Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

My homily for Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord—March 29, 2015

Today is celebrate Palm Sunday, which Pope Benedict once called “The great doorway leading into Holy Week, the week when the Lord Jesus makes his way towards the culmination of his earthly existence” (Homily at 27th World Youth Day, April 1, 2012).

This is the most solemn week of the Christian year, in which we commemorate Our Lord’s journey to Jerusalem, which fulfills the Scriptures and opens the way to eternal life for each of us. 

Today, as we have witnessed, the liturgy opens with the blessing of palms, and we each received a palm branch in memory of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

With the palm in our hand, we remember that the crowd that cheered Jesus also condemned him. We remember that the voices praising him also called for his death, called to crucify Him. And remember that those who loved him and promised loyalty also abandoned him, denied him, and betrayed him.

And if we want to know who did all that, just look at the palm branches in our hands.

We are guilty.  While we may not want to admit it, The Passion of Jesus Christ goes on today. Our betrayal of him continues, in the ways we live and the way we treat others in our daily lives.

            To reflect on this Passion, let us ask ourselves:

- How often do we praise God on Sunday…and curse Him on Monday? 

- How often do we shrug Him off when things become too difficult or the rules too hard or the demands of the Christian life too difficult to carry out?

- How often do we treat love as just a sentiment for greeting cards, and not a command for living?

- How often do we see suffering in the faces of those in need, and we simply turn away?

Jesus Christ continues to bleed and weep and cry out, “Why have you abandoned me?” And today, He also points out to us. Whatever you do to the least of these people, he said, you do it to me.

            What do we do?  We encounter him on the subway, step over him on the sidewalk, and go out of our way to avoid him when we feel like he might make demands on our time.

At the office, we make jokes at his expense, or spread gossip about him at our lunch break table. We suck up to people who are more popular, or attractive, or influential at work.

            Whether we realize it or not, we see Jesus every day, read about him in the papers; hear about him in the news. He is everywhere there is someone who is small, or neglected, or disrespected, or discarded. He is with the unwanted and unloved, the bullied and abused.

            “Why have you abandoned me?”  Do we hear him?

- We find ways to justify our choices. But it can’t be denied.

- Whenever we choose death over life, sin over the Gospel, popularity over integrity, indifference or disdain over love;

            In short, have we ever turned away from Jesus?  

Yes, we have.

            - We who claim to believe in him, yet! We betrayed him.  We have said, “Give us Barabbas.” And we have also said, in effect, “Crucify him.” And we have done it with palms in our hands and the echoes of “Hosanna” in the air. 

            We need this Sunday to remember that. And we need these palms as a reminder and a challenge.

These palm branches remind us that we are called to be heralds of Christ, to celebrate him the way they did that day in Jerusalem. And these palms challenge us to keep crying “Hosanna,” to keep proclaiming the Good News; even when the world tempts us to do otherwise, even when it seems like it would be easier to go with the crowd and simply choose Barabbas. 

            These palms challenge us to not turn our back and walk away. They challenge us to not step over Christ, or ignore him. And they challenge us not only to remember what we have done to him, but what he has done for us.

            That is what this week is about. Before we look ahead to next Sunday, and the big plans and the big meal, look back. And look within. And look to these palms. Look at what we are called to do…and who we are called to be.