Rev. Fr. (Dr.) Osmond Anike

First Reading: Isaiah 50:4-7 – I did not cover my face against insult: I know I shall not be shamed.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 21(22): 8-9, 17-20, 23-24 – My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Second Reading: Philippians 2:6-11 – Christ humbled himself but God raised him high.
Gospel (Passion): Matthew 26:14-27:66.

Palm Sunday (or Passion Sunday as it is sometimes unofficially referred to) begins the Christian Holy Week. The Holy Week is the most important week in the lives of Christians, just as the first Holy Week was the most important in the life of Jesus Christ. It was a week in which his entire mission came to its climax. Although it was the toughest week in his life, in fact, it was precisely for the events of the Holy Week that Jesus came. To properly understand the drama of this week, we have to go back to Jerusalem (the capital of Palestine) and its environs, and understand the underlying political conditions of that period. It was probably in the year 30 A.D., during the Passover week, from the 9th to the 16th of the Jewish month of Nisan (corresponds to our present day March-April). During that period, the Jewish nation was still subject to Rome; and the Roman governor was Pontius Pilate. But the Jews were ruled by their High Priest, Caiaphas, and the Council of 70 elders known as the Sanhedrin. Galilee, which was in the north of Palestine, had Herod as King

There were so many intrigues between Jesus of Nazareth and the Jewish leaders leading up to the unfolding drama of the Holy Week. But perhaps what could be termed as the “last straw that broke the camel’s back” was the recent raising of Lazarus from the dead. Why was this event so upsetting to the authorities? Jesus was steadily growing in popularity, and, although he carefully guarded his “messianic secret”, the people were certain that something very special was happening in and around this man. His numerous miracles were making him more popular. But the authorities were equally using various aggressive means and arguments to counter him and portray him as a law-breaker. However, the raising of Lazarus from the dead was a game-changer (I analyzed to you last week, how, it was a very big deal in the worldview of the Hebrew people, for someone to be raised from the dead after three days). The Jewish authorities could no longer dismiss Jesus’ miracles with a wave of hand. Some of them were present when Lazarus died and was buried for four days before Jesus came to bring him back to life. They saw in Jesus, a serious threat to their own authority over the people. A lot of people, who witnessed the event of Lazarus, came to believe in Jesus; and there was nothing the authorities could do to stop them. Lazarus was a living testimony to the power of Jesus. They therefore not only plotted to kill Lazarus and remove him permanently from the public eye, but also to kill Jesus as a seditionist, and so, end this threat to their power once and for all. However, as a subject nation to Rome, they could not put anyone to death; only the Roman governor had such power to condemn a criminal to death. As the Passover week with the great influx of pilgrims to Jerusalem began, there was palpable tension as they were not so sure whether Jesus was coming to Jerusalem or not. It was under such scenario that the Holy Week began.

Jesus was very much aware of the plot to eliminate him. Ordinarily, he would have tried to avoid any public appearance, knowing that such would attract attention from the authorities. But, not only did he not hide, he moved about fearlessly. In fact, it was on this occasion of the Passover week that, for the first time, he encouraged a public celebration of his messiahship by making a triumphant entry into the Holy City, riding on a donkey through the most direct route from Bethany to Jerusalem. His followers made the most of that celebration by spreading their clothes on the roads as well as cutting down palm branches and spreading them along the routes that he was to follow. They shouted on top of their voices, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus has finally permitted the disclosure of his “messianic secret” – a secret he had carefully guarded since the beginning of his public ministry. From now on, he must publicly fulfil his mission as the messiah by going through suffering and death with docility; and finally, the ultimate event – the resurrection.

Isaiah captured this docility in the first reading when he said: “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle”. St. Paul described this docility in the second reading as “emptying himself to assume the condition of a slave”. Matthew’s account of the Passion (as in other Gospels’ accounts) dramatically enacted this docility of Jesus when, against the expectations of his inner disciples, he literally offered no resistance to those who came to capture him. Was this docility a sign of weakness? One of his followers (John’s Gospel said he was Peter) decided to take matters into his own hands by trying to use violent means to end this apparently violent intrusion. He cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant. But Jesus would have nothing to do with such violence. He reminded this disciple that “all who draw the sword will die by the sword”. Surrendering himself, he was led to the slaughter to suffer and die like a criminal; although he was innocent.

