All The Way
"Lift up your heads, O gates, our king is coming!"
Impulse I
Today, we are starting Holy Week. We will follow Jesus on his way, from the entry into Jerusalem to his suffering and death upon the cross all the way to his resurrection. Let us celebrate these days as if we ourselves were accompanying Jesus on his way. Then we will be able to understand how what we celebrate is closely connected with our lives: it is all about our suffering, our failure, our pain – but also our resurrection to the fullness of life in Christ.
Today, the disciples are preparing a triumphant entry into the Holy City for Jesus. Their shouts of "Hosanna" are contagious, sweeping away the bystanders along the road. A few days afterwards, however, they will slip away and be silent. Then others will cry out: "Crucify him!" This happens often in this world. Being a follower of Christ can sweep you away and really grab you. But there are also circumstances which can confuse us and tempt us to slip away and disappear.
All of this is already hinted at in today's liturgy: "Hosanna" and "Crucify him!". We cannot celebrate Holy Week selectively by choosing only the few parts we like. Let us follow Christ all the way. It is not a pleasant walk. Let's walk with him – step by step – in these days and in our lives.
A poem by Anton Rotzetter OFMcap
Now leafy branches in our hands
And then the sponge full of vinegar
Now hymns on our lips
And then scorn and disdain
Now enthusiastic approval in our hearts
And then hatred and rejection
GOD
How fickle we are!
Just like a weather vane!
Give us
A firm foothold
Courage and strength
Loyalty and a willingness to sacrifice
Take away our fear of the others
Let us walk with Jesus Christ
And feel committed to the divine life
Until we die.
Let's hide the leafy branches
When the tempters are coming.
Let us not fall silent
When the persecutors are coming.
Let us not deny our approval
When the killers are coming.
Impulse II on Lk 19:28-40 and Phil 2:6-11 and Lk 22:14 – 23.56
What tomfoolery! Why did HE have to do that to himself? Why did he have to come down from a safe distance, from on high, to the back of a docile donkey and into the hands of such fickle human beings – like you and me? Why did HE have to give up HIS sacrosanct status, HIS divine invulnerability in order to allow himself to be nailed to the cross for our sakes?
The Letter to the Philippians offers a hymnic consolation. At the end of time, everything will become obvious. Paul is listening to the good creed of the end of time. Every tongue will proclaim the heavenly chorus: "Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of GOD the Father" (Phil 2:6-11).
But now, in Holy Week, human beings are speaking with forked tongues, unable to make up their minds. On Palm Sunday, it is the crowds that call the shots, they are in action, speeding up the turn of events, brutally pressing on with the Passion of Christ. The crowds in Jerusalem are bowing their knees at the name of Jesus and every tongue is confessing wholeheartedly: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" And they really mean it, shouting: "Hosanna: Help us! Do something!" - Yet, only a short time later, they are equally serious and sure when screaming their heads off: "Crucify him!"
In celebrating Palm Sunday, we are passing through the whole volume range of the human voice: from the exuberance of an impulse-driven crowd polyphonically praising God – expecting a great deal and yet the wrong things from their Messiah – to the screaming mob shouting in a frenzy of uncontrolled rage: "Crucify him!"
Paul's hymn is harmonious - all will be well. The mob's screaming and shouting in the streets of Jerusalem is dissonant and ambivalent. In the end, it will not decide in favour of Jesus, but of Barrabas, a rebel and a killer. Since the mob is furious and frustrated. Since this Messiah on the donkey is an ass, not a man of action, but of passion/suffering.
This Jesus is not someone to brag about. He is nothing to write home about. And this is why the street mob changes sides. They cannot understand Jesus' moving from the side of God on high to impotent silence.
Only through faith are we able to sense that Jesus' steep descent to the back of a donkey and the cross is not the end, that HE will be allowed to sit at the right hand of GOD, as the Father's right hand. But this is a different story, an Easter story. It is not written by us, and we will not have to take responsibility for it. We can only approach this story going all the way through Holy Week, celebrating, listening sensitively and also reflecting on where WE stand!
A reflection written by Jeremias Kiesl O.S.A., Priest, Erfurt, Germany
Follow the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), Province of England and Scotland
Thank you! 59 people prayed
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone. Col 4:6