From Fr. Eric Asamoah
Today we stand at the threshold of the holiest week of our faith, Holy Week. Jesus enters Jerusalem for the last time. This entry inaugurates the final phase of His earthly mission. Jesus is revealed definitively as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, fulfilling the ancient promise that the offspring of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. He comes, not as an all-conquering warrior, but as a gentle, humble bearer of Good News.
The palm branches that were used to pave Jesus’s way into Jerusalem, were a symbol that foreshadowed Christ’s victory over sin and the grave (Revelation 7:9). Our procession today with Palm branches is meant, then, to be an image of something deeper, to reflect the fact that, together with Jesus, we are setting out on pilgrimage along the high road that leads to the living God. For this pilgrimage in today’s liturgy the Church proposes Psalm 24, as the “song of ascent”, urging us to journey to God with clean and pure hearts.
Hopefully, for some of you at St Mark, this pilgrimage will take you also to Italy; St Francis’s village and that of Padre Pio in this year of Franciscan Jubilee. Another way to extend the Kingdom of God, here at St Mark to all parts of the world. May our efforts in this era of the Great Jubilee (2033) never be in vain. Let us all say, Amen.
Palm Sunday is a day of contrasts: we begin with joy, waving palms and proclaiming, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”, yet we soon enter into the solemn reading of the Passion, where the same voices cry out, “Crucify Him!” This dramatic shift invites us to look deeply into our own hearts and ask: Where do I stand when the cross appears?
The Servant of God suffers in carrying out his mission in the first reading. But he is sustained by the firm belief that God will not abandon him. Despite rejection, God’s servant will not be defeated. This gives hope to all who face trials.
St Matthew shows the passion as fulfilling the prophecies of Scripture, and portrays Jesus, because of His foreknowledge and free decision, as being in complete control of the situation. We see Jesus betrayed by a friend, abandoned by His disciples, falsely accused, mocked, scourged, and crucified. Yet through it all, He remains faithful to the Father’s will.
“Though He was in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant”, (Philippians, 2:6). This is the heart of today’s Passion narrative, God’s love is not about power over us, but service for us.
This week gives us an opportunity to look at our own commitment to truth and justice, and at our loyalty to Christ and His Gospel. But in doing this we must not lose sight of the central character in this sordid story, namely, Christ Jesus Himself. Our Lord Jesus shows us that the only way to overcome evil is by good, just as the only way to overcome darkness is by light. He, the sinless one in whom there was no trace of darkness, died a victim of the powers of darkness. But this time darkness did not have the final say.
To truly live Holy Week then, we must slow down and walk with Jesus.
On Holy Thursday, Jesus invites to Stay with Him in the Upper Room, where He gives us His Body and Blood, the Holy Eucharist, and keep watch with Him in Gethsemane.
On Good Friday, we stand with Mary His Mother, on mount Calvary where Jesus is crucified for our salvation. There we let the sacrifice of Christ our Savior speak to our hearts, where He shows the depth of His love.
We will wait in silence at the empty tomb of our Savior on Holy Saturday, where death is defeated forever. Trusting that God is at work even when all seems lost and to rejoice in the victory of life over death, light over darkness.
Let us not rush to Easter without passing through the Cross. The Resurrection has meaning only because of the Passion of our Lord.
May we walk with Jesus all the way to Calvary, so that we may also share in the joy of His Resurrection.