[img]http://www.catholica.com.au/sunday/images/Y-not_an_640x166.gif[/img]
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
March 20, 2016
At the Procession with Palms: Luke 19:28-40
Reading I: Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Reading II: Philippians 2:6-11
Gospel: Luke 22:14-23:56
I feel that many christian people may be getting depressed about the dying of the churches. If this were only from a sense of personal loss of the familiar comforts of routine and ritual, it would not be remarkable. But if it happens to be a genuine concern that good people are suffering for their communities in mortal danger then it is exactly parallel, in fact an extension of, the deep sadness and distress that Jeshua felt when he shed tears over Jerusalem.
Compassion is most keenly felt for one's own who suffer, even for the blind and deaf ones who will not see or hear – who will not face the need for change but continue relying on their rusting structures and fresh coats of paint. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, if only you had known the time of your visitation, but you wouldn't open your eyes, you wouldn't admit you had a problem, you wouldn't change, you wouldn't surrender to the healing love of your physician. So too Rome today. And we enter Holy Week much in the mood in which Jeshua entered Jerusalem.
Inevitably people will remark that numbers are down again. Once our whole world stopped on Good Friday. Now it scarcely pauses, which leaves us individually responsible for being the Christ among our neighbours. Going to church cuts no ice these days, but being one who does the truth with love, bringing saving grace to thirsty souls: that is our purpose.
It's a very simple thing, this procession around the church with branches in our hands. The famous entry into the Holy City was very simple too. That was the point of it. Riding in on an ass, like a clown, Jeshua took the mickey out of the High Priests, the Pharisees and the Romans - three birds with one stone. They weren't amused, especially when he went through the temple market like a bull in a china shop. Provocative for sure, but there does come a stage when words must be reinforced with action, to make people stop and think.
We read the passion too this day. There are plenty of roles to choose from if you want to be in the action. The only 'fail' is not to choose, because we are in it willy nilly. Our turn has come in this, our time. With him - or - against him? But now we know it's a matter of the heart, of the spirit inside us. Even if we are locked in to an official role as priest or governor/boss or king: we can still be with this humble man giving witness to the truth of things. We are all free to be true.
Some will be urged to stand close by him and do the sort of things he did. Mostly in works of compassion, I suppose, but some are able to speak up for the right, to reveal the truth. The uncovering of some hidden truths can be painful but also healing for an establishment with its roots deep in the dung heap of corruption.
This is a very Jesus thing to do. And if we can take on the price like him, and carry it up the hill - getting up again when it gets us down - and still trust in a loving Father, source of Life and Love, then we too will bear much fruit. Not that we'll see it, but others will, and be nourished by it and inspired to take on their role too.
There are many courageous whistle-blowers around today. We hear of them almost weekly. They rarely get off scot free. Some end up in jail, more lose their jobs, and some even their lives. As a community we need to be known for the truth we speak. A church that won't speak out is a countersign, a contradiction, an embarrassment.
I think it is important to keep some balance in the way we do our passover through this week. The early followers told the story, some say in an all night vigil, probably taking naps on the floor between the various movements of the tragedy. There was a great love of theatre in those times. It's the love, the dedication of Jeshua that inspires us, not the various agonies. It's too often said that no-one has ever suffered so much, which is simply not true, and irrelevant anyway. I've heard preachers make their hearers squirm with their vivid detailing of the scourging and the nailing. The Mel Gibson approach is a distraction, I believe. 'More pain equals more merit' is not a formula I subscribe to.
So walk gently along that way in the footsteps of the convicted one. It's obscene to see only the pain. His determination to be true, to himself, to his Father and to us; his refusal to kow-tow to the authorities in their powerplays; his unbreakable hope that there's more to life than this... things like this are what can be inspiring.
And through it all we hope for return of life. It's our creating Father lifting his work into a new dimension. Do not be afraid. Have courage. It is I.
............................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
THESE ARE DESTINED FOR THE WPB
What's it take to redeem the world?
'Redeem' is not a very satisfactory word since it brings up images of some despotic ruler holding hostages until a price is paid that satisfies his greed or lust for blood. Such could not be god.
But the word does belong in the dramatic staging of this odd work of saving our world, us all, from the dark enthrallment that reappears with the regularity of the daily sunset. No sooner has a people reached some fullness of progress, of enlightenment, of humanity with benevolence and love held in high esteem than it all goes rotten from the inside. Actual examples so not need my pointing out, unless they're so close to home we cannot see them.
The event of this day, Jeshua riding a donkey into the city, surrounded by a crowd of cheering supporters, and a mob there for the entertainment, is hardly worth recording in itself. But in the drama on the world stage, where a prophet takes on the political and religious powers of his own people, and the might of the occupying forces at the same time, deliberately provoking them to
Prophets are nothing but actors on the stage. They have no power but their voice. Their impact is only through their words and occasionally their gestures that are heard and seen and thought about. It's a funny thing about how we react to the truth when we are directly challenged. Often the defence will be, 'I don't know what you're talking about, but the truth has slipped under our guard and turned our conscience purple. We blush, even as we bluster in defence of innocence. Some turn the blushing into angry scowling and shouting.
Why, if god wants to send out a message of salvation, didn't he choose a better time to do it? Like our present times, when communication around the globe is instantaneous and can reach everyone. We should be open to the message too, with widespread education and literacy, and our race teetering on the brink of extinction, through both weapons of mass destruction and the environmental crisis. If at the apex of the era of progress people thoguht they had security in their grasp, it has today slipped through their fingers. It's a no-brainer today that we all need saving. You'd think a promise of universal salvation would be welcomed.
The trouble is that it's not the broadcasting that's a problem, it's the grasping of the message and the absorbing of it. Everything hinges on individual women and men taking it in, identifying with it, and then turning around to walk the other way.
The king comes clowning, riding on a donkey
I don't think clowning is too strong a word for what Jeshua did, making a mockery of all the powers, the local king, the Caesar's rep, and above all the priests who ran the establishment. Was it perhaps the most radical sign he ever gave, the ultimate challenge?
The Lord's true king comes in humility, compassion and mercy, like a servant, riding a utility beast. Today he might drive down Swanston St on an old farm tractor, the little Fergie of my teen years.
We know the phases of this tragic week. With the people behind him he went into the temple and cleared out the market people and the bankers. By week's end he is arrested, put through a show trial and quickly executed. Could there have been any other outcome? Would it be the same today if it happened in one of our cities?
I don't think it would be any different, and this fact seems to be inescapable. It's not as though there was some miscalculation on Jeshua's part. The final confrontation had to happen and in it he could not win, not if he pressed his challenge home to the hilt and did not waver in compromise. It would be the same today.
There is a conclusion to be drawn from this, one that speaks of the fundamental opposition between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of the world. We seem subject to two false views in his, the one that would see governments become so godly that justice and peace would reign on earth, and the other that sees the religious establishment a strong alternative body with decisive influence to ensure those values that are essentially good for all levels of society.
I think that Jeshua mocks both alternatives. His kingdom is not of this worldly type at all. It has no power or influence directly on government or on social structures. It is entirely hidden within the hearts of those who believe, of those who trust in the power of the Spirit to continue to bring life to its fullness.
So many are concerned today that the church should not lose its identity completely. They looks for formulas that would restore the vitality of the parishes, again supplied with an abundance of priestly ministers. Does not the procession of palms give the lie to this dream? Are we not forced today to ask the question whether the interpretation of the gospel way that has been predominant for 16 centuries was ever meant to be, or is meant to continue?