FROM THE PULPIT PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD BY FATHER BENOIT MUKAMBA CSSp
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FROM THE PULPIT
PALM SUNDAY OF THE PASSION OF THE LORD
HOLY SCRIPTURE: Mark 11: 1-10; Isaiah 50: 4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2: 6-11; Mark 14: 1-15:47
REFLECTION: JOY, SUFFERING AND FIDELITY
Fr. Benoit Mukamba, CSSp.
Today’s celebration is very special. The Holy Scripture leads us through joy and suffering while illustrating the fidelity of the servant of God. The Mass begins with the commemoration of the solemn entry of Our Lord Jesus into the holy city of Jerusalem. The event of the solemn entry invites us to joyfully celebrate this unforgettable day. Recalling the thrills and amazement that Jesus caused in the course of his ministries, the people of Jerusalem responded by reserving a very warm welcome to the son of David. We too join the manifestation to publicly show our faith in Jesus. This solemn march into Jerusalem will be slow, peaceful and long, accompanying our star and hero Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee, as he rides on a colt.
Isaiah son of Amoz prophesied about the suffering servant of God, describing the kind of sufferings he would endure and his attitude of patient endurance in fidelity to his mission. In the light of the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled. The story of Philip and the Ethiopian (Acts 8: 26-40) confirms that the suffering servant of God in the book of Isaiah is indeed Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Son of God. “34The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?" 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus”. And in the most conforming words to the Gospel’s narratives of the suffering of Jesus Christ, King David sung a prayer to God for the innocent person, in Psalm 22. Jesus, who became human like us except sin, experienced our pain and desolation. His cry of abandonment is our own complaint, but God, his Father was ever close to him. So we too, need a strong conviction, an unshakable faith in the presence of God, especially when we are undergoing suffering and tribulation. We would be comforted and strengthened by the example of Jesus though God, humbled himself and became a man and obedient to God unto death on the cross.
Jesus’ perseverance through suffering bears proof of his fidelity to God who sent him into the world for our salvation. The attitude of Jesus shows itself different from the reactions of Peter who denied his master Jesus, Judas who chose to betray for the purpose of gaining some money, or again the young man who took off naked for his life. The multitude of people that had welcomed our Lord Jesus with acclamations of joy during the entry changed their shoots into “crucify him”. The characters of Peter, Judas and the naked young man are also found in us depending on the issues that confront us. But, the Lord Jesus exhibits the model of fidelity we ought to follow. As Jesus suffered in the flesh through the appearance of a frail mortal being; in present days he continues to undergo trials and tribulations through his body, the Church, the Body of Christ.
Our prayer today and every day, should be that God may grant us the grace of fidelity to him, constancy in doing good to our neighbors and happily share in the redemptive suffering of his Son Jesus Christ.
