Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord / Msgr. Owen F. Campion
The Sunday Readings
The Church this weekend leads us to the climax of Lent—the observance of Holy Week—by offering the impressive liturgy of Palm Sunday.
It recalls the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. For St. Luke, this was the utter apex of the entire ministry of the Lord since it was there that the crucifixion and resurrection would occur. The readings for this Mass bring us to the heart of the Church’s teaching regarding salvation. Jesus is eternal Lord and Savior.
When the palms are blessed, and the solemn procession (ideally of all in the congregation) forms, the Church offers us a reading from Luke that recalls the plans for the arrival of Jesus in the Holy City as well as the arrival itself.
An element of inevitability, of providence, surrounds the event. Some Pharisees objected to the acclamation that Jesus received from his disciples. Jesus responded that, even if the disciples were silent, the very stones would shout the good news of salvation in him. God wills that we have, in Christ, everlasting life.
For the first reading, the Church gives us the third of the four “songs of the suffering servant” from the third section of Isaiah. Scholars debate the identity of this servant. Was he a prophet? A collective symbol for the people of Israel? In any case, Christians have always seen in these songs the image of the innocent, constantly loyal servant of God, the Lord Jesus.
The second reading is from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians. These verses are thought to have been an ancient Christian hymn, used in early liturgies, eloquent in declaring intense faith.
As its last reading, the Church dramatically offers a passage from Luke’s passion narrative. The rubrics of the liturgy provide for the congregation to be involved.
Each Gospel contains a highly detailed and lengthy account of the trial and execution of Jesus. Each evangelist was an individual person who had his own insights into what happened on the first Good Friday.
In general, Luke’s Gospel sees Jesus as the embodiment of God’s mercy, literally God in human flesh, the son of Mary, a woman, not an angel or a goddess. Jesus bears eternal life. He makes all things right. He seeks out the wayward and the despondent. He reconciles sinners with God. All this is completed in the Lord’s sacrificial death on Calvary, so everything so far has been a prelude to those final days in Jerusalem.
Jesus had his enemies. People are obtuse, at times devious and even vicious. Still, the love of God will not be thwarted. Salvation will come. It is God’s will for us.
Reflection
Few sections of the Scriptures are as powerful as the four passion narratives presented to us in the Gospels. Luke’s account of Christ’s suffering and death teaches us and calls us to Christ.
The readings from Isaiah and Philippians brilliantly focus our minds upon Jesus. He is Lord!
On Palm Sunday, the crown of the Liturgy of the Word is the awesome proclamation of the passion of Jesus as presented by St. Luke. The Church takes us most movingly to the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. He is destined to redeem the world. Salvation had to come. He was promised. He is king. Some people responded. Some did not, burdened by their ignorance, sin or pride.
Finally, magnificently, the passion narrative reveals the depth of the Lord’s giving of self despite the intrigue of the trial and the awfulness of the crucifixion.
Figuratively, hard to admit, because of our sins, we stand with the enemies of Christ. God nevertheless loves us with a perfect, uncompromising, unending love. He forgives us, offering us eternal salvation if simply we turn to him with love and repentance. †