a slave, in His willingness to follow the divine will even to the cross, is one that we are called to imitate in our own lives. It is by our imitation of the pattern of living that Jesus has set that we acquire the ‘know how’ to face even life’s daily challenges. When we hear Matthew’s account of the passion of Jesus, we are called not just to admiration of the love Jesus shows, but imitation of it. We may or may not be called to make the kind of supreme sacrifice that Jesus made, but we are all called to make our own Jesus’ prayer to His Father, ‘not as I will, but as you will’[ (Matthew 3:39) In this way, we learn what it means to live as adopted sons and daughters of God.”
So I study the words that stood out for me in Matthew’s Passion narrative. They tell me that like every Christian follower, I am called to be Jesus; I am called through God’s gifts and the Spirit’s grace to act, to be, to love. And this is a ‘noble job’ if you will. Alice Camile says “In the hour of great humiliation noble character has a chance to shine.” Now I certainly don’t compare myself to the great noble figures and acts: Mahatma Gandhi on the Salt March in India, Viktor Frankl in the Nazi concentration camps, Martin Luther King Jr. in a Birmingham jail, Nelson Mandela imprisoned on Robben Island and Mother Teresa tending to the dying on Calcutta’s backstreets.
But every time I get out of myself and see a need and respond, my faith in the teaching and love of Jesus is not shaken, but a comfort; I am watching and praying for the grace that I need to be Jesus; and I’m not following the ‘fleshly’ me to ‘relax’ don’t go out of your way, let them take care of themselves...I am being Jesus and I am grateful.
So I reflect on:

• In my daily life, how I might I continue the same attitude that Jesus had in obedience to the Father and in His suffering and death?
  
• How often do I pray, ‘Not as I will, but as You will.” Am I afraid to include this as a daily prayer?
  
• What can I do to die to sinfulness right here and now? What must I do in my relationships with others to truly demonstrate my sorrow for sin?
  
• What frightens me more: the thought of spending eternity in hell or the thought of not being included in Gods’ kingdom? So what do I have to do?
  

Sacred Space 2014 says: “I think of the characters in the gospel story and see where I can recognize myself among them. Some profess their faith; some do as they are asked; some do simply what others do; some disappear in the moment of crisis.”