I have been a Christian for quite awhile and have noticed that we Christians tend to like certain days other than Christmas and Easter. So, I’m claiming that we not only have a “Christian-and-Easter Christian” but also an “A&P Christian.” What does this A&P stand for if not originally Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company? Can anybody guess what A and P stand for? A is for Ash Wednesday, and P is for Palm Sunday. Ash Wednesday has become popular, which I think has to do with our Episcopal initiative of “Ashes-to-Go.” Especially in the hospital where I work, everyone loves getting their forehead imposed with ashes. What about Palm Sunday? Don’t we all like to get some palm branches, especially palm crosses? Most of Christians seem to like ashes and palm branches quite a lot in my limited experiences.
At the same time, it may be quite unfortunate if only ashes are remembered on Ash Wednesday. And it would be equally unfortunate if only palm branches are remembered on Palm Sunday. What I mean by this is that Ash Wednesday is meaningful and hopeful solely because of the resurrection of Jesus. Hearing our very mortal nature as ashes are imposed on our foreheads, “Remember that you’re dust, to dust you shall return.” has no Christian value in and of itself. This remembrance of our human limitedness and finitude can be hopeful only when it is promised with the resurrection. Simply put, ashes are meaningful only through the Eucharist. This same logic applies to Palm Sunday. The palm branch was a Jewish symbol of triumph and victory. This is why the people in the gospel lesson which we heard outside wave to Jesus with them. They want a political and religious savior who can liberate them from the Roman Empire. In the very moment of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, these people expect a victory, not just Jesus’s victory but their own. Yet, this same group of people becomes the crucifying voice that pushes Pilate to hang their failed messiah on the cross. As we process from outside into the sanctuary, holding the palm branches in our hands, we are not uncritically mimicking the crowds in the gospel. Our waving of the palm branches finds its reason in the victory of the crucified and risen Christ who defeats death. Palm branches for us Christians can become a symbol of victory and triumph only through the crucifixion and resurrection in which we sacramentally experience as we partake of the body and blood of Jesus. So, palm branches and passion must go hand in hand. Jesus’s Passion is what makes palm branches meaningful. And let’s not forget that this Sunday has two names, Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. Perhaps, it may be more fitting to put these two names of this Sunday together as Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Now, what we want to focus is Jesus’s Passion for its name’s sake. The road to Jerusalem is his way to the Passion. This word, ‘passion’ is quite a strange one. In our everyday language, ‘passion’ is often used as to express one’s strong emotion towards certain things. We might say, ‘Fred’s passion for his life is a Harley Davidson motorcycle, particularly the 1920 8-Valve Racer!’ Or ‘Fred is really passionate about singing.’ But in terms of Jesus’s Passion, it doesn’t share the same meaning. If we say Jesus is passionate about the Passion, this simply means he is passionate about his suffering and death. I seriously doubt that he is. This Passion finds its origin in the Latin term pati or passio, which means to suffer. Jesus’s triumphant entry to Jerusalem is then his entry to his suffering and death, the Passion. In today’s gospel lesson, we hear how Jesus suffers in multiple layers. When we think about his Passion, we might limit his suffering to the physical ones in which he was spat upon, whipped, naked, and nailed. Yet, this is not all. What makes his suffering relevant and meaningful to us is not so much about how hurt he was physically. There are tons of people who suffered and died way worse than Jesus did. What makes his suffering, his Passion truly matter to us is in his suffering God shows and affirms his whole involvement in every bit of our lives, in our society, and in our world. God himself walks into the very human suffering in Jesus of Nazareth. God assures us through Jesus that he is neither absent in the suffering of the world nor stays outside but is in it and suffers himself. I wonder what kind of suffering is most unbearable for us. Physical pain can become one’s suffering, especially the pain that leads one to death. What about emotional and spiritual pain? What about the experience of feeling betrayed and abandoned by those you trust, disliked, avoided, ignored, and hated by them? In the healthcare setting, especially in the field of hospice, there was this study to figure out how to measure one’s spiritual pain. They suggested this method of the AAA. The first A is about being abandoned. When one feels and is abandoned, there’s great spiritual pain. The second is about abandoning. When one abandons others, there’s also spiritual pain on the abandoning one. The last A is aloneness. This is more of being isolated and lonely. In Jesus’s Passion, he experiences all three, and probably more than three. He is abandoned and betrayed by the crowds who once waved the palm branches, praising him, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” and now viciously shouting at him, “Crucify, crucify him!” Their voices crucify his soul even before Pilate orders his soldiers to crucify his body. And he is left alone on the cross to death. He sees how yesterday’s friend becomes today’s enemy. His followers become his murderers. Only the women are the ones who weep and lament for his Passion. Not being able to be with them would be for him unwillingly and painfully abandoning them. Jesus’s Passion is God’s way of communicating to us how God himself suffers and suffers with those who suffer. And compassion is another term to reflect on. Compassion with the prefix com-, meaning with, is literally to suffer with. Unless one is sociopathic, we have this compassion. We empathize with those who are going through struggles and challenges. Yet, God’s compassion is not like ours. Whereas we cannot fully suffer with others, which is why I can never say “I understand your suffering” because I can’t and don’t even though I want to, with God’s compassion, God can fully know your suffering because God is closer to you than you are to yourself. God’s compassion is perfect in the sense that God knows exactly how much you suffer. My friends, Passion Sunday which we celebrate today is not so much about commemorating and being sad about Jesus’s Passion. (As well as not so much about getting the palm branches.) Passion Sunday is for us to see Jesus coming into our Passion, our suffering. He reveals the divine compassion incarnate in our Passion through his Passion. For this reason, we know God is love. And this love of Jesus reaches out even to those who abandon, hate, and murder him. Facing the crucifying world, Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus never ceases to be unconditionally loving and forgiving all those involved in his way to the Passion. As we’re embarking on this journey of Holy Week, let us remember two things. One is, through Jesus’s Passion, let us see his divine compassion in our own Passion. Let us see God fully and perfectly being present, suffering in and with us in our lives. The other is that we carry this divine compassion of Jesus with us. Be compassionate to yourself because God is unceasingly compassionate to you. And be compassionate to others to share the divine compassion which you have received. May the Passion and Compassion of Jesus Christ awaken your souls and bodies to be passionate for his love and compassionate to yourselves and others deeper and deeper in this Holy Week. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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