HOMILY FOR PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (YEAR C)

 Isaiah 50:4-7

 In the old liturgy, before Vatican II, the reading of the Passion was greeted with total silence. There was no homily. Even the concluding acclamation: “This is the gospel of the Lord” was omitted. On a day like this, I sometimes feel that the most eloquent response to the word of God we have proclaimed is silence. Even the best of homilies could be a distraction from the deep meditation in which many of us find ourselves at the end of the story of the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. But then also, a homily might be useful to direct and focus our meditation in the right direction. Otherwise we might be like little Johnny who was failing all his exams in the public school until his parents decided to send him to a Catholic school. At the end of the year Johnny came out on top of the class. When his parents asked him what made him change so dramatically Johnny replied, “You see, the moment I walked into that new school and saw that guy hanging on the cross, I knew that the people here were dead serious; so I decided not to take any chances.”

 The crucifix might have helped Johnny to improve his scores but it is easy to see that Johnny has misread the crucifix. The man on the cross is not there to scare little boys but to show them how much he loves them. He is not there to show them what would happen to them if they misbehaved; he is there to show them that he has already paid the penalty for their sins. He is not dying on the cross for what he has done but for what you and I have done; because he loves us. He died for us.

 “He died for us:” Many of us have heard this phrase so many times that it now carries with it neither the shock of someone dying on account of what we have done nor the good news of our being delivered from death. For us to hear this message again today as for the first time, the story of a man who literally died for the misdeeds of his brother might help.

 Two brothers lived together in the same apartment. The elder brother was an honest, hard-working and God-fearing man and the younger a dishonest, gun-totting, substance-abusing rogue. Many a night the younger man would come back into the apartment late, drunk and with a lot of cash and the elder brother would spend hours plead ing with him to mend his ways and live a decent life. But the young man would have none of it. One night the junior brother runs into the house with a smoking gun and blood-stained clothes. “I killed a man,” he announced. In a few minutes the house was surrounded by police and the two brothers knew there was no escape. “I did not mean to kill him,” stammered the young brother, “I don’t want to die.” By now the police were knocking at the door. The senior brother had an idea. He exchanged his clothes with the blood-stained clothes of his killer brother. The police arrested him, tried him and condemned him to death for murder. He was killed and his junior brother lived. He died for his brother.

 Can we see that this story of crime and death is basically a story of love? Similarly the story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. How should we respond to it? Well, how would you expect the junior brother to respond to the death of the senior brother? We would expect him to respond with GRATITUDE. Gratitude to his generous brother should make him turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of crime. He would be a most ungrateful idiot if he should continue living the sort of life that made his brother die. Gratitude should make him keep the memory of his brother alive. No day should pass that he should not remember his brother who died for him. Finally, if the dead brother has got a wife and children we should expect the saved brother, out of gratitude, to love and care for them. What God expects from us today is gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and colour; strong enough to make us translate our love of God into love of all of God’s people.

 All the way through the Gospel of Luke, one of the things we have been noticing is that the theme of prophecy – that is, Jesus as prophet – runs through the text like a thread joining it all together. And as prophet, he like the other prophets, is filled with the Holy Spirit. A few weeks ago on the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, we saw Jesus beginning his public ministry in his hometown in a synagogue and he opened up a scroll and read from Isaiah his mission statement: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring the good news to the poor….” and so on. This emphasis on spirit-filled prophecy follows him all the way through to his crucifixion and it is something I would like you to focus on in the reading of Luke’s Passion today.

 Similarly, we have talked about Jesus use of the meal as a gathering place for the outcast, the sinner, the friends, and so on. Jesus was “all about” meals together. His enemies even noted how he ate with tax collectors and sinners. In the few days before his death another meal would dominate, one that he made preparations for, the Passover meal with his apostles. The Passover meal had great history to it and its theme was liberation of the Jews, just as we would be liberated in a few days by Jesus himself.

 Also, note that the Apostles, even at this late date, just don’t get it yet. They argue about who is going to be greatest. They still think Jesus is going to be a Messiah in the conquering way, and that those next to him will achieve glory and notoriety. Jesus has to explain once again, that it is just the reverse. Finally at the meal watch how Jesus subtly tries to prepare them for what is to come – that evil will try one more time to conquer, and their small band of brothers will be broken up.

