Palm Sunday Cycle C
Luke 19:28–40
Isaiah 50:4–7
Psalm 22:8–9, 17–18, 19–20, 23–24
Philippians 2:6–11
Luke 22:14–23:56
The disciples of Jesus are presented in the Gospels without much attention to “cleaning up” their faults and failings. We tend to think of them as “bigger than life,” always getting it right and knowing just how to follow Jesus. However, when we pay close attention, we might realize that they get it wrong often and in a big way.
The Passion according to Luke has many aspects that are particular to Luke’s emphasis on mercy. In the Garden, Jesus heals the wound inflicted by Peter on the ear of the high priest’s servant. From the Cross, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He also assures the “good thief”: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Nonetheless, when Jesus gives His all for the sake of our salvation, the disciples are not at all truly with Him. The clearest examples of betrayal are given by Judas and Peter. To the betrayer, Jesus says, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” To Peter, Jesus offers no words but a glance that pierces his soul.
When Peter makes his third act of denying that He knows Jesus or walked in His company, we hear: “Just as he was saying this, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.’ He went out and began to weep bitterly.”
Luke presents the Passion of the Lord as the source of mercy, but he also demonstrates through the “characters” who are part of the story that we are truly in need. As disciples of the Lord, we are called to choose to be with Him through the Passion.
Every year, Holy Week gives us two opportunities to enter into the Passion with the Gospel accounts, on Sunday from Matthew, Mark or Luke, and on Good Friday, from John. From year to year, we can allow the story to blend together, missing the rich nuances and details characteristic to each Gospel.
It might be useful for personal understanding to read through these accounts slowly. The practices of lectio divina or “Ignatian contemplation,” done in moments of quiet on our own, can enhance the experience of the liturgies of Holy Week.
On Holy Thursday, following the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, there is usually an opportunity to spend time in the presence of the Eucharist following the procession that concludes the liturgy. Mercifully, this year our “COVID interruption” has paused enough that we can experience this again. Perhaps this would be a good time to review the readings of the Holy Week celebrations.
Some communities have the custom of praying through John 17, the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper in the time of Adoration on Holy Thursday.
Perhaps you can also read sequentially Isaiah’s “Songs of the Servant.” Join with Israel in expression of the sorrow of the loss of Jerusalem by reading the Book of Lamentations. Pray Psalm 22 with the Lord Himself.
Go on with Scriptures of Hope with Psalm 23, acknowledging the presence of the Lord as Shepherd in the valley of death; Jeremiah 31, with the promise of the New Covenant; and Ezekiel 37, with the promise of Resurrection.
Let Holy Week truly be a week that is lived differently. As believers in Christ, we are called to share in His Passion, to live with Him through the hours of His suffering and death, open to the new life that comes through His glorious Resurrection.
Jesus prayed, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” May we join with Him in spirit and in prayer to pass through the mystery of His Passion so that we may share salvation with the world.