Now, what can we make out of the liturgy of the Palm Sunday? It is consoling to note that Jesus suffered in same three ways that we suffer namely, mentally, physically and spiritually. His agony in the garden of Gethsemane where he literally sweated blood just thinking of what awaited him, as well as the mental anguish he endured when even his closest friends deserted him, are some of his mental sufferings that can help us relate to him when we encounter such mental sufferings in our lives. Who else to turn to, except the one who had gone through it and who understands what it feels like? Again, his physical suffering came in forms of brutal beating, crowning with thorns, and nailing on the cross. Physical pain is part and parcel of our human nature. When the pain become unbearable for us, we have someone to turn to who endured them – Jesus himself. Finally, if Jesus could suffer spiritually by feeling deserted even by God (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me”), we can learn to turn to him for comfort when we feel spiritually abandoned by God because, he understands how it feels.

Perhaps, the current coronavirus pandemic provides an opportunity for us to look back and appreciate how Jesus suffered for us. With the quarantine in place in almost every part of the world, coupled with its devastating economic downturn, a lot of people are, understandably, already on the brink of mental and nervous breakdown. Instead of succumbing to such mental and nervous breakdown, I think that as Christians, we should turn to Jesus who, though suffered similar physical, mental and spiritual pains, did not succumb to mental and emotional breakdown. And, shouldn’t this be a period for us to also step back and rethink the meaning of our lives here on earth by going beyond the devastations caused by this virus and trying to discover what lessons the world can learn from it? All of a sudden, the entire world is brought to its knees by one tiny, invisible, but powerful common enemy which knows no distinction between the West and the East, between the First World and the Third World, between the developed and the developing world, between the Whites and the Blacks, between the head of a government and the so-called “illegal” migrant, between saints and sinners; an enemy that doesn’t need a visa to entire your territory even when you close your borders and build the tallest and the most “beautiful” wall around your country; and enemy that you cannot fight alone but must need the help of others to fight collectively. The coronavirus has done in three months what centuries of so-called human technology and human progress could not do, namely, unite humankind. Nations are now beginning to see each other, albeit momentarily, as partners fighting a common enemy. Hardly do you hear of any wars this period as nations are withdrawing their soldiers from battlefields and recalling them home in order to help fight this formidable invisible enemy. Even the dreaded terrorist group, ISIS, has issued a travel guidance (“restriction?”) advising its members to avoid traveling to Europe for any terrorist acts, for fear of the coronavirus. People are now conscious that, in order to survive as specie, humanity must unite against this deadly virus.

Before the advent of this common enemy however, there was (and still is) a common enemy which Jesus underwent humiliating suffering and death in order to fight namely, sin. But there is still so much injustice and unrighteousness in the world; there is so much greed. Must we have waited for the arrival of this coronavirus in order to end wars and terrorism around the world? Some nations have now earmarked large sums of money to give directly to their citizens as palliatives to cushion the economic effects of this corona crisis. Must the world have waited for the “almighty” and “omnipresent” coronavirus before thinking of redistribution of the common wealth of nations? Family members who have been avoiding each other are now forced to stay together and pray; parents who have never had time for their children are now forced to have that time in abundance; children who preferred staying outside their home all day in disregard to their parents’ instructions no longer need their parents’ monitoring to be home. In other words, coronavirus quarantine has inadvertently unified families. Must we have waited for the epidemic before realizing that a family that prays together stays together? Experts say that air quality has improved by as much as 20%; our rivers and seas are cleaner; noise pollution has dramatically declined. These are some of the unintended benefits from the coronavirus quarantine. In a word, we must move beyond the pains of coronavirus quarantine and sustain the lessons learnt from its unfortunate devastation.

As we enter into the Holy Week to celebrate the Lord’s passion and death that ultimately led to his glory, let us not lose hope during this seemingly hopeless and difficult time, but rather try to figure out how, in the post-coronavirus world, we can use the lessons learnt to build up a more peaceful world devoid of wars, terrorism, hunger in the midst of plenty, injustices, degradations of people we view as inferior humans, and trampling upon the less-privileged of the society.