BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 20)
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (April 13, 2003)
BIBLE READINGS
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
In John Hampsch’s book, The Healing Power of the Eucharist, there is a true story about a Persian nobleman’s covenantal fidelity. One day, the nobleman was walking in his garden when a man climbed over the wall and approached him. He was fleeing a lynch mob bent on killing him. The nobleman, who had authority to grant amnesty, had pity on this man because he was going to be killed. The nobleman was eating a peach at the time, so he broke off part of the peach and shared it with the man. When the clamoring mob finally came into the garden to pursue the man, the nobleman said, “What did he do?” The people replied, “He just committed a murder and the murder victim was your son.” The man was brokenhearted to learn that his son had been killed and that the culprit was the man with whom he had just shared his peach. But he said, “I’ve shared food with you. I am covenanted with you. We’ve shared food together, so you are free to live. Go in peace.”
The biblical concept of covenant relationship is illustrated in this remarkable Near Eastern story. A meal is expressive of a bond of friendship. To share food with someone is to share the destiny of that person in covenantal fidelity. Against this backdrop, the treachery of Judas (cf. Mk 14:10-11; 17-21; 43-47) is abominable. The nearness and intimacy of Judas to the Divine Master he betrayed made his crime “horrific”. Above all, the details about “eating together” highlighted the enormity of the betrayer’s crime.
Mark’s account of the passion of Christ is filled with pathos. In the style of a “bare-bones” narrative, it depicts Jesus as the Suffering Servant so poignantly portrayed and cruelly mistreated in the prophecy of Isaiah (cf. Is 52:13-53:12). In the supreme moment of his self-giving to the Father’s saving will through the paschal event of his passion and death, Jesus was the object of cold-blooded betrayal of an intimate friend, violent abuse by his persecutors, and cruel abandonment by his disciples. According to Aelred Rosser, “the suffering Jesus in Mark is always dramatically alone, with no one to comfort him. And his struggle is seen as involving the entire universe – a battle between the forces of good and evil, between darkness and light.”
Mark’s portrayal of the passion and death of Jesus acquires greater intensity when contemplated against the horizon of the Messiah’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The contrast between the two messianic episodes is wrenching. Guerric of Igny, an early Church writer, comments: “If today’s procession and passion are considered together, in the one Jesus appears as sublime and glorious, in the other lowly and suffering … In the procession the people meet Jesus with palm branches, in the passion they slap him in the face and strike his head with a rod … In the one he is mounted on an ass and accorded every mark of honor; in the other he hangs on the wood of the cross, torn by whips, pierced with wounds, and abandoned by his own.”
Indeed, Jesus’ identification of himself as the Suffering Son of Man finds its climax at the foot of the cross. In the dark hour of Jesus’ death, the evangelist Mark wants us to recognize, in the words and deeds of Jesus, the ultimate act of self-giving and filial trust. According to Mark’s account: “At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which is translated, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ (cf. Mk 15:33-34). Like the Psalmist who first uttered the cry of anguish, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (cf. Ps 22:1), Jesus crystallized the sufferings and hopes of a virtuous man, stripped naked, with his garments cast lots upon. Moreover, Mark dramatically depicted the abysmal depth of Jesus’ passion in the following words: “Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last” (cf. Mk 15:38), which was followed by the rupture of the Temple veil from top to bottom. The horrendous death of Jesus evoked the climactic confession of the centurion: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (cf. Mk 15: 39). In the death of Jesus is the revelation of the mystery of the Suffering Servant as the Son of God, the Messiah, the Son of Man and the King of Israel. According to Virgil Howard, it is the mystery of the embodied Spirit of God ripping open heaven and challenging the power of evil in the world. It is the mystery of the divine Reign, present in the world as seed, secret, and promise. And this mystery is revealed in the figure of the powerless, abandoned, mocked, tortured and crucified one – Jesus of Nazareth.
The mystery of Christ’s passion and death is also the mystery of his exaltation. In the words of St. Paul, Christ “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that JESUS CHRIST IS LORD!” (cf. Phil 2:8-11). This is the Easter mystery of his death and glorification, which his disciples are called to live out and share. The passion of Christ that led to his glorification lives on in the passion of the Christian disciples in the world today.
A. Through his passion, death and resurrection, Jesus teaches us the way to an authentic discipleship. Are we willing to follow him all the way?
B. What makes us hesitant to embrace the very destiny of Jesus, the Suffering Servant of Yahweh?
C. How do we continue the redeeming passion of Christ in the world today?
III. PRAYING WITH THE WORD
(Prayer adapted from St. Ephrem’s Hymn to Christ)
Leader: I come to adore at your feet, Lord! I give you thanks, merciful God. O holy God, I invoke your goodness as I kneel before your presence. You suffered death on the cross for me, an unworthy sinner.
Assembly: Glory to you, friend of mankind! Glory to you, O merciful one! Glory to you, O patient one! Glory to you who forgive sins! Glory to you who came for our saving! Glory to you who became man in the womb of a virgin! Glory to you who were bound! Glory to you who were flogged! Glory to you who were mocked! Glory to you buried in the tomb and was raised to life! Glory to you who preached the Gospel to humankind and they believed in you! Glory to you who ascended into heaven! Glory to you who sit at the right hand of the Father! With him you will return in majesty, in the midst of angels, to judge those who have disregarded your passion.
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“Truly this was the Son of God!” (Mk 15:39)
V. TOWARDS LIFE TRANSFORMATION
A. ACTION PLAN: During Holy Week, make a personal meditative reading of the synoptic and John’s version of the Passion Narrative of our Lord Jesus Christ.
B. ACTION PLAN: Continue to pray for the victims of the war in Iraq. In your prayers and in active works of charity for the war victims, participate consciously in the redemptive passion of Christ.