Gospel: Passion Sunday

Today is the commemoration of the Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion where there will be two Gospel readings, the first to be taken from St Mark's (11:1-10) or St John's (12:12-16). This reading contains the narrative of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, and proclaimed at the procession of the palms. The second Gospel reading will be taken from St Mark's (14:1 - 15:47; shorter form: 15:1-39) which narrates the passion of the Lord.

This Sunday, called Palm or Passion Sunday, is the first day of the Holy Week. Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil on Black Saturday are called the Paschal Triduum--three days that are the highlight of the liturgical calendar. 

At the Liturgy of the Word on Palm Sunday, the events of Jesus' passion are proclaimed in its entirety. In Lectionary Cycle B, we read the passion of Jesus found in the Gospel according to St Mark. We will hear these events proclaimed again when we celebrate the Triduum later in the week. On Good Friday, we will read the passion of Jesus according to the Gospel of St John.

In St Mark's Gospel, Jesus' passion and death are presented as the consequence of the tension between the Jewish authorities and Jesus that had been building throughout his public ministry. This tension reached its breaking point when Jesus drove the merchants and moneychangers from the Temple. After this event, the chief priests and scribes began seeking a way to put Jesus to death, and yet, this is only the surface explanation for his death.

When Jesus was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin--the council of Jewish priests, scribes, and elders--he was charged with blasphemy, citing his threat to the Temple. When he was brought to Pontius Pilate, however, the religious authorities presented his crime as a political one, charging that Jesus claimed to be king of the Jews. In continuity with St Mark's Gospel, the messianic claim of Jesus is widely misunderstood.

Further in St Mark's account, Jesus' disciples are rarely models of faith and do little to invoke confidence in their capacity to continue his ministry after his death. They fare no better in St Mark's narrative of the passion and death of Jesus. At the Last Supper, the disciples insisted that none among them will betray Jesus. When Jesus predicted that their faith would be shaken in the events ahead, St Peter and the others vehemently objected. Yet, in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus returned three times to find them sleeping. Jesus prayed in agony over his impending fate, while his disciples slumbered through the night. Just as Jesus predicted, St Peter denied Jesus, and the disciples were absent during Jesus' passion and death. Only the women who had been followers of Jesus in Galilee are said to have been present at the Crucifixion, but they remained at a distance.

Throughout this Gospel, St Mark challenges the reader to consider the claim with which the Gospel begins: Jesus is the Son of God. When we read St Mark's account of the passion, we begin to comprehend the deeper theological statement being made about Jesus' death. In St Mark's telling of the passion narrative, Jesus understood his death to have been preordained, and he accepted this death in obedience to God's will. Jewish Scripture is quoted once, but there are several references to the fulfillment of the Scriptures. Jesus understood his anointing in Bethany as an anticipation of his burial, and he announced that this story would be told together with the Gospel throughout the world. Jesus predicted the betrayal by Judas and the denial of St Peter. At his arrest, Jesus acknowledged that the preordained time had arrived. Jesus was both confident and silent before his accusers. After he was sentenced to death, Jesus did not speak again until his final cry at the cross. The bystanders misunderstood and believed that he was calling for Elijah. The Roman  centurion, however, affirmed what St Mark has presented throughout this Gospel: Jesus is the Son of God. Nowhere was this revealed more fully than in his death on the cross.

During Holy Week, we prayfully remember the events of Jesus' passion and death. As we meditate on the cross, we ask again and anew what it means to make the statement of faith that Jesus, in his obedient suffering and dying, revealed hinself to us as God's Son.

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The Gospel is brought to you by Merry Mart.