Palm Sunday Homily

Could there be a greater contrast between the two gospels we hear today? In the first, Christ is welcomed joyfully into Jerusalem as Messiah; in the second, he is hauled outside the city to be crucified as a common criminal. And in that second Gospel – the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to St Luke – practically every sort of human weakness is to be seen.

We see:

• The apostles bickering at the table of the Last Supper
• The proud boasting of Peter
• The drowsiness of the Apostles who would not watch with Christ
• The traitor Judas betraying his beloved Master with a kiss.

We see:

• The disciples strike out with violence
• The rough treatment given by the guards
• The three-fold denial of Christ by Peter
• The cruel teasing of the soldiers
• The vengeance of the Chief Priests
• The cowardice of Pilate who passes Christ off as someone else’s problem.

We see:

• The mockery of Herod
• The refusal of Pilate to give an honest judgement
• The blood-thirsty fickleness of the mob, a crowd of ordinary people like you or me
• The callousness of the executioners as they go about their work and as they toss dice for Christ’s clothes
• The taunting of the thief who hung alongside Jesus.

And so Christ dies.

And yet, all is not darkness. We also see the compassion of the women of Jesusalem, the repentance of the Good Thief and the conversion of the Centurion. We see the courage of Joseph of Arimathea who claims Christ’s body and the tenderness of the women who lay Him in the tomb.

In the midst of all the darkness, Christ’s will is not broken, and he inspires some few to keep following Him. As the suffering servant foretold by Isaiah, He makes no resistance, but in fidelity to the Father carries out His mission to the end. And by carrying out this mission He offers healing. Christ first heals the ear of the High Priest’s servant. Christ inspires the women of Jerusalem to compassion at a time when the public mood is still baying for His blood. His sufferings bring conversion to the Good Thief and to the Centurion and after His death, Joseph of Arimathea steps forward with courage and the women remain faithful to Him by honouring His dead body.
Christ endured all manner of darkness, all manner of punishment and violence in order to heal us of that same darkness and in order to draw some goodness out of us. We read and re-read the Gospels so that our hearts may be softened by His grace, His teaching and His example. We ask Him, by His Passion and Death, to make us humble and faithful to His saving words.

This week is the most important week of the year. During our Holy Week and Easter ceremonies we walk with Christ step-by-step, hour-by-hour through the events which bring us salvation. We enter Jerusalem with joy, we share a meal with Him at the Last Supper, we follow Him to the Cross with our own burdens and struggles and then we wait at the tomb with hope, awaiting the victory of His Resurrection.

I ask you to do this with minds and hearts fully prepared. I appeal to each and every one of you to make the most of this week by making a good confession. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve been away for a long time. It doesn’t matter whether you have something big on your conscience or if it’s just that there are lots of small things which have built up over a while. There’s no good reason to put it off Christ’s forgiveness, and every reason to make a good Holy Week. May Christ, by His Passion and Death, lead us to the Glory of His Resurrection, Amen.