Palm Sunday

Holy Week, which begins today, is the greatest week in the Church’s year.    It is made holy by the death of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who died for His flock.   He died because of and to atone for sin.   Since we are all sinners, each of us can truthfully say that we had a hand in His death.

Christ died so that we might die to sin and rise to a new life of holiness and grace.

Note the difference between the palm-strewn route into Jerusalem at the beginning of the week – processions that follow messiahs are triumphant affairs – contrasted with the road to Calvary soon after, depicting processions following condemned criminals.

See how the disciples deserted their Lord and Master in face of trouble – one betrayed Him with a kiss, another denied Him with curses.  Confronted with fight or flight, their fear made the decision.

Can we have the courage to follow Christ, when authorities, governments, regimes range against Him – challenging all our Christian beliefs?   Can we still believe in Jesus Christ when faced with our own particular Golgotha?

Denis McBride CSSR made an interesting observation when explaining the “Passion” of Christ:-
To quote:
“The passion is not something that is done to Jesus by others.   It is the power within Jesus, His passion that enables Him to face the violence and the pain.   Jesus has a grand passion – one that consumes His whole person and drives Him through this time of horror.   He could have avoided coming to Jerusalem.   He could have compromised and settled for survival…. His ardent, passionate love insists that He face the ultimate test of love – the cross.”

Yes, the life of Jesus of Nazareth reveals a man of grand passion for all His creation.   In the end, the cross comes as no surprise.   It is the penalty for making a habit of such extravagant  love.

The cross of Jesus stands at the centre of the Christian story as the sign of the lengths love will go to in its passion for others.   If we ever wonder about being loved, let us look at the Figure on the cross – a living sign that someone thought we were worth all that pain and suffering, someone who thought we were worth dying for….and that Somebody is Jesus, Son of God.

We remember the death of Jesus, not as an arbitrary, heedless act of violence, but rather as the supreme act of love… the love of “One who did not cling to His equality with God, but emptied Himself to become as we are” in order to show that in spite of our sins and transgressions, God loves us.   

This is the heart of the Passion story.