Palm Sunday of the Lord´s Passion
Father James Swanson, LC
Mark 11:1 10
When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the
Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go
into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you
will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it
and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, ´Why are you doing
this?´ reply, ´The Master has need of it and will send it back here
at once.´" So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate
outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders
said to them, "What are you doing, untying the colt?" They answered
them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do
it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it.
And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and
others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying
out:
"Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!"
Introductory Prayer: Help me, Jesus, Son of David
and King of Israel. Teach me to listen to you alone and recognize
you as my King and Messiah. May I experience, love and please you
more as I meditate on the triumph of your entry into
Jerusalem.
Petition: Lord, Jesus, grant me the grace to proclaim you as
Messiah and Savior. I want to follow you all the days of my
life.
1. A Different Kind of
Messiah. Up until now, Jesus has never publicly accepted the
title of Messiah. He has confirmed privately to his apostles that
he is the Messiah, but he has commanded them to tell no one. When
people have called him the Messiah, he has never accepted the title
and most often has tried to get away from them as quickly as
possible. He has reasoned that the Jews dont understand what the
Messiah is really about. Knowing the Messiah is to be a great
descendent of King David, they expect the Messiah to appear, raise
an army and lead an uprising against the Romans that will drive
them from the country and re-establish Davids kingdom. Several
times we read of Jesus having to slip away because the people
intend to make him king. He is not going to be what they expect and
he cannot let their expectations get in the way of his
mission.
2. A Suffering, Not a Political,
Messiah. Yet today, Jesus allows them to proclaim him
Messiah. His entry into Jerusalem is exactly what the prophet
predicted for the Messiah. He enters riding a donkey, for the
Hebrews the traditional mount of royalty. Therefore, his riding a
donkey is a claim on kingship, a claim on being the Messiah, and
everyone realizes it. Another thing that was supposed to happen
when the Messiah entered Jerusalem, was that boys were supposed to
be the first to begin to shout, Hosanna, son of David. This is
exactly what happens. People were supposed to throw down branches
and cloaks to pave his way into Jerusalem and this happens too. The
Pharisees see all this and complain to him because they see that it
is a fulfillment of the prophecy. They want him to tell people he
is not the Messiah. Jesus refuses to do so. The time has come for
him to be recognized by all as the Messiah because events are now
in motion such that they will be unable to make him into the
Messiah that they expect; rather he will be the Messiah that was
prophesied the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.
3. The Messiah Rejected by the
Experts. The chief priests, scribes and Pharisees are angry.
They have already decided they dont want to accept Jesus as the
Messiah. Why do they wish to reject him? Is it because he doesnt
show the signs that the Messiah should show? No, he has fulfilled
all the prophecies. Instead, they see that Jesus as Messiah will
threaten their social and political positions. Jesus will be more
important than they. They dont want that to happen. They dont
want to lose power. In the end they allow themselves to be
convinced that he cannot be the Messiah. Rather than consider all
the evidence in his favor, they reject him because they dont want
a Messiah like that.
Dialogue with Christ: Jesus, you are my king and
my savior. You dont have to convince me. I want to follow you with
all my heart, but sometimes I fear the modern Pharisees who dont
want to accept you. Only love for you can overcome this fear, since
love overcomes all obstacles. Fill my heart with a love that knows
no limits, the love that drew you from heaven to die on the cross
for me. Fill also the hearts of all those who feel threatened by
the modern Pharisees who reject you and want to erase your name
from the world, so that they will witness bravely to you and to
your sacrifice for us.
Resolution: Today, with the courage of my
conviction that Jesus is the savior of the world, I will proclaim
in some way that he is my Lord and God, especially through the
living of charity towards everyone I meet.