 In the Agony in the Garden watch how human Jesus is, how he wants his disciples to avoid the test he is undertaking – the test being the final struggle of good and evil. But the apostles let him down once again, both by sleeping and by their violence. Jesus practices his non-violence and tells Peter to put his sword down. His kingdom is not about violence. And yet ironically in his trial we will see how the political system is upset with him and his vision of peace and justice. It is also interesting to note how much a failure Peter himself is in this version of the Gospel, and how Peter is last seen leaving the courtyard, crying and deep in regret and shame, yet knowing he will be forgiven.

 When Jesus is called on to carry his cross, notice how only Luke gives us this intense portrait of the Way of the Cross – with striking images and portraits of people that are so short but so perfect – Simon of Cyrene and the two criminals executed with Jesus.The question is: where do you stand in the story of the Passion of the Christ? With his accusers and executioners, self-righteous and vengeful, so challenged by Jesus’ goodness, so afraid of the change it requires in you that you’d rather be rid of him? Or are you one of the hangers-on, just going with the flow, for Jesus one day, against him the next; hosannas one day, “crucify him” the next; waving palms one moment, spears the next; only concerned to be liked, to fit in with your peers, to be one of the crowd?

 Are you a Judas, full of envy and resentment, disordered desires and dashed dreams, pulling down others to build up yourself? Or like Pilate, self-serving and indifferent to the plight of others, washing his hands of the whole affair, ignoring the injustice, never committing himself? Do we stand with the womenfolk, numb with grief and fear but holding on, loving when the loving is hard, even to the cross and tomb? Or are you more like the men-folk, fleeing in fright, running away from their principles, their friend, their God?  Do you hang beside Jesus like the bad thief, full of resentment toward God, your fellows, yourself? Or like the good thief, are you honest and remorseful, turning to Jesus in your need and offering the most beautiful prayer of a dying person: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

 Which character are you in this story? We all choose our sides in Jesus’ story, not just by cheering like spectators at the football or a concert, not just by imagining ourselves in some virtual world of a novel, film or computer game. No, we choose our sides in Jesus’ story by the choices we make in real life. Jesus’ Passion is painted in our passions: vengefulness, lethargy, envy, indifference, fear, compassion, love. These passions are ours, and how we respond, what we do, the habits of life we get into, say who we are and make us what we say.Our choices are communicative: they either tell part of the Greatest Story Ever Told – the Story of the Word made Flesh, of Love made Man, of Flesh tortured and Love refused, of Flesh transfigured and Love renewed – or they tell of something rather more banal, less edifying.

Our choices are also creative: not only do they tell our story, they shape the character in the story. They make us executioners or hangers-on or evaders or forsakers or betrayers or friends of God. What we do determines who we are in our autobiography and in the stories of those around us, the role we play in the pageant of the Life of Christ, which continues through to this day.

 The Passion ends with another portrait, a man names Joseph of Arimathea who goes against tradition and his position by claiming Jesus’ body. The final portrait is of the group of women, who stronger than the men disciples, stay and watch and take care of the body of Jesus. The depth of their sorrow comes through quite strongly. But the Spirit, we know, has not finished her work. That will come three days later.But for now, for this week, we reflect not on that final act of the Spirit, but on the passion and suffering of the God-man, we reflect on what his life meant, how he lived his faith, how he practiced what he preached, and how he loved us to the end.  Next Saturday evening and Sunday we will celebrate with the Spirit the dominion over death that is now our legacy – the Resurrection event.This is our great break: to open ourselves to renewal by the saving grace of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection communicated through the greatest liturgies of our year and the greatest scriptures.This is our great opportunity: to write with Christ a new Gospel, the story of the Passion of Jesus Christ told in the life of each one of us.

  By Rt. Rev. Bishop Kasomo Daniel. PhD.D.Sc.

 Bishop Kasomo Daniel is a Roman Catholic Bishop of the Society of St. Peter and Paul (SSPP).