Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (B)

Mark 11:1-10 (procession)

Is 50:4-7   Ps 22   Phil 2:6-11   Mk 14:1-15:47

Deacon Jim McFadden; (New) Folsom Prison, SJB

Palm Sunday is the great doorway leading into Holy Week—the week in which the Lord Jesus makes his way to the culmination of his earthly existence. He goes to Jerusalem, where He will fulfill the promises of the Messianic hope, but will do in unexpected ways. Yes, He will be the heir to the Davidic throne, but His throne will be the wood of the Cross, in which He will draw all humanity unto Himself for every age and offer to all the precious gift of redemption. That’s why we’re gathered today as we prepare to follow Jesus to Calvary on Good Friday and to be there at the Empty Tomb on Easter Sunday.

We heard from the processional Gospel that Jesus set out towards Jerusalem in the company of the Twelve Apostles and that little by little a growing crowd of pilgrims followed had joined them. Mark tells us that as they were leaving Jericho, there was a “great multitude” following Jesus (cf. Mk 10:46). We’re invited to be part of that multitude.

On the final stage of the journey, there is a particular event that stands out, one that is going to have a bearing how we experience Holy Week. Along the way, as they were leaving Jericho, a blind man, by the name of Bartimaeus, was on the side of the road begging. As soon as he heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing, he began to cry out: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47). After people tried to silence him, Jesus came over and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”? The man’s reply: “Master, let me receive my sight” (v. 51). Jesus said,“Go your way, your faith has made you well” (v. 52).

This is the key to entering Holy Week: as Jesus is moving towards Jerusalem, do we see Him as He truly is: the Messiah, the Anointed one, the new David who will be the sole and universal Savior of the world? As Jesus is about to enter the Holy City, do we truly see Him as God among us (Immanuel) who will finally restore the Davidic kingdom with his “new and everlasting covenant?”

            If we do, then we are all in. We are either gathered into Jesus or we’re scattered among divided loyalties. If we’re “for Jesus”, then we embrace His transformative way of radical self-giving in which we surrender ourselves completely to God. Concretely, we do so by giving our lives away to others who are our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That being the case, we then join the other pilgrims who cut branches from the trees. Walking with them, we too shout phrases from Psalm 118, an ancient pilgrim blessings, which, in this case, take on the character of a messianic proclamation: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes on the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming! Hosanna in the highest!” (11:9-10).

People of God, can you feel the power, the energy in this cry of blessing, which is a hymn of exultation. After centuries of anticipation going all the way back to our father Abraham, there is on this first Palm Sunday the conviction that THIS IS IT! In Jesus, God has visited His people and the longed-for Messiah has finally come! And everyone there is basically saying that Jesus is the One. That there is this growing expectation that the work that Jesus is going to accomplish once He enters the city is going to change everything. Nothing will every be the same.

What’s the basis of this cry of jubilation. Like Bartimaeus, the people had a sense of Who Jesus is. Throughout Scripture, there were strong suggestions that the Messiah would fulfill the promise of God’s blessing contained in Genesis– that he would fulfill God’s original promise to Abraham, father of all believers: “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you…and all the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you” (Gen 12:2-3).  This is the promise that Israel kept alive during the Babylonian Exile. In the light of Jesus of Nazareth, humanity will eventually come to know that God is 3-in-1 and that in Christ we are all brothers and sisters to one another. And, since the Word became Flesh in Jesus, the cloak of divine blessing permeates, sustains, and sanctifies all things because Jesus, the Messiah, is all in all. That’s why were exultant!