Contributed by Father James M. Donohue, C.R

PASSION (PALM) SUNDAY

April 13, 2014

Contributed by Father James M. Donohue, C.R.

Father Jim is a professor and chair of the Theology Department at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, MD., where he has taught since 1996.His research and publications deal primarily with the rites of sickness, dying, and death.He teaches courses in systematics, such as Christology and Sacraments, and in pastoral education, such as theology of Lay Ministry, Skills for Ministry, and Youth Ministry.

GATHERING TIME (10-15 minutes)

Introduction to the Word:

In Luke’s gospel, the public ministry of Jesus begins when he returns to his home town of Nazareth, enters the synagogue, and reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. This reading announces the longed-for good news for the people of Israel and, after his reading, Jesus declares that “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21). At first the crowds speak highly of him and “were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth” (Lk 4:22).But, after referencing the fact that the prophets Elijah and Elisha attended to the needs of Gentiles—and not just to Jews—the people “were all filled with fury” (Lk 4:28) and tried to hurl him off the brow of the hill to kill him. The passage ends by telling us that Jesus was able to “pass through the midst of them” (Lk 4:30).This story anticipates the same reaction that Jesus will provoke when he enters into Jerusalem. Like the people in the synagogue, the crowds of Jerusalem will initially greet him with high praise, but in a short time later in the week, will apparently clamour for his execution.However, just as in the story in Nazareth when Jesus is able to “pass through the midst of them,” he will now “pass through” his death in his resurrection and ascension to the Father (Brendan Byrne, The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel [Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000, p. 52]).

Jesus’ attentiveness to those who lived on the margins—tax collectors, sinners, lepers, Gentiles—raised the ire of many of the religious authorities of his day. When they complained, particularly about his table fellowship with tax collectors, Jesus responded with parables that revealed their narrow-mindedness about who should be a recipient of the Good News and their lack of compassion for those in need. In being about “his Father’s business,” Jesus revealed how God wants us to treat others, aligning himself especially with the marginalized. He was willing to trust that God would be with him—even in suffering and death—as he lived in obedience to God’s will. His resurrection is the sign that his trust in God was not in vain. Those who follow Jesus, especially in their attentiveness to the less fortunate, will also have to place their trust in God to be with them in their own sacrifices and the suffering that may come as a result of those sacrifices. They continue to hope that God will be with them, raising them to new life, just as God continued to be with Jesus, raising him to new life, overcoming death itself.

Warm-up Activity:

There were many different people who are present at the crucifixion of Jesus.Your small group members are invited to place yourselves in the shoes of those surrounding Jesus during those last hours of his life. For each, think about what it is that bothers you the most? Give a brief explanation.

i)The bystanders (including former followers) shouting “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

ii)The soldiers who put a crown of thorns on his head and mocked him.

iii) Pilate who ultimately determined Jesus’ fate.

iv) The two revolutionaries who revile and abuse him.

THE TABLE OF THE WORD

THEME

Jesus Christ —a unique Servant and Saviour!

On this final Sunday of Lent as the Church prepares to enter the sacred time of Holy Week, we acknowledge Christ as Saviour, but we are anxious to know more about what this means for us personally. In Matthew’s Passion narrative—the primary reading and basis for today’sreflection—we will hear how Jesus, though in the form of God, came in the form of a servant slave—an innocent victim who was crushed, nailed to a cross as a convicted and abandoned felon.

We have so many questions and so few answers:

Why has God stooped so low?

Why did Christ empty himself so completely?

Why does God love us with such abandon?

One approach is to remember that God’s plan from the beginning is that God made us to freely love God and to be with God. That plan for us, as Peter suggests in his first letter, is nothing less than for us “to share in the divine nature” (1 Pet 1:4). However, human beings—creatures though we are—are not content to trust that God can and will bring this plan for our good to fruition. So, just as our first parents, we grasp after what God is willing to give us freely. God becomes human in the person of Jesus to reveal to us that we can trust in this God fully—even in suffering and death. Jesus empties himself to reveal what it is to be human: losing oneself for the sake of another is the way to a most fulfilled and human life.Jesus also empties himself to reveal God: we have a God who loves us so much that God is willing to enter into creation, become human and die on a cross for us.

Lord Jesus, you showed us the fullness of being human,Lord, have mercy.

Christ Jesus, while we were yet in sin, you died for us, Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, you remain with us even in your glory, Lord, have mercy.

Let us pray

Lord God, your Servant speaks the Word that all the weary

long to hear. As we enter this Holy Week, let the same mind be in us

that was in Christ Jesus.Empty us of ourselves, and draw us close to his cross, that we

may find in the obedience of Christ the strength to drink of the cup that did not pass him by.

