APRIL 13^th 2014. PALM SUNDAY

Gospel: Matthew 21:1-11

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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PROCESSIONAL GOSPEL Matthew 21:1-11

When they were near Jerusalem and had come in sight of Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go to the village facing you, and you will immediately find a tethered donkey and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, "The Master needs them and will send them back directly".' This took place to fulfil the prophecy:

Say to the daughter of Zion: 
Look, your king comes to you; 
he is humble, he rides on a donkey 
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

So the disciples went out and did as Jesus had told them. They brought the donkey and the colt, then they laid their cloaks on their backs and he sat on them. Great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road, while others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in his path. The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed were all shouting:

 'Hosanna to the Son of David! 
Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord! 
Hosanna in the highest heavens!'

 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil. 'Who is this?' people asked, and the crowds answered, 'This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee'.

 The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Don Fabio encourages us to have a short homily on Palm Sunday because the narrative of the Passion in itself gives us so much to reflect on. The processional Gospel tells of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a humble beast of burden. Jesus deliberately chose this means to enter the city and receive the glory of Jerusalem. By doing so he shows us that human glory is an empty and meaningless thing, something that is based on trivial, external trappings, such as the animal chosen to bear the king. The glory of this world is inflated, full of itself. We all yearn for glory based on our own ego, our own achievements. How different is the glory of Jesus! He renounces his ego and does not come in his own name, but in the name of his heavenly Father. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This is the glory that all of us are destined for. When Jesus frees us from the dictates of our own ego, only then have we the freedom to love unselfishly, to serve others and do good. For as long as I pursue my own glory, I will lack the freedom that leads to true glory. Jesus does not impose himself on us. He respects our freedom and wants us to respond to him in freedom. He comes to us respectfully, showing the marks of the passion which bear witness to his love for us. See his dignity! See his interior glory!

Let us join the procession on Palm Sunday! Faith is not a private thing but something to be celebrated publicly!
For Palm Sunday a short homily on the processional Gospel is perhaps the best way to go. The long reading of the Passion requires no commentary at all. How could we even begin to comment on the beautiful and extraordinary events of the Passion? The processional Gospel precedes a procession, and hopefully the procession in your parish will be a joyful and colourful event! Christianity is a public thing. There is a tendency nowadays to think that religious practice should be something private; something to be confined within the walls of the church. But a more correct view maintains that our profession of the faith must be public; it must have consequences for real life. If it does not have consequences for real life then we - the so-called children of God - are behaving like children of this world, and that makes no sense whatsoever! If our faith does not inform everything we do, then it is something superficial that does not authentically form our identity.

Jesus chooses the most humble way to enter the city and receive the honour of the people. In doing this he is teaching us about the emptiness of human glory and the depth of God’s glory.
Jesus permitted this procession to happen and he ordered his disciples to prepare it for him. Therefore we should reflect deeply on what it all means. The disciples are instructed to procure the donkey and the colt for him. These beasts of burden will bear the weight of Jesus in the procession. This whole narrative recalls the biblical notion of kingship. The king in Israel was a figure of humility, someone who owed his position entirely to God and not to his own power. There is something very bitter-sweet about the procession as people lay their cloaks and palm branches in front of the donkey. Jesus is being honoured all right, but has chosen this humble means to enter the city. Imagine a great world leader comes to visit our town and we are lined on the side of the streets waiting for him to come. The roads are flanked by police. A great cheer goes up and the world leader comes driving along in an old Volkswagen Beatle! We would be surprised to say the least. But with Jesus, where there is glory there is great humility. And this text challenges us to recognize that our human glory consists in trivial things that have no lasting meaning. The glory of this world is something that is inflated, full of itself.

We yearn for a glory that is based on our own ego. The glory of Jesus is based on the fact that he renounces his own ego and comes in the name of someone else.
The Old Testament scriptures recognize that the ancient King of Israel was an unworthy figure. Any glory associated with him came from heaven. In fact the people cry out to Jesus, “Hosanna in the highest heavens”. The glory that belongs to Jesus is something that comes from the highest part of heaven. Jesus is the son who comes in the name of the Lord. This is the true glory of Christ, one that comes in someone else’s name, one that comes on a beast of burden. This is the same kind of glory that all of us are destined for. But we in our stupidity strive constantly for a glory that is born in us, that derives from our ego. Love for ourselves blinds us to the nature of true glory. Real glory is in the name of the Lord, not in my own name. We acknowledge this every time we pray the Our Father and say “hallowed by Thy name.” There are many freedoms we can have, but the greatest is freedom from the dictates of my own ego! This is the freedom that allows us to love, to serve and to do good.

Jesus is humiliated externally, but this humiliation only serves to highlight even more his interior dignity and glory
The procession on Palm Sunday is the procession of the poor, the humble, the small people, the people who acclaim another. We, however, want to be acclaimed by others. We wish to be loved, adored, glorified. This is not the Christian way of acclaim! The procession we must participate in is one that acclaims another, acclaims the one who loves us, acclaims the humiliated Christ. When the Lord Jesus comes in glory, he will appear with the signs of his passion. He will appear humbly, respectfully, not forcing himself upon humanity, not seeking anything from humanity. Instead all he does is give, and what he gives us is freedom. Through this Gospel passage we see the glory that is proclaimed in the Passion. The man who is crucified is full of dignity. The external humiliation of Christ is in contrast to his interior glory. The union between man and God is the union of humility and glory.