The triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem begins the most sacred time in the church’s year called Holy Week. A week we celebrate the sacred paschal triduum – the mysteries of our redemption, the memorial of the Lord’s supper, His crucifixion, death, and resurrection on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil.
This week reveals the contradictions in the human person – where on Palm Sunday with exuberant and joyful chants the people spread their cloaks and leaves for our king, but later that same week they were chanting “crucify him, crucify him”.
The Lord God is my Help
The first reading on this day from Prophet Isaiah (50: 4-7), presents us with the servant disciple, chosen by God who, like Jesus, experienced betrayal and suffering in the cause of right, but God vindicated him and didn’t put him to shame.
This reading connects to Jesus’ willingness to accept his mission as a humble servant and it reminds us that God will bring us hope, if we listen obediently to His words and be His faithful witnesses.
The reading also invites us to focus on the passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the suffering servant of God, and our true king – whose humility, obedience, and sacrificial love, gained us our salvation.
Christ’s Humility and Exaltation
The second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Philippians (2:6-11), sums up the mystery of Jesus’ incarnation, suffering, death, resurrection, and exaltation – when he said that: “Christ humbled Himself, but God raised Him high to the glory of God the father”.
This reading shows us that Jesus Christ is a perfect example of humility, because He did not cling unto His divine equality but “emptied Himself” (kenosis) by His ultimate obedience to God’s will for the purpose of our redemption, even unto accepting death on the cross (Philippians 2:5-8).
Thus, God exalted Him and gave Him a name above all names.
The Suffering Servant and God’s Faithfulness
The Passion story from Matthew 26:14-27:66 gives us the account of the betrayal, passion, and death of Jesus Christ by which He fulfilled Israel’s deepest longing and hope for a Messiah.
The passion narrative demonstrates that Jesus is the faithful son of God who fulfilled God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. It also showed that Jesus is a different kind of king, whose kingdom challenges other false worldly kingdoms.
Living the Passion in Our Daily Lives
My dear brothers and sisters, what can we take away from the above readings and the Palm Sunday celebration? First, we can see that the Jesus’ passion and death invite us to imitate Jesus’ simplicity, meekness, and humble entry into Jerusalem in our relationships with people, and to live as God wants us to live.
This Passion Sunday narrative encourages us to bear our own pains and sufferings for the love of God and humanity, so that we can also share the pains and sufferings of others as Jesus did for humanity.
Secondly, today’s celebration challenges us not to spread only palms and olive branches for our Lord Jesus Christ, but ourselves, fully alive and clothed in His grace as baptised Christians and people who are dead to sin; people who are redeemed by His passion, death, and resurrection; and as people who are fully reborn anew and living according to our baptismal promises.
Thirdly, the story of the passion of Jesus Christ encourages us to examine the roles we play in betraying and destroying ourselves, others, and the environment; and in the loneliness and abandonment that others feel because of us.
To examine how we judge others and what we do to alleviate the suffering of others around us in their difficult moments and points of need.
My dear brothers and sisters, let us not forget that the way we have celebrated Jesus’s suffering, death and resurrection since Lent began, reveals how prepared we are to embrace the passion of the Lord with joy this Holy Week.
It also shows how determined we are to follow the example of Christ’s love and self-sacrifice. As we reflect deeply this week on the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, may we not harden our hearts to the cry of the poor, but may we remain humble, loving, hopeful, and faithful even in the face of hardship, bearing in mind that suffering, pain, and even death do not have the last word.
May God bless us all through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Fr Raymond Ugwu CSSp is the Parish Priest of the Catholic Parish of Richmond in the Diocese of Parramatta.
This reflection is an example of the Diocesan Pastoral Plan priority of Formation to achieve the objective of becoming a Humble and Healing Church. Visit Synodality to learn more.
