Palm/Passion Sunday April 5, 2009

Blessing of Palms, Mark 11:1-10  Bethany, a town on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives about 1.75 miles from Bethany, was familiar territory to Jesus. Among his friends there we know most about Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary, at whose home Jesus was a familiar guest. The night before his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was feted at a dinner at the home of Simon the leper. Many people in Jerusalem heard that Jesus would be there and went out to see both him and Lazarus, quite the celebrity since having been raised from the dead (John 12:9-11).

At the time, hundreds of people, among the nearly 100,000 pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration, were camped out in the Kidron Valley on the east side of the temple. I’m sure that those returning from Bethany spread the news that Jesus would pass that way in a triumphal entry into Jerusalem the next morning. They had undoubtedly all heard about Jesus. Tomorrow they and hundreds more coming out from the city, be it out of curiosity or Messianic hopes, would crowd the roadside to see him.

Leaving Bethany, just before reaching the crest of the Mount of Olives, the road passed through the village of Bethphage. From the crest it wound down the western slope into the Kidron Valley, passing the garden of Gethsemane on the way. There were no other villages along the way, so we can assume the colt came from Bethphage. Jesus had likely arranged the use of the colt beforehand, thus explaining why it had been left tethered outside on the street (people would usually keep their animals within the walls surrounding their property).

The crowds shouting “hosanna” used the word in a different sense than we do today. The Hebrew word “hoshana” actually means “Save (us), we beseech (you).” They were shouting out their hope that Jesus was coming as the Messiah to save them. Since we Christians believe that Jesus is the Savior sent by God the Father, the “hoshana” plea is converted into “hosanna” praise.

Reading 1, Isaiah 50:4-7  This is the third of four Servant oracles in Isaiah, generally believed to be the work of an anonymous author who wrote chapters 40 through 55 (Deutero-Isaiah) in the middle of the 6th century before Christ. The Servant suffers for being true to God but will be vindicated. Bearing the sins of his generation, he will be the instrument of God’s ultimate plan for all peoples. The image of the Servant became associated with a personal Messiah for Jewish people. We Christians see the fulfillment of the Servant in the person of Jesus Christ and note those Isaiah texts when focusing on Jesus’ passion and death.

Reading II, Philippians 2:6-11  In this text, possibly a hymn of the day quoted by Paul in his letter, we have a beautiful statement of the double nature of Jesus as both God and man. The Second Person of the Trinity, while retaining his divine nature, “emptied himself” of the marvelous qualities and abilities attached to that divine nature (all-knowing, omnipresent, all powerful, etc.) and took on our human nature, as we hear in Eucharistic Prayer IV, “a man like us in all things but sin”. In this total self-giving, Jesus both expresses the depth of God’s love for us and calls us to glory with him by a similar detachment of self out of love for God and others.

Gospel, Mark 14:1-15:47  (The Passion of our Lord)

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