April 01, 2012
Sunday
Palm
Sunday of the Lord's Passion
by Rev. Fr. Stephen Mifsud (MSSP –
Quezon City)
(Batchawan, Bataan)
1 And as soon as it was morning the chief
priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council held a
consultation; and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to
Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him,
"Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have
said so." 3 And the chief priests
accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, "Have you no answer to make? See how many
charges they bring against you." 5 But Jesus made no further answer, so
that Pilate wondered. 6 Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they
asked. 7 And among the rebels in
prison, who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called
Barab'bas. 8 And the crowd came up and
began to ask Pilate to do as he was wont to do for them. 9 And he answered them, "Do you want
me to release for you the King of the Jews?" 10 For he perceived that it was out of
envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the
crowd to have him release for them Barab'bas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them,
"Then what shall I do with the man whom you call the King of the
Jews?" 13 And they cried out again,
"Crucify him." 14 And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they
shouted all the more, "Crucify him." 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the
crowd, released for them Barab'bas; and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him
to be crucified. 16 And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the praetorium);
and they called together the whole battalion. 17 And they clothed him in a purple cloak,
and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him,
"Hail, King of the Jews!" 19 And they struck his head with a reed,
and spat upon him, and they knelt down in homage to him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they
stripped him of the purple cloak, and put his own clothes on him. And they led
him out to crucify him. 21 And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyre'ne, who was coming in from
the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 And they brought him to the place
called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull). 23 And they offered him wine mingled with
myrrh; but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him, and divided his
garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And it was the third hour, when they
crucified him. 26 And the inscription of
the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." 27 And with him they crucified two
robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29 And those who passed by derided him,
wagging their heads, and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and build it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!" 31 So also the chief priests mocked him to
one another with the scribes, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save
himself. 32 Let the Christ, the King
of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe."
Those who were crucified with him also reviled him. 33 And when the sixth hour had come, there
was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with
a loud voice, "E'lo-i, E'lo-i, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" which means,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it
said, "Behold, he is calling Eli'jah." 36 And one ran and, filling a sponge full
of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait,
let us see whether Eli'jah will come to take him down." 37 And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and
breathed his last. 38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood
facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man
was the Son of God!"
HOMILY
I
was always fascinated by the image of Jesus entering Jerusalem with the
cheering of people, waving palms throwing cloths on floor to welcome him in
their city and Jesus riding a small donkey what a contrast!
Donkey
is a symbol of humility, simplicity, no importance, an ordinary animal, used
only to carry things and people.
But
on that day when Jesus rode it, this little donkey became special,
important. And was important because of
Jesus. Keep in mind that people’s
attention and cheering were to Jesus. No
one was cheering the donkey.
Yet
the young donkey was carrying the Son of God.
What an important job! ...
Carrying Jesus
Many
of you are still young, all of us are common people.
So
the first thing that the Liturgy of today teaches us is that all of us can carry Jesus... and not only a baby
Jesus but a full-grown Jesus.
What
a privilege to have Jesus Christ, riding in our lives, living inside of us! Whenever we read and listen to god’s word,
when we receive Eucharist, whenever our heart and mind are on Jesus, when we
pray... we are carrying Jesus ... like the donkey.
That
means God can do powerful things through common and young people! I am so happy when I see these young men
praying and sharing their experience of Jesus with others...not only children
but also adults.
In
practice, how do I carry Jesus to others?
With
my life, in my every day duties – if we them with lov... If Jesus is in me I and let him change me, I
start to think as he thinks, to love as he loves. And people start seeing Jesus
in me. Many times no need to talk about
Him although its important also.
When
I was in Calapan I went to a squatter area with so much mud to visit an old women who couldn’t get
out. When I told her that I am
religious, she started crying... and told me... “I am so happy, in this place
no priest ever came!
By
our lives, by giving our heart, giving our listening ear, giving our time,
we can bring Jesus to others.
So
the first point is that like the small donkey, we are special and happy only
when we carry Christ in our lives.
The
second point: Jesus did not ride a big horse, or even the mother donkey, but He
showed us how to be humble, by
riding a young donkey.
Our
call as Christians is not to make ourselves famous, or want people to look up
to us. But like the donkey, we let other people see Jesus. If we do our job in leading them to Jesus, we
will see many people changed by the power of God.
So let
us carry Jesus and in love and humility keep Jesus at the center of our lives
and others.
