Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (2)

The liturgy of today is a synthesis of the Holy Week. We have started with the solemn entrance, when you received the priest with the branches of trees, which commemorates how the city of Jerusalem received Christ: “when the Lord came into the city of Jerusalem, the children ran to meet him; in their hands they carried palm branches and with a loud voice cried out:* Hosanna in the highest!” Everything seems so promising for Jesus: he is recognized as the Messiah King.

And suddenly, in the readings, we have heard the prophet Isaiah and his tremendous third song of the suffering servant: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting”. And we have repeated the words of the suffering psalmist, who sunken in terrible disgraces, seems to reproach the Lord: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”; the vivid descriptions of the psalm and of Isaiah became true in the sufferings of Jesus Christ that we have heard with every little detail in the Gospel.

And then, when the joys of Palm Sunday seemed to have been totally passed away, when the title of King that the people of Jerusalem gave to Jesus the day he arrived solemnly to the Holy City, St Luke mentions that Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the king of the Jews.” There, in front of everybody, it was the truth revealed: Jesus is indeed king. All saw this inscription, but many made fun of it: If you are King of the Jews, save yourself. However, one, who suffered the same as him, who humiliated and recognized that he was a sinner, the good thieve, recognizes that it is true. Precisely when he sees Jesus in the highest pain, humiliates himself and recognizes that Jesus has indeed a Kingdom: Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

You see? When everything seems lost, when Jesus has completed his humiliation, he becomes the real King. Christ become obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name.

This paradox is the mystery of the Holy Week, that we celebrate every Sunday, in every Eucharist, in this eucharist too, and in a very special way the week that we are starting today. And do not think that these are past things: these mysteries have a lot to do with our own live. When we suffer, let us remember the good thieve, his humility and his faith in Christ; when things are not going according to our plan, let us remember the words of St Paul: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; 12 if we endure, we shall also reign with him; (2 Tim 2:11-12)