We have just heard Mark's version of the Passion which is I always find very moving because, of all the evangelists, Mark focuses on the humanity Jesus shares with us. During this coming Holy Week we will have a number of opportunities to reflect on, and enter into, the various moments of the Lord's Passion, but before we plunge into that, I want to pause for little at the moment we heard at the start of today's liturgy: Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, the palm part of Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Christ.

I assume everyone is familiar with the folk story called he Emperor's NewClothes? Basically these two swindlers convinced the Emperor that they have made him the most exquisitely beautiful robes for him but only those who are wise can see them. So he parades through the streets stark naked because no one wanted to admit they weren't wise, until an innocent young child blurts out the truth.

Today's first Gospel reading is a variation on this well known story. Jesus' triumph entry into Jerusalem is described as if it were a triumphant procession of a king into his city. But we know what triumphant processions look like from history as well as the bible. The king is mounted on a mighty stallion, and dressed in battle gear with his sword or maybe a spear. And he is accompanied by a host of soldiers and chariots. It is reported that Pontius Pilate processed into Jerusalem, coming up from his residence by the sea, at the start of each Passover with a host of troops to make sure there were no uprisings during the feast.

The crowd is described as acting as if Jesus was entering Jerusalem as a triumphant king. They are waving palm branches and shouting out Hosannah - which means God Save now - and singing from Psalm 118 which is what the crowd did when Simon Maccabaeus processed into Jerusalem after freeing Israel from the Syrians. The evangelists leave no doubt that the crowds are treating Jesus like a conquering hero, the longed for Messiah who, in their minds, would free them from Roman oppression. And the discples are right there with the crowd.

But that is not really what Jesus' procession is, is it? Jesus is not on a majestic stallion but on the foal of donkey, that is a baby donkey. He carries no sword or spear, and he has no soldiers or chariots. And no one is pointing that out, are they? There is no child crying out: Jesus has no sword. Not even the disciples point that out, even though some of them, like Peter, are carrying a sword. In the excitement of the moment, everyone, including the disciples, missed the real point of what Jesus was doing. They all missed it because they all wanted someone very different from who Jesus truly is.

Why do I bring this up as we enter into Holy Week? Because I would suggest that we Catholics today are not that different from Jesus' contemporaries. If we are to make the most of this most holiest of weeks, we need to make sure that we celebrate each of these moments with the eyes of faith, seeing Jesus as Jesus truly is. As Pope Francis put it in his Encyclical The Light of Faith back in 2013:

Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing.

If we truly believed in Jesus as the king bringing peace rather than conquest, would we tolerate spending billions on weapons of mass destruction or allow the conditions that bring about poverty and death to so many people, or gun violence or the epidemic of mental illness we have in our times? I suggest that we need to deeply reflect on how we understand this entry into Jerusalem, how we assimilate it into our own lives and attitudes, in order to really celebrate this Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion.

Because only when we have fully assimilated the whole paschal mystery of Christ, not just his resurrection and his ascension but his suffering, his death, and his humble self emptying, will we start to see with the eyes of Christ.

May you have a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

 

cf: Rev. Benjamin Cremer:

We want the warhorse.
Jesus rides a donkey...

We want the eagle.
The Holy Spirit descends as a dove...

We want to take up swords.
Jesus takes up a cross...

We want the roaring lion.
God comes as a slaughtered lamb...

We keep trying to arm God.
God keeps trying to disarm us...