Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion ~ reflex on Mark 14:1-15:47

What more can be said about today’s Gospel? We hear the proclamation of this Gospel in several voices, to help us enter into these final days of Jesus’ earthly life. The scheming of the chief priests and scribes before the Passover, the woman with the alabaster jar of oil prefiguring the anointing of his body for burial, Judas’ plan to betray him, the Last Supper and Jesus’ knowledge that he would soon be betrayed, the institution of the Eucharist so that he could remain with us until the end of time, Jesus’ prediction that the apostles would be scattered and their faith shattered. And then, all the events of Jesus’ profound Passion and Death.

We see his generous Heart, his agonizing Heart, the Heart that moans silently for someone to keep vigil with him for even an hour, the Heart that does not hesitate or draw back from the terrible execution for love of the Father and of us. Throughout all this long suffering, we see Jesus remaining steadfast before the will of the Father and concerned with consoling and strengthening those around him.

We also hear Jesus cry out the first words of Psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” While we hear in that cry of his Heart the depths to which he was allowed to sink – to the sense of being forsaken by the Father, to the brink of despair – the psalm is really a painful prayer of hope. Jesus has certainly not given up on his relationship with the Father. He has not let go. Psalm 22 (which those at the foot of the Cross would have known well) begins with an accurate description of the scene on Calvary, from the vicious attack of Jesus’ enemies to the details of the suffering he endured to the dividing of his clothes. But it then reaches out to God to come and deliver, to save from this torture; and then moves onto praise of the Lord. In his utter agony, Jesus enters into our own suffering and reminds us to cling to hope and continue to offer praise.

While part of Psalm 22 was heard today as the Responsorial Psalm, we might pause to pray the whole psalm some time during this Holy Week; it is a profound meditation on the words of Jesus’ own agonizing Heart from the Cross, and we can glimpse how low he descended into our own suffering, to redeem every last bit of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain for us.

In His Cross, because of the Resurrection, we are all freed to bear our own crosses with love and hope.