We ask this through your Son, the Christ, our Passover and Peace, who lives and reigns

with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever. Amen.

SCRIPTURE REFLECTION TIME(45 minutes)

(As Christians we believe that the WORD of God we hear proclaimed each Sunday is an empowering Word, and that God is present in the Word proclaimed.This is the Word that God wants us to hear today.The dynamic of the Small Christian Community, namely, reflecting on our life-story within the context of this Word, and sharing the insights of these reflections, is such that God’s Spirit becomes present, and the gifts of the Spirit are experienced as empowering and life-giving.Because it is a privileged time, it is incumbent on us in the small group to proclaim God’s Word with due reverence, to be attentive to this proclamation, and respectful of the communal interaction.The facilitator has arranged for group members to proclaim the three readings.)

FIRST READING (Isaiah 50:4–7)

The servant of the Lord said: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.

“The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.

“I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.

“The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”

The Word of the Lord.Thanks be to God.

SECOND READING (Philippians 2:6–11)

Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The Word of the Lord.Thanks be to God.

N.B.The facilitator should arrange for several readers for the Gospel, one for each of the different reading roles.

GOSPEL (Matthew 26:14–27:66)

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew.Glory to you, O Lord.

NARRATOR:NowJesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him,

PILATE:Are you the king of the Jews?

JESUS: You say so.

NARRATOR:But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer.Then Pilate said to him.

PILATE:Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?

NARRATOR:But Jesus gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone they wanted.At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them.

PILATE:Whom do you want me to release for you, Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?

NARRATOR:For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him,

PILATE’S WIFE: Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.

NARRATOR: Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.The governor again said to them.

PILATE: Which of the two do you want me to release for you?

NARRATOR: And they said,

CROWD: Barabbas.

NARRATOR: Pilate said to them,

PILATE: Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?

NARRATOR: All of them said,

CROWD: Let him be crucified!

NARRATOR: Then he asked,

PILATE: Why, what evil has he done?

NARRATOR: But they shouted all the more,

CROWD: Let him be crucified!

NARRATOR: So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying,

PILATE:I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.

NARRATOR: Then the people as a whole answered.

CROWD: “His blood be on us and on our children!”

NARRATOR: So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him.They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head.They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying,

SOLDIERS: Hail, King of the Jews!

NARRATOR:They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him.Then they led him away to crucify him.

As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his Cross.

And when they came to a place called Golgotha which means Place of a Skull, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots; then they sat down there and kept watch over him.

Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying,

CROWD You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself!If you are the Son of God, come down from the Cross.

NARRATOR: In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,

CHIEF PRIEST AND SCRIBES:He saved others; he cannot save himself.He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the Cross now, and we will believe in him.He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, “I am God’s Son.”

NARRATOR: The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.

From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice,

JESUS: Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?

NARRATOR: That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”When some of the bystanders heard it, they said,

CROWD: This man is calling for Elijah.

NARRATOR: At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.But the others said,

CROWD: Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.

NARRATOR: Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.

-Pause for a moment

At the moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.The earth shook, and the rocks were split.The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.

Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said.

CENTURION: Truly, this man was God’s Son!

NARRATOR: Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him.Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock.He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said.

CHIEF PRIESTS AND OTHERS: Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.”Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead,” and the last deception would be worse than the first.

NARRATOR: Pilate said to them.

PILATE: You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.

NARRATOR: So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

The Gospel of the Lord.Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

(You are invited to pause for a few moments of silence,

then for 5 – 7 minutes identify a word or phrase or thought that comes to you from this reflection.)

For many centuries, the Holy Week Gospels were interpreted by Christians in ways that often led to hostility and violence against local Jews. Today, the Church's renewed relationship with the Jewish people has challenged us to re-think the proper way to read those Gospel passages, to take into account their original historical setting, and to draw upon several decades of excellent scholarship in this field. Our editor, Murray Watson, has provided some additional materials (attached) that clarify for us the Church's modern teaching about the Scriptures of Holy Week, and especially the question of responsibility for the death of Jesus.

COMMENTARY:

1st Reading: Our first reading is the third of four passages that are referred to as the “suffering servant songs” in Isaiah.(The four are Isa. 42:1-4, Isa. 49:1-6, Isa. 50:4-9, and Isa. 52:13-53-12.) Father Lawrence Boadt, in Reading the Old Testament (New York: Paulist Press, 1984): pp. 427-428, has a particularly helpful reflection on the “Servant Songs”.