Fr. Michael Williams
"Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice."
Passion Sunday (Year C)
The two gospels that we heard today reveal to us the changeability or fickleness of human nature. In the first gospel that we heard before the procession into the Crypt, we hear the crowds cry out to Jesus, ‘Blessing on the King who comes, in the name of the Lord’. And in the story of the Passion of Christ that we have just heard, we hear the crowds cry out to Jesus, ‘Crucify Him! Crucify Him!’ Within a matter of days the people who had praised the Lord as He entered Jerusalem, now reject Him and demand that He is put to death. This reveals to us the changeability of our human nature. At one moment we can be praising God and living a life that is pleasing to Him, but in the next moment we can reject Him and live a life that displeases Him.
Amidst this changeability of human nature, there is one constant and unchanging feature. And that one constant and unchanging feature is Christ, whose ‘state was divine’. He assumed human nature and suffered greatly, yet He remained constant in two things. Firstly, He remained constant in His faithfulness to God the Father, to God’s will, despite terrible suffering. In the Passion account from St. Luke’s gospel, we see Jesus entrust Himself to the Father. In the garden of Gethsemane He prays, ‘Father, if you are willing take this cup away from me, Nevertheless, let your will be done not mine’. And then on the cross amidst so much pain He prays, ‘Father into your hands I commit my spirit’. Jesus trusts in the Father, despite suffering, we are called to do the same
Secondly, Jesus is constant in His love for humanity. When He is carrying the cross and He meets the women weeping for Him He is the One to console them, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, weep rather for yourselves and your children’. He shows heroic love, by praying for His executioners, ‘Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing’. And He also shows His love by forgiving the repentant thief to who He promises paradise.
Jesus is constant in His love for God the Father, and His will which is difficult at times; and also in His love for humanity, which is difficult at times. So let us follow His example knowing that Christ died to save us and open the gates of paradise for us.