Palm Sunday
(Sunday 9th April 2017)
‘This is how much I love you – that I gave my life for you’ – (Matthew 26:14-27:66)
At the heart of today’s feast, Palm Sunday, we are presented with a question. Who is Jesus for us? This is a fundamental question that is put to each one of us on Palm Sunday. Look at the expectations people had for the Messiah in Jesus’ time when they hailed Him as King of Israel as He rode in on a donkey into Jerusalem. For many of them Jesus did not meet their expectations and so we see many of the same people in the crowd that called for Him to be crucified. What expectations do we have about Jesus and who is He for us today? Is He the one whom we expect to make us happy all the time in this world or does He promise us much more, eternal beatitude with Him, a beatitude that begins in this life?
The answer for each of us to this fundamental question is found in the Gospel during Mass today, the Gospel account of Our Lord’s passion. Each Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and brings us on a journey, a journey where we come to know more and more who Jesus is. We are asked to follow our King to His throne on the cross during this week, when many others abandoned Him when He had to endure His passion. This Holy week is a time for us to come to know who Jesus really is and the great love that He has for each one of us.
St. Thomas Aquinas asks the question why God did not save us simply by His power rather than having to endure His passion and death. He says that He chose to save us by dying on the cross in order to reveal to us the great love that God has for each one of us. If the Son of God had not come in the flesh and suffered and died for us, it would be difficult for us to know the extent of God’s love for each of us. But Jesus has come so close to us in taking on our human nature and He suffered and died out of love for us. There is no doubting how much God loves us. If you were the only person on this earth that needed to be saved, Jesus would still have come to die for you, in order to save you and bring you into new life with Him. With God there is no past, present, or future, there is simply eternity, therefore, on the cross Jesus as God was able to think of you and me and He says to each of us personally: this is how much I love you, that I give my life for you.
This is the answer to the fundamental question: who is Jesus? He is our Saviour who loves us and gave His life for us by dying on the cross and rose from the dead in order that we may have new life with Him.
Fr. Eoin Casey O.P.