Sunday Sermon for March 24, 2024, Palm Sunday, Year B
Readings: Mk 11:1-10; Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15:47
As we begin our annual procession through the Passion of our Lord, we must always keep before us that the One Who did not rebel or turn back, the One Who was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” is God. The humanity of our Lord is central to everything that occurred in all the events we will be commemorating in these next two weeks, but the Person upon Whom all of this abuse was inflicted is God, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.
In fact, when we look at the Gospel reading, we see this is ultimately the reason put forward by the chief priests to put Jesus to death. After all the false witnesses had finished their testimony against our Lord, finding that their testimony did not agree and these people brought forth nothing for which Jesus could be tried, the High Priest asked Jesus point blank: “Are you the Christ, the son of the Blessed One?” Our Lord’s response was so clear that any Jewish person would understand exactly what He said: “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.’”
When he heard this, the High Priest tore his garments, declared that there was no need for witnesses, and stated that everyone present had just heard the blasphemy, an act punishable by death. What was it the High Priest heard? First, Jesus simply responded “I AM.” This, of course, in Hebrew, is the Holy Name of God. In case anyone thought Jesus might simply have been giving an affirmative response to a question rather than stating that He is God, He added the prophecy about the Son of Man being seated at the right hand of the Power.
This is a reference to a vision granted to the Prophet Daniel and recounted in Daniel 7:13-14. In this vision, one like a “son of man” is presented before the Ancient One and given power and dominion by God Himself. This is what Jesus is referring to when calls Himself the Son of Man throughout the Gospels, but here it is made even more explicit so the High Priest, who is appointed to serve God, would clearly understand that Jesus is stating Who He is. The High Priest’s response makes clear that he understood what Jesus said.
The reason Jesus came into this world was to suffer and die for us. If there was another way to save humanity from itself and its own self destruction, God would have done that. Jesus prayed in the garden that this cup be taken away from Him. This is not merely His humanity quaking under the weight of what He was about to undergo, it is also His request to the Father that if there was another way to accomplish the same end, then let this happen. His prayer that God’s will be done, and all that followed, demonstrates that was no other way human salvation could be accomplished.
As we recall everything our Lord endured in His Passion, there are two different ways we can look at it. The first is from our human perspective, that is, the injustice, the horror, the tragic depths to which humanity is capable of descending, and the fact that in our arrogance, we dared to pass judgment on God and told Him we do not want Him or His plan to save us. The second way to look at all this is from God’s perspective. He knew all this was going to happen and it is all part of His plan. His plan is one of pure love for us; this is the only motive for everything Jesus did in His life on earth, and especially during His Passion.
We might follow this up by asking ourselves how much we love God. Do we love Him enough to be willing to suffer for Him? Do we love Him enough to accept rejection from others because of our faith? Do we love Him enough to accept His will, not only with resignation, but with joy? Do we love Him enough that we will not rebel or turn back if threatened because of Him? Ultimately, do we love Him enough to be willing to die for Him?
Our faith is in a Person, our hope is in that Person, and our love is for that Person. You are a son or a daughter of God. The Centurion at the foot of the Cross is the only human person in St. Mark’s Gospel to profess belief in the divinity of Jesus. Do we have the faith to say with him—and can it be said of us, “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”?
Fr. Altier’s column appears regularly in The Wanderer, a national Catholic weekly published in St. Paul, Minn. For information about subscribing to The Wanderer, please visit www.thewandererpress.com.
