Palm Sunday

In this article, I am going to focus on some of the events of the Passion and Death of Jesus and not on a particular Gospel passage.  We are going to be hearing these stories on different days of Holy Week.  I hope you like the commentary.

Entrance into Jerusalem. 

The Jewish people at Jesus’ time would select the Paschal lamb to be sacrificed four days before the Passover weekend.  Palm Sunday is the day of choosing the Lamb and the Palm Sunday readings show how the choosing happens.  Jesus enters Jerusalem to acclamations and shouting.  All are happy to see him and some talk of making him king.  Jesus arrives riding a donkey.  Kings always travelled by horse and chariot in Jesus’ time but he arrives on a lesser animal – a burro.  He is king, but not in the same way as the king of Egypt or Roman Emperor, so his mode of transport is different.  Also people are waving palms which were symbols of victory.  Jesus will be victorious by next Sunday but not in the way of an earthly king.  His victory is over sin and death.  The people acclaim him but in just a few days their “Hosannas”  will become “Crucify him!”  After he arrives, Jesus tells the parable of the vineyard and the servants.  The servants reject all the envoys (prophets) of the Master.  Finally the vineyard owner sends his son thinking, “Surely they will respect my Son.”  The servants plan to kill him.  Jesus knows he will follow the way of the prophets – rejection and death.  But he is the last of the prophets because his death will bring salvation to all.

Last Supper

The Lamb will be sacrificed to establish a new covenant.  With whom does God make this new covenant?  Everyone.  The Jews of Jesus’ time were told they were the Chosen People and all others were unclean.  All people are God’s chosen ones now.  The Jews offered sacrifice to thank God and appease God.  The blood of the sacrificed animal was poured out upon the altar.  Now the blood of the sacrificial victim, Jesus, would not be spilled out on the altar but would be drunk by his disciples.  “Whoever does not drink the Blood does not have life in him,” says Jesus.  The Passover meal that the apostles share is unlike any other because the sacrifice is consumed and Jesus’ life is now in their bodies and they will carry Jesus in their bodies to the ends of the earth.  When we celebrate Mass, the Body (consecrated bread) is on a plate and the blood (consecrated wine) is in the chalice.  They are separate.  If our body and blood are separated, we cannot live but the body and blood of Jesus are mixed together when we receive communion.  We have life in us when we celebrate Communion in our commemoration of the Last Supper.

Another point.  To make bread and wine, created things have to be destroyed.  Wheat kernels are crushed for the bread.  Grapes are crushed for the wine.  In this destruction, new possibilities open for these substances.  It is only by destruction that the bread and wine can be made.  In the same way, Jesus’ body is destroyed so that new life can come to the world.

I will write more about this next week.  This is part of the talk I gave at the Spanish Mission. 

  I invite your comments.

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Jeremiah 31-31-34

Three times in this short reading, the word “covenant” is used.  It is a very powerful word.  The covenant was first made with Moses and the Israelites with the presentation of the Ten Commandments.   God promised to accompany His people always as they journeyed through life as a nation.  At times, they broke the covenant and damaged their relationship with God, but he always forgave them.  God promises in this reading to always be with Israel.  He will forgive them and always value them.  Now that covenant is ratified in the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God.  Jesus will be with us always until the end of time.

Have you ever broken the covenant with God by sinfulness?  Are you reconciled?

Hebrews 5: 7-9

This reading really makes Jesus accessible to us all.  He sometimes approached God with “loud cries and tears.”  Perhaps we have been in the same situation where it seems all is going wrong.  Only cries and tears can express what is happening.  The next phrase says that Jesus “was heard because of his reverence.”  I assume that “reverence” means faith, courage, strength and other characteristics of a faithful disciple.  The most important thing is that he was heard.  God hears our loud cries and tears too and responds with generosity.

What is your suffering now?  How is God there with you in that suffering?  What have you learned from it?

John 12:20-33

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”  That small phrase spoken by the Greeks to Philip is very important to us all.  We don’t know why they want to see Jesus.  They do listen closely to him and then they hear him talk about losing his life and then a voice comes from heaven.  They are probably thinking, “Geez, who is this guy?”  So Jesus speaks about his mission not just to Jewish people but also to the Gentiles in order to show the universality of his mission.  He is here for all people.  Later in the reading, Jesus says he is troubled and then a heavenly voice speaks like thunder.  Despite his troubles, His Father is there for him.

If you, like the Greeks, want to see Jesus, what would you say to him?  What would you ask of him?  How does the universality of Jesus’ mission challenge you?

 I invite your comments.

Third Sunday of Lent

Exodus 20: 1-17

In this reading, God celivers the Ten Commandments to the Israelites.  Other nations will know that God loves Israel by the Law that God has given them.  As you read through the Old Testament, however, you will find that Israel violates at least one of these commandments on just about every page.  David kills Goliath, thousands of enemy soldiers and commits adultery with Bathsheba.  David is one of many who break the Commandments, yet God never turns His back on Israel.  They are still beloved.  God punishes them sometimes for their transgressions but his devotion to his people never falters.

Of what do we need to repent?  Do you feel God is with you right now?  How does God touch your life with forgiveness?

1 Cor 1:22-25

“I Still Haven’t Found What I am Looking For” is one of U2’s best songs.  It speaks of the quest for fulfillment but the quest has not had the results they wanted.  Listen to it.  It’s really good.  Paul is telling the Corinthians that all the folks are looking for answers – “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for Wisdom.”  But they are looking for the wrong things.  No sign or wise saying is going to satisfy us.  It is Christ who will fill us with power and wisdom.  Christ, however, does not come in power and triumph.  The sign of Jesus’ triumph is his cross.  This is the hardest thing to understand about our faith.  Jesus dies a criminal’s death on a cross.

Have we found what we’ve been looking for?  Why do you think suffering is so important in Jesus’ life?  What does the cross mean for you?

John 2:13-25

Scholars tell us that the moneychangers in the temple performed a necessary and valuable service.  They changed money so that people could buy animals for sacrifice to God.  They were crucial to the religious services.  Yet Jesus drives them out.  Curious.   Then he talks about destroying the Temple, which is a very unpopular idea, naturally.  They spent years making a temple for worship.  It was  a beautiful, huge temple that expressed the grandeur of God.  But Jesus is not talking about stone and mortar but about himself.  He will be destroyed but will be raised up. 

How do we use the resources (money and possessions) that we have?  How is God calling me to use those gifts?  Do we have “zeal” for the house of God?

 I invite your comments.