With palm leaves
in our hands and with the words: ‘Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna’ on our lips we step
into the Holy Week, the most sacred time in the year [liturgical year]. Today we
have two Gospel readings: one before the palm procession and the other in the
usual place of Gospel reading in the mass. The Gospel reading (Lk 19:28-40) before
the procession tells us about Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem as king of
the Jews, the Messiah. The Gospel reading in the mass is a passion narrative
from the Gospel according to Luke. The passion narrative recalls to our mind
what all had happened from Lords’ supper to the burial of Jesus in the tomb.
These two Gospel readings help us get into the mood of the Holy Week. Jesus who
enters the city of Jerusalem today with all pomp and slogans would be put to death
cruelly within few days in the same city, that too in front of this same people
who are triumphally shouting ‘Hosanna’. The people who are shouting ‘Hosanna’
may not know what would happen to Jesus after few days, but Jesus knows. To
enter a city triumphally without any foreknowledge about one’s near defeat in
the city may not be a surprise. But for Jesus who knows what would happen to
Him in Jerusalem city within few days – for He had foretold many times to his
disciples about His passion, death and resurrection – to enter the city is a
great surprise. Anyone who has foreknowledge about one’s danger in particular
place would avoid going to that place, but Jesus does not. This refusal to ‘not’
to enter the city that awaits His killing is a mystery. To grasp this mystery
we need the help of today’s first and second readings.
The second
reading is from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. In Phil 2:6-1, Paul
sings the Christological hymn that exalts the Incarnation of God in Christ and
His glorious redemption of all creation through passion, death and resurrection
of Christ. Through the Incarnation of Christ, God is being born –
begotten/caused to be born – in the likeness of men. In the book of Genesis we
read about God creating man in His likeness (Gen 1:27) now God is caused to be
born in man’s likeness. This seems to be contradicting! But it is not. This is
not a discrepancy in revelation nor an error in the text. The whole mystery of
redemption is concealed beneath this apparent contradiction. When we reconcile
Gen 1:27 with Phil 2:7 we grasp the mystery. When God created man in His
likeness, He was a complete man. He was like God without any sin, thenceforth
worthy to enter heaven directly without any purification or corruption (death).
But the entry of sin (first fall) prevented man from entering heaven, the holy
of holies with defilement, thus necessitating a purification of one’s body. And
so, the sin of man lost the original likeness of God in man. Now when God takes
human nature in Christ, He becomes like us, a sinful creature, he becomes part
of sinful humanity. As human Jesus is in the likeness of men. This unwraps the
truth lay behind the apparent contradiction. God who is rich in power becomes
poor in Incarnation. Can we conceive of any rich man or woman leaving his or
her mansion and staying in the poor hut? No. the poor may become rich but rich
would never freely embrace poverty. The incarnation topples this lifestyle.
After being born
as human, Jesus has to undergo the purification of His human body as all of
needed to. The death is necessary for Him to complete His human life. As human
creatures we need to enter heaven or gain eternal life with body or else we
would be like angels who have no body. The union of body and soul is the
uniqueness of our creatureliness. Jesus has already taken vulnerability on
Himself by leaving His place in eternity to become man. Now to face death may
seem an ordinary course of life for Him as human but to face cruel death is not
ordinary for Jesus. He becomes more vulnerable in death. The triumphal entry of
Jesus in Jerusalem today is a distraction for Him to decide between His eternity as God and His role as saviour of the world. He can
renounce His human form at once and take His eternal place in heaven but Jesus
marches ahead to complete His human life despite all sufferings and cruelties
that lay forward. His successful completion of human life results in His
glorious resurrection. That resurrection gives us a hope that all of us would gain
resurrection in life which bestows glorious body for us to enter heaven and take
our place with God in eternity. Jesus’ resurrection is the work of the Father
through the Holy Spirit for the faithfulness of the Son. In His suffering Jesus
places complete trust in His Father that He would not leave Him without any
reward or recognition. The first reading (Is 50:4-7) foretells the help of God in
enduring suffering and the apparent shame that can distract person from
finishing the goal. The suffering makes the fall apparent but perseverance in
faith makes that apparent fall into glorious rising.
As we partake in
the palm Sunday celebration, let us pay heed to all readings of the day,
especially the passion narrative to see the truth that contradicts human
presumption of truth, i.e., the apparent
fall is only apparent and the
apparent triumph is only dubious, not eternal. May we spend this Holy Week
with recollection and reflection on the Paschal Mystery of our faith.
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