April 14^th 2019.  Palm Sunday

GOSPEL Luke 22:14 – 23:56

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

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

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GOSPEL Luke 22:14 – 23:56

A link to the Gospel can be found here

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

Kieran’s summary . . . In his account of the Passion, Luke records three saying of Jesus from the cross that are not recorded elsewhere. The first is to ask his Father to forgive us for we do not know what we are doing. How arrogant we are! How often we think we know what we are doing, when in fact we are doing grave wrong, but have no idea of its gravity. The good thief alone recognizes his guilt and discovers how to pray: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom!” Jesus then utters his second phrase, “This day you will be with me in paradise”. How great is God’s mercy! The first person to enter paradise with the Lord is a thief! The third phrase is said as Jesus dies: “Father into your hands I commend my Spirit”. At this very moment the veil of the temple is torn in two. Behind the veil in the temple, the high priest alone was permitted to say the unpronounceable name of God. The tearing of the veil at the very moment of Jesus’s last words shows us that the Lord intends these words to be a revelation of the name of God, and we discover that his name is “Father”. This tortured and dying man - rather than sinking into the anguish of his horrific situation - surrenders and abandons himself to his Father. And his surrender will not be in vain. The Father will raise that flesh, revealing that the way out of anguish is not strength, is not intelligence, is not possessions, but consists in a relationship between Son and Father that endures through abandonment in the worst of moments.  In the end what does the Lord Jesus do on the cross? Whilst we are stripping him of life, he is bestowing gifts. He forgives us our sins, he grants us to be with him in Paradise, he entrusts his Spirit to the Father.

In his Gospel, Luke records three saying of Jesus that are not recorded elsewhere. The first is to ask his Father to forgive us for we do not know what we are doing. How arrogant we are! How often we think we know what we are doing, when in fact we are doing grave wrong but have no idea of its gravity

On Palm Sunday the Passion of the Lord is proclaimed. This year we listen to the account from Luke. Among the many particularities of his text, we can note the three sentences that Jesus pronounces from the cross that we find only in this Gospel. "When they arrived at the place called Skull, they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. Jesus said: ‘Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing’". In the original Greek, the phrase, "Jesus said . . .", is in the imperfect tense, which gives it a verbal aspect of repetition. As they crucified Jesus, he continued to say those words; as they put the nails in his wrists and feet, he continued to repeat, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”. What did he mean? A trivial reading could go as follows: "They don't know who I am; they don't know who they're crucifying." But a more profound reading acknowledges that we tend, in general, to think we know everything, while in reality we rarely know what we are doing. Our unconscious arrogance leads us again and again to believe that we have understood everything. We need forgiveness, we who are blinded by our certainties. Above all, we are blind to the patience that God has for us.

The thief alone sees his error and becomes the first to be with Jesus in paradise

The only one present in the entire scene who admits to being in error is the crucified thief beside him, who discovers the way of prayer on the cross: "Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom". And he receives the most beautiful of answers: "Truly I say to you: today you will be with me in paradise". Here we find what paradise is: being together with him. This is the first man in history that we can be certain was saved, by explicit declaration of Jesus himself. A thief! He knew how to begin from sin to ask for mercy; he knew how to talk with Jesus. One could say that he finally robbed the right thing from the right person! How great is God's mercy!

Behind the veil in the temple, the high priest alone could say the unpronounceable name of God. As Jesus dies, the veil of the temple is torn, and the name of God is revealed – his name is “Father”

And then comes the last word, as soon as the veil of the temple is torn: "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit". Behind that veil, in the temple, the high priest could say the unpronounceable name of the God of Israel. With the tearing of the veil, that secret is revealed, and what was hidden became visible. It is revealed in the crucified one who continues to trust even in this most tragic moment, because the name of that God is "Father". This tortured and dying man - rather than sinking into the anguish of his absurd situation - surrenders and abandons himself to his Father. And his surrender will not be in vain. The Father will raise that flesh, revealing that the way out of anguish is not strength, is not intelligence, is not possessions, but consists in a relationship between Son and Father that is realized in abandonment in the worst of moments.

In the end what does the Lord Jesus do on the cross? Whilst we are stripping him of life, he is bestowing gifts. He forgives, he grants us Paradise, he gives his spirit to the Father.