Celebration of Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (6th
Sunday of Lent) begins with the blessing of palms in commemoration of Jesus’
entrance into Jerusalem, reading from Matthew 21:1-11 (Mark 11;1-10 (B)//Luke
19:28-40(C)). Antiphon is from Matthew 21:9:
Hosanna
to the Son of David, the King of Israel. Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
We remember that Jesus made a triumphant entry into
the holy city, Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, as to fulfill the prophecy in
Zechariah 9:9:
Exult
greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! Behold: your
king is coming to you, a just savior is he. Humble, and riding on a donkey, on
a colt, the foal of a donkey.
People of Jerusalem had long waited for the arrival
of their Messiah as a mighty Davidic king, having not seen the fulfillment of
the post-exilic prophecy for the permanent Davidic kingdom of peace, described
in Ezekiel 37.
In Zechariah 9:10, it says about the meek king,
riding on a donkey, as the king, who banish attackers and establish peace to
nations, establishing his dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends
of the earth, reflecting Psalm 72:8. The river may be the liver in Ezekiel’s
post-exilic prophetic vision for new Israel (Ezekiel 47:1-12).
Ah, finally, after all these years, more than 500
years after the prophecy, and after generations of frustrations for not seeing
the fulfillment of the prophecy, Jesus has come, riding on an ass, to fulfill
the prophecy, not just the prophecy in Zechariah 9:9 but the prophecy in
Ezekiel 37:15-28! So, the cheering crowd must have thought of his as the
Messiah to fulfill these prophecies when entered into Jerusalem.
So, we, too, enter the sanctuary, with blessed palm
branches waving, after the blessing of Palms, as to follow Jesus entering the
holy city, to begin the Mass.
Now, the Gospel reading during the Mass, reflecting
how Jesus suffered and died during the Paschal Triduum, following Judas’
betrayal on Spy Wednesday (Matthew 26:14-27:66(A)//Mark 14:1-15:47(B)//Luke
22:14-23:56(C)) takes away the joy of waving palm branches to Jesus at his
entry into Jerusalem. The Gospel reading is on Jesus’ Passion. Thus, it turns
the initial joy with the palms into the sober mood over Jesus’ suffering into
death and to his burial.
In the Passion narrative during the Mass, you notice
that the crowd that once cheered Jesus with great joy, waving palms, shouting
to him, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
on the first day of the same week, is now fanatically jeering, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”. In less than a week, they were reacting to
Jesus with 180 degrees of difference! Once they praised, now they curse Jesus
in 5 days.
The joyful crowd that welcomed Jesus, believing him
as their long-awaited Messiah, have turned into the murderous mob, fanatically demanding
the reluctant Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, to kill Jesus.
This is a typical mob psychology that how vulnerable
and susceptible our minds are to evil influence, especially when it comes with
authoritarian persuasion, as studied by Solomon Asch, Stanly Milgram, and other
psychologists.
The chief priests and other religious leaders on the
Sanhedrin must have worked hard, not only to find a way to catch Jesus by
Passover, until Judas came to offer Jesus for 30 silver coins, but also to
“brain wash” the people of Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 27:20) to believe that Jesus,
whom they once thought of the Messiah, would be a threat to them, after all, as
he would prompt the Romans to attack them
(cf. John 11:48-53;19:12). See how powerful the evil’s authoritarian
mass persuasion is, turning the crowd, who once adored Jesus, into a fanatic
mob to pressure the Roman governor, Pilate, to kill Jesus, though he claimed
the innocence of Jesus.
*****
Here is an important reflection on Palm Sunday of
the Lord’s Passion, focusing on the drastic change in people’s attitude toward
Jesus:
What is it in your own life that can make you act
like the mob, shouting, “Crucify him!
Crucify him!”, about a person, whom you once adored?
How can you overcome this problem, making you
vulnerable and susceptible to evil influences so that you won’t be an object of
the mob psychology?
Letting your mind be hijacked by evil influence,
subject to the mob psychology, means that you allow yourself disgraced. We need
to stand firm against it, as Jesus faced the evil like a flint (Isaiah 50:4-7).
Remember, the first reading reminds that Jesus did
not let evil forces disgrace him, though he was beaten to death by those who
worked for the evil forces. Can we stand firm against the evil forces that try
hard to crush our faith and our conscience to disgrace us, by subjecting us to
great pressures, suffering, and even death?
No comments:
Post a Comment