The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, April 4, 2004
Luke 19:29-40 for the Liturgy of the Palms; Isaiah 45:21-25 or Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22:1-21 or Psalm 22:1-11; Phil. 2:5-11; Luke (22:39-71) 23:1-49(50-56).
In the lessons appointed for this moving day, there are many variations in the attitudes of human beings toward Jesus in his last hours. The crowd at the Mount of Olives receives Jesus with enthusiasm. The Pharisees urge Jesus to rebuke the people for acclaiming him as a king. In the passion gospel the disciples defend Jesus, but then flee.
Shortly afterward, Peter denies that he even knows Jesus. Pilate attempts to release Jesus, but then turns him over for crucifixion. One thief acknowledges Jesus as a king indeed. The centurion who oversaw the execution is remorseful afterward. A member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council that condemned Jesus, grants him honorable burial. As fickle human beings unwittingly make decisions that affect the turning of the entire world, only one thing is constant: The course of events is entirely within the will and plan and foreknowledge of God. Isaiah reads, “Who told this long ago? … Was it not I, the Lord?” (Isaiah 45:21).
Philippians asserts that after Jesus died on the cross, God “highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). Even as Jesus prays in the garden, he says to the Father, “your will be done” (Luke 22:42). When Peter denies Jesus, Jesus turns and looks at him, knowing what is transpiring even on the edge of the monstrous proceedings. Even from the cross, Jesus wields divine authority to promise “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Throughout the lessons, human beings must make a decision about Jesus: the crowds at the Mount of Olives, the Pharisees, the disciples, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, the crowd before Pilate, the women who followed Jesus along the way of sorrows, the Roman soldiers, even the thieves, and finally Joseph of Arimathea.
In all but a few cases, the people choose wrongly, and those few who choose rightly are marginal. Only the women in the streets and the penitent thief unequivocally acknowledge Jesus as Lord and bewail or reject his condemnation, but are powerless to change what they see. Shockingly disastrous to all who love Jesus, what happens is in full accord with the will of God to achieve the greatest blessing of all time, a blessing that changes the fabric of all creation. Indeed, as it begins, Jesus proclaims that if humans were silent, “the stones would shout out” (Luke 19:40).
Look It Up
Compare Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10-11. The lesson from Philippians is thought to be an early Christian hymn that Paul is quoting; the writer most likely has the passage from Isaiah in mind. What could have been in the writer’s mind and heart as he attributed this passage to Jesus?
Think About It
If the rest of the lessons assert that the crucifixion is within the will of God, where then does the cry of abandonment at the beginning of Psalm 22 fit in?
Next Sunday
Easter Day, April 14, 2004
Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 51:9-11; Psalm 118:14-29 or 118:14-17,22-24; Col. 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; Luke 24:1-10.
Next Sunday
Easter Day, April 14, 2004
Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 51:9-11; Psalm 118:14-29 or 118:14-17,22-24; Col. 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; Luke 24:1-10.
