Passion Sunday is so-called because it is the Sunday where we read the Passion of the Lord within the Mass. There will be another time when we read the Passion of the Lord and it is on Good Friday, during a communion service. That is the only day in the year where the Catholic Church does not celebrate the Mass. Passion Sunday also announces the beginning of Holy Week which serves as a one-week retreat for the whole Church which now meditates on the Cross of the Lord prior to the baptismal renewal of Easter. Passion Sunday however is also known as Palm Sunday because on that day is re-enacted the Messianic entrance of the Lord into Jerusalem. But here, the account of the entrance of the Lord is read before the Mass, not during the Mass.
This year, we are going to read the Passion of Jesus according to Mark. Read the article you find here and use the following as your guide as you do your own reading of the Passion according to Mark:
1. In the garden, those who during the Last Supper protested their loyalty to the Lord, run away as Jesus is arrested. The boy running away from the scene naked is a symbol of failed discipleship. That failed discipleship is further illustrated in the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, the absence of the disciples at the cross and during Jesus' burial. It would seem then that Jesus' words about discipleship: "If anyone would be my disciple, let him deny himself, carry his cross and follow me" enters into crisis. After the Resurrection, the Lord himself will reconstitute his disciples and confirm them in His Way.
Reflect. The following of Jesus is itself a gift of the Resurrection. "This is not from you" Paul would say, "so that no one could boast" (Eph. 2:9). To be a disciple is not to be righteous but to be faithful in the righteousness received from the cross of Christ. What differentiates a disciple from one that is not is precisely the knowledge that one has received all from the Lord and the gratitude with which one now lives the new life received from Him. There is no question of personal worthiness here, but a life lived in gratitude to the one who makes one worthy. How do you look at your life with the Lord until this point? Do you see it as a conquest? Or has it been a constant surrender to Him who understands because he has experienced our own humanity?
2. In the trial of Jesus, first before the Sanhedrin and then before Pilate, we find evil triumphing inspite of Pilate's good intentions. "Evil wins where good men don't do anything" may as well been a saying based on the trial of Jesus. But the trial is not really about Jesus; it was for the men who thought they had him in their power. "This is the judgment", John the evangelist would write later on, "that people loved the darkness more than the light." It was before Jesus that the hearts of the men who condemned him were laid bare.
Reflect. During the trial, the crowd was made to choose between Jesus and Barabbas. They chose Barabbas who was a murderer and a thief. We are constantly given the choice between life and death, Jesus and something or someone else. If you review your life now, which choice have you been making?
3. Jesus cry on the cross, "My God, my God why have you abandoned me?" is the first line of Psalm 22, the evening prayer of the Jews. The quotation itself is a signal for the reader to remember the whole psalm and apply its meaning to the event being read. It is not the cry of desperation, but it is a lament that becomes a cry of victory. Thus, on the lips of Jesus, the psalm preannounces what will happen next: his vindication on Easter Sunday. However, there is also another way of understanding the passage without falling into the temptation of taking it as a proof that Jesus is not God (Iglesya ni Cristo) or that the God who has been wearing Jesus as a kind of clothing, left him at that point (Gnosticism). And it is this: That at that point, Jesus, God Incarnate, experienced the loneliest way to die: death away from God. The cry of desolation is an expression of that experience.
Reflect. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews underlines the solidarity of Jesus with us. He writes:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb 4:15-16 (ESV)
The fact that Jesus has identified himself with humanity to such a degree that he experienced all of humanity's "temptations" but without him sinning, is a motive for us to be confident in asking him for help in our time of difficulty. In other words, the thought of Jesus identifying himself with us on the cross of human suffering should be for us a motive for throwing ourselves at his feet.
How do you pray? Why do you pray? What do you pray for?
