March 25 - Palm Sunday

Reading 1, Isaiah 50:4-7
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Gospel, Mark 14:1--15:47
Reading 2, Philippians 2:6-11

At the heart of Palm Sunday scripture readings is Jesus’ self-emptying on our behalf. What Jesus experiences in being spat upon, scourged, crowned with thorns and nailed to a cross is overwhelming. He sounds desolate while praying, Psalm 22: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” We might spend time with Jesus letting his suffering touch our sacred nerve points, being with him, taking his suffering into the core of our being.

Racked with pain, he is helped by Simon from Cyrene in Africa. Do you wish you were Simon? Do you wish you could lift the cross off our beloved, Jesus? Or would you be Joseph of Arimathia asking for his body and burying him? Or are you trembling nearby with Mary Magdalen, Mary the mother of James and Joses or Salome or other unnamed women? Or could you be mistaken for Peter who denied he even knew Jesus or Judas who betrayed him?

Who in our world today is suffering? A Syrian child who has known nothing but hunger and fear in the midst of war? A four year old Eritrean who was born in a refugee camp? The father of a twenty one year old daughter whose body was found lifeless? There is Jesus suffering within each of them and with you as you weep with them.

Jesus’ self-giving models discipleship for each of us; a disciple of Christ leads a life of service. We are shaped by Jesus’ radical love.