Homily for Palm Sunday 5 April 2009
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ
In this sacred liturgy we have just commemorated two important events in the closing days of our Saviour: his entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of his last week on this earth and his trial and crucifixion at the end of that week. They make an uneasy combination.
At the beginning of the week we see Jesus being welcomed into Jerusalem by the joyful crowds who sing 'Hosanna to the Son of David'. The introduction to this Mass described this entry as a 'triumph'. A 'triumph' was awarded to a victorious general in ancient Rome: but Jesus' was a curious kind of 'triumph' if it is compared to the triumph awarded to a conquering hero entering Rome. Jesus is not preceded by his massed troops marching side-by-side; the spoils of war are not displayed for all to see; the conquered people are not paraded for the jeering crowds. At this moment Jesus has claimed the attention and affection of the crowd. Although he is only mounted on a colt the crowds still claim him as the 'Son of David', they recognise him as the rightful king of the Jews, the Messiah. And their cries mean that Jesus is brought once again to the attention of the Roman authorities as everyone prepares for the feast of the Passover, the feast when Jewish longings for independence came to a head, when the whole city was as apt to explode into rioting as it was to settle to the religious rites associated with the commemoration of the exodus of the Jewish people out of Egypt into the Promised Land.
At the end of the week we see Jesus betrayed, arrested, tried, condemned and crucified - as he had known he would be. The crowds had been turned against him, the Roman authorities manipulated, his disciples cowed into denial and desertion. Alone he was taken to Golgotha and there, stripped and crucified, he accepted the fate of all mankind - to enter the gates of death - but death was being transformed: there is nothing whatever to celebrate in the Passion of Christ unless we hold on to this central fact. Death was and remains transformed: from being the gateway to the underworld it has become the gateway into eternal life for all who believe in the name of him whose name is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth, and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father (cf. Philippians 2.9-11).
What, then, does it mean to believe in the name of Jesus? How is this to be made visible in our lives? Let us listen once more to the words of the scriptures which have been presented to us today: Each morning when we wake, for as long as we walk upon this earth, the Lord wakes us to hear, to listen like a disciple (cf. Isaiah 50.4). We listen in the first place to the Word of God in Scripture. We listen when we set aside time for prayer. We listen when we take account of the needs of those around us. The Scriptures announce that we have been given the tongue of a disciple. We have been provided with speech so that we know how to encourage and sustain the weary (cf. Isaiah 50.4).
When we look at ourselves we know that we often fall short of these ideals. Let us not be discouraged. The Gospel today places before us a series of pen-pictures of men and women in the course of the Passion narrative. We are presented with the woman who anoints the feet of the Lord; with Judas as he betrays Jesus to the Chief Priests, with the disciples preparing the Last Supper and sharing it with the Lord. We have seen the Lord's chosen three asleep whilst he suffered in the Garden, we have seen the guards who arrested him, Peter denying him, Pilate confused and weak - but eventually bowing to the popular demand for blood. We have seen Jesus mocked and tortured by the soldiers. We have seen Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross. We have seen the soldiers crucifying Jesus upon the cross. We have seen the women watching, praying, suffering with Christ from afar. And the truth is that at different times we are all of these people. When we pause to reflect, when we are honest with ourselves we know that we are all of these people. It is not easy to admit that we have been asleep when others, in whom we should have seen the face of Christ, have suffered. It is not easy to reveal that we, too, have denied our Saviour. In short it is not easy to say that we have betrayed our Christian baptism. But if we are human disciples of Jesus it is most likely that we are no better than the first disciples: we, too, have been called by the Lord, but we, too, are a motley crew who depend on the saving power of God if we are to do anything right, if we are to retrace in our lives the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
This week is a week above all others in which to live the truth in faith and hope and love. This is the week when we need to listen more intently to the scriptures laid before us by Holy Mother Church. These are the days when we should share with more devotion in the sacraments which Christ gave to his Body, the Church, when, in particular, we need to approach the Lord in the sacrament of reconciliation asking for forgiveness and strength. This is the acceptable time in which to come to the aid of those who suffer. And all of this so that we may experience in our lives the forgiveness, the peace, and the strength of our Saviour as we prepare for our own entry into eternal life.
As Lent draws to a close let us renew our Lenten resolutions and live this last week as fully as we are able so that next Sunday we may celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, our pledge of new life, with the greatest joy possible to us this side of the grave.
Rt Rev Cuthbert Madden OSB, Abbot of Ampleforth