PALM SUNDAY

Palm Sunday: A (Isaiah 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Matthew 26:14-27:66)

Theme
Hosanna is the song of joy for the one who came in the Name of God

Reflection
- We enter into the Holy Week with the Palm Sunday
- Palm Sunday which the Church calls and indicates as the Passion Sunday also, makes us to enter not only into the glories of God through the David’s Son (Jesus, who came in the name of the God) but also into the very life and mission of Him who came to do His Father’s Will (let me accept the suffering not because my will but yours be done: the prayer of Jesus culminated in the garden of Gethsemane).
- This particular Sunday which exalts us to observe the marvelous revelation of God in the person and passion of Jesus, also, asks us to participate in this mystery with unconditional love and undivided obedience which in turn leads us from the temporal joy to the permanent bliss.

First Reading
- The song of the Servant of the Lord which is expressed in the insults and anxiety of and for the infidels and of those who are ignorant and reluctant of the Word of God (the promise of the Messiah).
- Here the Servant of the Lord is the Man of the word of God and spokesman for God and messenger of God’s plans.
- Strangely, and it’s always the design of God, the reality of this messenger-servant of God is not of peaceful and smooth-going one but the path (way of the cross in the case of Jesus, the True and Ultimate Servant-Son of God) of difficulties and sufferings and even at the cost of death.

Second Reading
- Paul speaks of this Servant of God in his “Hymn of Christ”, song in which the perfect abasement and perfect exaltation of the Son of God is revealed:
o It is the ‘hymn of perfect renunciation of the self’ without holding anything for himself (though in form of God, Christ did not hold on to his eternal state but accorded with the God’s will of manifestation of love).
o It is the ‘hymn of eternal obedience of the Son’ who always listens to His Father and does everything that He commands, not out of compulsion or force, but out of his filial love which he always enjoys with his Father.
o It is the ‘hymn of ultimate offering of the self’ for the completion of God’s plan of salvation for the humanity. He has not hidden anything from the humanity which is treating him so badly and we see how the servant of God of the Promise (Old Testament) is present in the suffering servant of God of the Fulfillment (New Testament) without reserve. He offered every part of his body and every drop of his blood.
o Finally, it is the ‘hymn of eternal exaltation of the Son’ by His Father. The abasement in renouncing oneself, the endurance of sufferings in obedience, the manifestation of love in offering oneself until the last breath have not gone in vain. Everything is resulted in the exaltation. Joy follows the pain. Glory follows the death. This is what we are going to reflect in the passion narrative of Jesus in the Gospels.

