Reflection: Palm Sunday: Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11 and Mk 14:1-15, 47 and for the Procession Mk 11:1-10

Bangalore (India), 03/28/2021, Sr. Anula Irvin Suguna.- We are at the threshold of the Holy Week which begins on Palm Sunday or Passion Sunday when we recall and relive the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. 

Liturgy accompanies us with rich symbols of palms, donkey and procession of the Palm Sunday while ointment, Passover meal, crown of thorns, the cross, the words of Jesus on the cross and many others with profound significance. We will focus our attention on Palm Sunday.

The Old Testament refers to it, in Zechariah 9:9 - “Exult greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your king is coming to you, a just savior is he, Humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The Palms, “Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields” (Mk 11:8-9).  At Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem there was a spontaneous outflow of people to welcome Him as Lord and shouted ‘Hosanna’, a word in Hebrew meaning “save”. The Lord enters Jerusalem to fulfill his saving act on this earth, to save every person with His love in constant fidelity to God and to humanity. Word ‘Hosanna’ is powerful in its message itself and each time we use this word let us go deeper into the mystery of our redemption.

This triumphant entry into Jerusalem is accompanied by an invitation to enter into the great contemplative silence of the Passion, where Jesus truly reigns. We can gaze on Jesus today and proclaim “Truly you are the Son of God” (Mk 15:39), the king of Israel who has brought redemption for all of us and the whole world.

The Donkey: Jesus enters the town riding on a young male donkey or a colt, (Mk 11:7), which is a meaningful gesture as in the ancient times, military officers or kings who waged war would ride on a horse for its efficiency and speed. But after the victory, they would ride on a donkey inside their city or kingdom to indicate that a time of peace has been established. In 1kings 1:38-40, we read king Solomon used the royal donkey of his father, David for the ceremonial procession on the day of his coronation. On Palm Sunday, Jesus, our King of peace rides on a donkey establishing a new kingdom of love and peace on earth, not one of prosperity and control achieved through war and violence, but by walking a road of humility through the power of His cross and death.

This little donkey according to the Gospel narrative, waits to be untied (Mk 11:2), so that Jesus could ride in triumph to Jerusalem. The act of untying brought the donkey to Jesus and  He carries Jesus, the ark of the covenant (1 Sam 6:7-8), the Son of God Himself.Our hearts needs to be untied of all that block us with our burdens, workload, anxieties, insecurities, selfish desires, control …etc. so that we can carry Jesus, be available to God, trust in His ways, loose ourselves, so to become His abode and be transformed to be an indwelling presence of God in our communities and mission. It is that simple, often we complicate it. All we need to do is just open and trust in God and let Him use us the way He wants as He did with this little donkey. 

Procession: There are two processions during the Holy Week:

The first was a royal and a glorious procession with shouts of joy, warm reception and people accompanied Jesus who descended from the Mount of Olives (MK 11:1) towards Jerusalem, for a distance of at least two miles.

In the second procession, as foreshadowed by Isaiah 50: 4-7, is a journey of suffering towards Mount Calvary. Jesus makes a conscious choice to go through suffering and humiliation. We are challenged to reflect on the different persons present in the passion narrative: like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed, Pilate who acted against his conscience, chief priests and leaders who wanted to crucify Jesus, soldiers who mocked at Jesus, Herod who ridiculed Jesus, disciples who deserted…and so on.

Let us gaze lovingly at the woman who anointed Jesus head, Simon of Cyrene who helped Jesus to carry the cross, Mother Mary, the women who stood beneath the cross and above all at Jesus Himself, who suffered excruciating pain in every part of his body for our sake.

Sometimes I realize that despite having spent so much time with you, I am always ready to betray you like Judas. I realize that despite my image, despite what I show to others, I often go through conflicts in my heart of envy and egoism, ready to deny you like Peter. It costs me a lot to love all my brothers and sisters with a sincere heart, to throw away the mental barriers of my attachments of worldly vanity, to comfort, fame, acceptance, control and indifference to the needs of others.

Let us enter into the silence of the passion:

• As the little donkey, how can I be open and be available to be untied of all my fetters, carry Jesus and be a presence of the living God in this fragmented world? 

• My life is a via crucis (way of the cross), a journey along which I am called to take up the cross as the criterion for all my choices. On this road, I may stand at different land marks like the ones on the road to Calvary, with different attitudes and reasons in the drama of life that unfolds every day of my life. Where do I find myself today?