Palm Sunday, Year A
Why do we read this passion narrative the Sunday before Good Friday? So that we extend our immersion in this story. We retreat before Easter to focus our attention on the Gospel. We join Jesus in this moment, interacting with him along the way of the cross. We are not just looking in, but experiencing it ourselves. We are part of the crowd, we are the characters in the story, and we are the wounded body of Christ. Here in this moment, the story of Jesus and our reality touch. We are present to the terrifying realisation that we are in this very story, this play between God and the tragedy of our fallen human condition. We witness what Christ does to save us, to bring us back home. How far does Jesus go? He goes all the way. All the way to the crucifixion and the depths of hell. He confronts the sum of all our fears: false accusation, cruelty, betrayal, ridicule, suffering, agony, pain, and death.
Every time I go through the passion there is someone in the story who is me, accompanying Jesus along the way within this condensation of tragic human experience. Who am I? Am I Mary? Am I Pilate? Am I Judas? All of who I am, the reality of my being meets with Jesus in the reality of the passion. What part of me dies on the cross with Jesus? What part of me will resurrect with Him at Easter?
Fr William Loh, O.P. - Chaplain for Monash University.
