Were you there? ~ A reflection on Palm Sunday 2012
Palm SundayIs 50:4-7
Ps 22: 8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24
Phil 2:6-11
Mk 14:1 - 15:47
Were you there? One could almost ask this of Isaiah, as he describes the "Suffering Servant" who allows himself to be beaten and spat upon... looked upon by everyone as disgraced; yet relies on the Lord God as his help. Isn't this the picture of Jesus as he gives himself up to be crucified?
How beautifully Paul describes Jesus in his letter to the Philippians. Not only did Jesus not claim equality with God, his Father, but he emptied himself completely and took the form of a slave. Jesus "humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8)
Were you there that day when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Were you among the crowd that waved palm branches and scattered leaves and flowers on the road over which Jesus rode? Were you one of those who was ready to proclaim him king and savior of his people? Don't you realize that only a few days later, that welcoming crowd had turned into the rabble that wanted him crucified? Jesus did!
Yet, despite the fact that Jesus could have used his power as God to become an earthly king and savior, he realized that only by emptying himself and becoming that "Suffering Servant" could we be redeemed.
Were you there at the foot of the cross as Jesus, in agony and even despair, prayed to his Father: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps 22:2a) Jesus, in his humanity, could feel that despair, but he also never gave in to it. The psalm actually becomes a hymn of praise...
"I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." (Ps 22:22-24)
Jesus was there... for us!
~ Image: Palm Sunday by William Hemmerling
How beautifully Paul describes Jesus in his letter to the Philippians. Not only did Jesus not claim equality with God, his Father, but he emptied himself completely and took the form of a slave. Jesus "humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8)
Were you there that day when Jesus made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem? Were you among the crowd that waved palm branches and scattered leaves and flowers on the road over which Jesus rode? Were you one of those who was ready to proclaim him king and savior of his people? Don't you realize that only a few days later, that welcoming crowd had turned into the rabble that wanted him crucified? Jesus did!
Yet, despite the fact that Jesus could have used his power as God to become an earthly king and savior, he realized that only by emptying himself and becoming that "Suffering Servant" could we be redeemed.
Were you there at the foot of the cross as Jesus, in agony and even despair, prayed to his Father: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Ps 22:2a) Jesus, in his humanity, could feel that despair, but he also never gave in to it. The psalm actually becomes a hymn of praise...
"I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help." (Ps 22:22-24)
Jesus was there... for us!
~ Image: Palm Sunday by William Hemmerling
Labels: holyweek, Palm Sunday, sundayreflection
posted by mary ann @ Tuesday, April 03, 2012
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