Reflection for Friday before Palm Sunday: Cleansing Hidden Fungus in Our Heart

Today is the Friday before Palm Sunday (Passion Sunday).  Thus, engaging in the Stations of the Cross today and praying with the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary is even more meaningful to prepare ourselves psychospiritually to walk more closely with Jesus, as he is about to enter into his intense passion to save us.

The Gospel reading for this Palm Sunday (Mark 14:1-15:47) really follows the last week of Jesus’ life on earth, from entering into Jerusalem to the burial of his corpse upon his death.  You noticed that Jesus was welcomed into the City of Jerusalem, as the residents of this city, waving palms and shouting, “Hosanna in the Highest!”, which means, “Dear messiah, save us in heaven”.   The mood is apparently joyful and hopeful. And, this event took place when the entire city was preparing for Passover celebration, followed by the Festival of the Unleavened Bread.  For the Jewish people, you can imagine, how excited they were to prepare for this set of festival (Exodus 23:5-6), remembering how God saved their ancestors from Egyptian oppression at the time of Moses.

By praising Jesus with their shouting of “Hosanna in the highest!”, the people of Jerusalem must have thought that the man, riding on a donkey to enter into their city was the messiah, whom they have been and their ancestors had been waiting for, based on Zechariah 9:9.

But, as the Gospel reading continues on, you also notice that the mood and their attitude toward Jesus  totally change within the next few days!

It was like, “yesterday, they were praising this man, but today, they are cursing and condemning the same man!”.

Now, you do not have to be a psychologist to be reminded of the very problem of the human by this sudden change in the people’s attitude toward Jesus in the Gospel story.

The problem is the susceptibility of human heart and mind to evil’s persuasion.

This phenomena in the Gospel story is like Hitler persuading the people under his influence to support his evil mission toward the Jewish people in a few days.

The Gospel story is a vivid reminder to all of us on how easily we can activate our potential of hatred.

I am sure none of you, who read this article, think that it was the Jews who killed Christ.

It was evil within all of our hearts, like hidden fungus inside, that killed Christ. The people of Jerusalem at that time, who shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” during the public trial of Jesus, represent us, the sinners.

As we have failed to overcome the hidden evil in our heart, we let ourselves become persuaded by Satan, just in a few days – turning our hope for Jesus into hatred toward him.

We live in the days of propaganda – mass persuasion.  Governments, marketing agencies, media, and all sorts of things in our world are competing to persuade us – to turn us into the means to advance in their own missions.

Chances are, unbeknownst to us, we could be drawn into someone’s persuasion in a way we might regret later on. Of course, to those who have already killed conscience, this would never bother.

Even he did not join the crowds, demanding to execute, Peter totally abandoned him.  It was Peter, who showed how much he cared about Jesus, proclaiming his absolute loyalty to Jesus – even he would have to die (Matthew 26:35). And, it was also Peter, who fought for Jesus as he was to be arrested (John 18:10, Mark 14:47).

How this man, Peter, Simon, who once was so passionate about Jesus, could betray him so suddenly?

It was also the evil hidden in Peter’s heart activated by his fear. Peter failed to acknowledge the evil inside him and could not overcome it due to his ignorance, coupled with a lack of his spiritual discipline.

In preparing for Palm Sunday, and its Gospel reading, let us ask ourselves, “Who in the Gospel story, do we identify ourselves – the crowds in Jerusalem or Peter?”

As we walk the agonizing steps that Jesus took into Calvary, about 2,000 years ago, in Jerusalem, while the same people who once praised him, were cursing with anger and contempt, we must recognize the hidden evil in our own heart and plea to God to cleanse it out of our heart.

Let us now recognize the fungus of evil hidden in our heart and remove it.

For Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, there is no fungus used in the bread dough. No fungus neither in our heart to let Christ rise on Easter!