Palm Sunday was always a mystery to me. We received palm branches at church because people once threw palms on the ground for Jesus to ride or walk on. People celebrated joyously his arrival, but what did this have to do with me?
What eventually came to mind was that the celebration was the first century way of being joyous and excited and fulfilled all at once. The experience would be like God coming to my door, knocking, and revealing to me in some way that he was God. He’d greet me saying he was really happy to have this visit and that he was here to assure me that I’d be okay—no matter what would happen in my life—because He’d be there to help.
Having such an experience of God coming to me—is what the Palm Sunday celebration is all about. Jesus coming to Jerusalem was a celebration of “Emmanuel”—God with us. Now THAT’S something to celebrate, no?
We take home palm branches and hang them somewhere in the house or our room—to remind us of that great visit. A great visit when God knocked at my door, gave me a hug, and assured me of His help forever.
As a young kid, I’d go to Palm Sunday mass and groan that we’d have to listen to the long Passion narrative. I didn’t realize at the time that this story of Holy Week’s origin—NEEDED to be told repeatedly throughout our lives—lest we forget its many messages. With so few young people reading scripture or attending church services, they are becoming biblically illiterate. The many characters that appear in the Passion story become unknown to those who don’t hear the story. But to those who DO hear the story, and reflect upon it, they benefit. How? Because each character reveals something about each of us.
As with scripture as a whole, each person in the story is like a mirror being held up for us to see some aspect of ourselves—the way we should be, or the way we are. It’s like each person in the Passion story is a gene that we have inherited—and that gene is sometimes expressed in our behavior. We’d do well during Holy Week to prayerfully reflect on our role within the Passion story. If one person in the narrative jumps out at you, it might be that God is suggesting you ponder that person’s identity—for the good that your reflection might bring to you.
Barabbas, for instance, was the thug/murderer released from prison because the enemies of Jesus influenced the crowd to vote against their own well-being. We have a “crowd-gene” that makes us cast our vote for people who enact laws that don’t benefit us at all. However, because we didn’t bother to learn what the politician really stood for—we cast our vote based on flimsy information.
And Barabbas himself—he benefits at the expense of Jesus—just as others benefit from the suffering of others. The asbestos, tobacco, and fossil fuel industries are examples of corporations that long knew their products killed people—but these corporations paid lobbyists to convince lawmakers that there was no evidence that their products brought death to millions globally. Vast wealth was accumulated by executives within these corporations. Lies were at the root of their success and everyone else’s detriment.
What about our Simon of Cyrene-gene? The man who helped Jesus carry his cross. Do you, or have you ever, helped someone carry their cross? Or do you look the other way? The parish has many Simon of Cyrene genes within its population.
Sometimes we betray the values we normally cultivate. We behave in a way that does not reflect well on your best traits. In this way, you are Judas, and you have the Judas gene. Or you are insightful when seeing the shortcomings of people, and so you find it easy to criticize them—just like the Scribes and Pharisees could find reasons to condemn Jesus. They sent him to Calvary, the hill of crucifixion to get nails pounded into his wrists by Roman soldiers. Do you have Roman soldier genes? Do you in some way nail Jesus to the cross when you harbor prejudices against people? Did you see him thirsty and give him no drink, or see him naked and not clothe him? Remember—if you did something good or bad to the least among us, you did it to Him.
The apostle John and the faithful Magdalene, Mary, and the woman who washed the feet of Jesus—you have those genes within you, too. And having a faith practice such as attending mass, gives us prayerful opportunities to foster the effect of the strengths we possess.
As we continue with Holy Week observances, our attention is focused on how Jesus is still being crucified today, how we can learn to face crosses, and how to find life now and in eternity.
Holy Week reveals our roots in the Hebrew scriptures. These ancestors of our faith passed on to us what they profess is their task—Tikkun Olam—repair of the world. In reading both their “first testament” and our “new testament,” we additionally learn that God chooses unlikely people to accomplish great things. WE are those unlikely people called by our baptism to repair the world.