This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
We may wonder why the events of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and His Passion and death are rolled into one liturgy on this Palm Sunday.
Good Friday services carry no obligation; the Church assumes that many Christians will not manage to participate in them. So, to make sure that all have the opportunity to participate in a liturgy whose readings are focused on Jesus’ Passion and death, she designates Palm Sunday also as Passion Sunday.
Of course, there were days between the historical events of Jesus’ triumphant arrival and His Passion. But the coincidence of both liturgies of the word on this day exerts a striking effect. At one moment, Jesus is acclaimed as a royal and named “He who comes in the name of the Lord”; at the next, He is hanging bloody on the Cross.
While the contrast between the two may seem striking, there is an evil underlying continuum. In a sense, Good Friday happened because of Palm Sunday. The acclaim for Jesus as He entered Jerusalem incensed the Pharisees and their cronies to the breaking point. This man had to go; He had to die. It was He or they, as Caiaphas said in today’s gospel in so many words; better for one man to die, than for their whole structure of existence to be destroyed through the popularity of His liberating message.
But then there’s that curious explanation of Caiaphas’ words: He said this not of his own accord, but as high priest for that year. There was a deeper reality to his words, a divine reality: Jesus would die for us all, that we all might not be destroyed by our own sin.
And so it was, in fact, that a completely different, good, loving divine drama was playing out under the same contrasting events of Palm Sunday and Good Friday. Palm Sunday wasn’t a fake exuberance, leading up to a real rejection on Good Friday. The acclaim for Jesus upon His entry was real and was desired by God. Just as Caiaphas would proclaim something deeper than he knew as high priest, so the people acclaiming Jesus on the road into Jerusalem played out a divine plan much deeper than they knew, whereby the Father had decreed the glorification of His Savior Son.
It is so easy for us, at a distance of 2000 years, to abstract these deeper meanings clearly from the pages of the Gospel. Then, why is it so challenging for us to see the same profound and loving subtext in our own lives, with their triumphs and their crosses?
Why? Because we do not believe that the Father loves us as He loved His Son. We are miserable sinners, we subconsciously reason, so we are condemned to a life of unloved and unplanned randomness, befitting traitors of the Creator.
We could not be further from the truth. Even in our sinful imperfection, the Father loves us just like His Son. In fact, in a sense, it could almost be said that by sending Jesus, God the Father loved us more than His Son. Of course, this is impossible. But think about it: God sent His own Son to be crucified for us; such was His love. Why would we ever doubt that He will order our lives with the same depth of meaning and beauty that He did His Son’s earthly life, folding effortlessly even our weaknesses and sins into the story arc of saving efficacy?
And there is just one ingredient from us necessary to unlock and bring to bear this deeper reality: Our trust in God’s love for us, and the power of that love.
The dichotomy of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday betrays a depth of meaning in the occurrences of Jesus’s life that inspires awe and is worthy of meditation. The same depth of meaning lies latent in God’s plan for each day of our lives, and we have access to see it and marvel at it, if we look with the eyes of trust.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Adore Jesus. Tell Him how thankful you are for the saving mysteries He lived for you. Contemplate those mysteries, go over them again and again in a spirit of awe and love. Then, ask Him to help you see the same providential footprint in your own life that you see in His. Ask Him to bring profound meaning from your life for the salvation and sanctification of the souls whom you love, and beyond.
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