Palm Sunday (C); April 13, 2025

Lk 19:28-40 (procession). Is 50: 4-7.  Ps 22:8-917-20,23-24.  Phil 2:6-11.  Lk 22:14-23 or 23:1-49

Deacon Jim McFadden

       In the Sermon of the Mount, which contains the crux of his proclamation of the Kingdom of God, Jesus instructed us on the Mystery of Forgiveness, which is an absolute imperative if we are going to be in right relationship with God and our brothers and sisters.  We heard: “I say to you who are listening: love your enemies.  Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Lk 6:27-28).

            As Jesus is being crucified, he is going to put into action his teachings.  When he felt the nails piercing his wrists and feet, when he was experiencing excruciating pain, at that moment in the most searing physical pain of his Passion, the Christ asked forgiveness for those who were piercing him.  At times like this, most of us would scream out to our tormentors and give vent to our anger and suffering.  But Jesus said: “Father forgive them.”

            We’ve gathered together on Palm Sunday because we profess our belief that Jesus is Lord and Messiah.  If we want to know  whether we truly believe in Jesus, that we truly belong to him, let us look at how we behave towards those who have hurt us.  Yes, we are going to experience some very deep emotions, when we are hurt by others.  But Jesus wants us to respond not according to what we feel, but in the way that he acts toward us.  He is challenging us to break out of our conventional mindset that says, “I will love you, if you love me. …I will be your friend, if you are my friend; if you do good things for me. …I will help you if you help me. “  In other words, the way of the world is transactional, self-referential in which I am the center of the world, life revolves around me, and I am in control.  Rather Jesus wants us to show mercy and compassion towards everyone because God sees everyone as a son or a daughter.  He does not separate us from the good and the bad, friends and enemies who are treated accordingly.  We do this all the time and since we are members of his mystical Body, the Church, we continue to make God suffer.  For him all of us are his beloved children and he wants us to see each other in the same way; that’s why he desires us to embrace and forgive.

            Jesus, not only asked his Father to forgive his tormentors, but he also mentioned the reasons why: for they know not what they do.  How could that be? Jesus’ crucifixion was a premeditated murder: his arrest and trials were organized; they played upon Pontius Pilate’s fears of  insurrection; now, they were standing at the foot of the cross to witness his death.  Yet Jesus seems to justify those violent men by saying that they don’t know what they are doing.  That’s how Jesus acts on our behalf: he is our advocate despite our ignorance, stupidity, and hypocrisy.  Jesus never sets himself against us, but only against our vincible ignorance.  His words make us think:  for they know not what they do?  What is the ignorance of my heart; how do I see others in a distorted egoic way?

            When we try to get even, when we resort or condone violence, we’re showing that we know nothing about God, which the prophet Isaiah acknowledged eight centuries before Christ: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (Is 55:8).  When we lose sight of why we are in this world, we lean towards participating  in the senseless acts of cruelty towards others whether it be psychological or physical.  We see this in the folly of war which we are witnessing in Ukraine or Gaza.  Christ is once more being nailed to the Cross as mothers mourn the unjust death of their husbands, sons, and daughters.  He is crucified in refugees who are fleeing unjust conditions in their homeland and are demonized by politicians; he is being crucified in the elderly who are left alone die; in young people who are deprived of a future who escape into a virtual world.  Christ continues to be crucified.

            Brothers and sisters, in the course of our most Holy Week, let us cling to the certainty that God can forgive every sin.  He forgives everyone.  He alone can bridge whatever separates brothers and sisters from each other.  As the Psalmist reminds us, he can turn all mourning into dancing (cf. Ps 30:12). With the hope of the Resurrection,  we know that with and in Jesus there is always a place for everyone—no one is excluded.  That’s why with Christ things are never over; hope always obtains.  Let us always have courage!  Let us journey towards Easter with forgiveness in our hearts.  Gazing at our violent and tormented world, let us never tire of repeating with Jesus, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Amen.