PASSION (PALM) SUNDAY

I once attended a Mass in El Salvador. The worship space was a small aluminum shed with rows of wooden benches and a space for the priest, and wooden altar at the front. It was a wonderful experience. 

I do not speak Spanish, but a translator shared the homily with us. The presider was telling the people that they must remember that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a humble donkey. He reminded them that poverty does not separate us from God and that they are precious in God’s eyes. He told them that in their hardship, they were like Christ. 

This reference to riding a small colt is significant as are so many elements of the Passion story. The significance of a king who is humble and peaceful is referenced in the Hebrews scriptures. And Christ points to a new relationship with God’s people, a new kingship. Jesus divine is Jesus human in the most degraded and oppressed realities of the human condition. He is victimized, wrongly convicted, tortured, mocked, betrayed and forgotten. Here is his kingship. But we also know what is on the other side!

The Passion narrative displays so many aspects of our human condition. There is jealousy and competition between the disciples, betrayal of a companion, fear, violence, gossip, grief and sadness, deceit, friendship and compassion. If we go deep into this Passion account, we see the scope of the human experience into which God enters. Peter is humiliated and profoundly hurt at betraying the one he loved. Judas makes a mistake for which he will never forgive himself. Simon of Cyrene is horrified as he is pushed forward to help carry the cross. Pilate is frustrated with politics and having to rule over this religious population and culture to which he cannot relate. And Jesus, himself, is overwhelmed, exhausted and fearful of the fate that awaits him and prays desperately in the garden. Humanity is displayed in all its weakness and frailty in the moment of the Passion. The pain of Christ speaks to our hearts.

Our world is hurting today. We can take this moment to look closely at Christ on the donkey and know that we are precious in God’s eyes. How is God with us today in all of our failings and hardships? What if Jesus had not given this ultimate sacrifice? He did and hope lives.  

Jan Bentham is a retired Religion Coordinator with the Ottawa Catholic School Board. She is a musician, serving in music ministry at St. Ignatius Parish in Ottawa. She currently works at St. Paul’s University with the Catholic Women’s Leadership Program.