Gospel Reading

- The big question is why on the day of palms (Palm Sunday) suddenly the Church gives us the passion narrative and focusing very little on the palms and songs of hosanna?
o The answer is that the palms and glory of Jerusalem streets is only temporary and it’s only a door for the entrance of Jesus into his final completion of his presence in the world. Already before entering into Jerusalem Jesus foretells of his entry and death.
o Aptly the Church calls it Holy Week because whole of seven days the Church to the full extent contemplates and celebrates the Paschal Event of Christ which starts from his last supper to his resurrection from the dead.
o This is the gift of a week from the Church to live and make our own this week and find out the true and ultimate meaning of human life, death and life after death.
- Each episode of the passion narrative is very precious and full of meaning and it could serve as the mirror in which we can see our own selves and lives. Each word and each sentence is a seed of salvation:
o In the Last Supper we see the desire of Jesus to pitch his eternal presence amidst us in the form of bread and wine.
o In the garden of Gethsemane we observe the conflict of Jesus within himself between the two will (his will and his father’s) and his agony to overcome his own will and his passion to accept the will of God.
o In the arrest of Jesus we notice how Jesus wills to be at peace and as a lamb going to the slaughter’s house keeps quite without a word and offers himself and finally not gives any room for the violence.
o His appearance before the authority and people (Mt 26:57-75) is his final revelation of his presence and mission among and for his people because “from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God and coming in clouds of heaven”.
o In his journey towards the Calvary and his death on the cross we reflect the tremendous love of God for humanity in spite of latter’s blindness to recognize it.
- All the paradoxical moments of human life resound in the passion and death of Christ and God himself allows the truth of co-existence of Joy and Sorrow, Power and Helplessness, Conversion and guilt, good and bad, acceptance and rejection, compassion and cruelty, and whatever that could be found in the complexity of human life:
o First paradox is : the Upper Room and Garden Gethsemane:
 The Upper Room is the private and very personal place which Jesus wanted to spend with his disciples. It’s here that Jesus expressed whole of his being and his doing in the ultimate manner. It is this place which Jesus uses for his intimate communion and communication with his disciples. In one word, this is the occasion where Jesus has given himself completely (what he is going to offer on the cross, that is, the body and blood) to his own (his chosen ones for his mission) and commissioned them to do the same in his memory (the continual presence of Jesus in the Eucharist). And it was a joyful feasting of togetherness.
 The Garden of Gethsemane is the just opposite of what just happened in the upper room. It’s here that Jesus feel completely betrayed and abandoned by his own with whom he has just shared all this life. It’s here that Jesus was filled with bitter agony of his choices of life and completion of his coming into the world. In one word, this is the occasion where Jesus has given himself completely (the cup he is going to drink) to his Father who has designed his plan of salvation through his self denial once again on the cross (as he has done for the first time in the incarnation). And it was painful experience of abandonment.
o Second paradox is: Repentance of Peter and Regret of Judas
 Peter stands for the total self commitment to Jesus after having betrayed him and completely neglected his testimony in front of those who seek the truth. He doesn’t feel shy to come back to his master. He is always quick to rise up after falling down. And it was a joyful return of the prodigal disciple.
 Judas stands for the total self assassination after having betrayed Jesus and completely forgotten the way to come back. He has closed his doors and he has neglected that there is way for coming back. He felt shy of standing before his master. He is not ready to remember and beg for divine mercy which in fact is waiting for his return. And it was a painful loss of the disciple.
o Third paradox is: Innocence of Herod’s wife and Arrogance of authority
 Herod’s wife stands for the one who searches for the goodness and well being of the condemned. She is ready to read the ways of God’s doing and the truth of God’s will. In her striving for the seeking of Truth (Jesus) she is blessed with God’s own help and she is open enough to understand it and testimony it. And it was a joyful search for the God’s will.
 Authority (the Pharisees and Scribes) stands for the one who suppress the truth and pave the way for self growth. It is not ready to understand and accept the way of God. In its arrogance it has become blindfolded and it is closed itself for the truth. And it was a painful negligence of God’s will.
o Fourth paradox is: Power of the Palace and the Helplessness of Golgotha
 Power which was always thought to be in the Palace and which supposed to be at the service of Justice and now exercises full capacity to suppress and oppress what is right. What a painful misuse of God’s decrees.
 Calvary which was always considered as a place of condemnation and which is supposed to be having negative shades now turns out to be the place of forgiveness and salvation. What a joyful fulfillment of God’s designs.
o Fifth paradox is: Thief at the Right and Thief at the Left
 Thief at the right side stands for the possibility of return to Father’s Paradise even at the last moment of life. What a joyful grace of God.
 Thief at the left side stands for the rejection of the acknowledgement of God’s merciful deeds. What a painful loss of God’s life.
- Paradoxes of life of this kind we can see many more in the passion narratives. They only make us realize that life is full of paradoxical moments and we have the every possibility to choose what is good and be at the side of God.


Conclusion

- It’s only the beginning of walking in the way of the Lord (passion of Christ).
- This has to go on till we come into full participation in the life of God.
- Passion and sufferings are, therefore, not the hindrances but the stepping stones to enter into grace of God.
- God never abandons the one who obeys him perfectly till the end of the day (till the last breath).
- May the passion of Christ be Hope of our life.