Mass Readings Audio
https://bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/2021-03-28-usccb-year-b-mass-readings
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion – March 28, 2021
Welcome to the one hundred and fifty-seventh episode of By Your Life. I’m Lisa Huetteman and I know that you have a hundred different things you could be doing right now, so I thank you for choosing By Your Life.
My goal is to inspire, empower, support, challenge, and encourage you to connect Sunday, with Monday-Friday, in a secular business world. It’s my desire to help you live our Catholic faith in the marketplace. I hope to offer you practical ways to go forth and glorify the Lord by your life.
In this edition, we’ll reflect on the readings for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. (Year B) This week, we heard Mark’s details of the Anointing at Bethany, the Passover and Lord’s Supper, the Agony in the Garden, the Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus, Jesus Before the Sanhedrin and Pilate, Peter’s Denial, the Sentence of Death, Mockery by the Soldiers, the Way of the Cross, and the Crucifixion, Death, and Burial of Jesus. This familiar story of our redemption reminds us of our sins and of God’s unfathomable mercy.
I took particular notice of the beginning of the Gospel reading and the Anointing at Bethany. A woman’s loving action of anointing Jesus’ head with perfumed oil in view of his impending death and burial was criticized by some as wasteful but praised by Jesus as “a good thing.” (Mk 14:6) He said, “Amen, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed to the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Mk 14:9) She is not remembered by name, but the story of her great love has been passed on for centuries.
This reading caused me to look at the many characters in the Passion Play whose names we may or may not know, but what they did has been told over and over again. It made me reflect on my life and things I’ve done that I hope I’m not remembered for, speaking badly of someone, going along with the crowd, abusing authority, and being weak in my convictions.
The False Accusers
Most of the characters in the passion play are not the ones I’d like to model. There are all the false accusers beginning with “Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve,” (Mk 14:10) “that man by whom the Son of Man was betrayed,” (Mk 14:21) who was promised money, so he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. (Mk 14:11) And “the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin who kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death.” (Mk 14:55) There were also “the many who gave false witness against him.” (Mk 14:56) And “some [who] took the stand and testified falsely against him.” (Mk 14:57)
For some self-serving purpose, most of us are guilty of having put someone down to raise ourselves up. It may just be by something we said, or it could be how we manipulated a situation for personal gain. Calumny, or the making of false and defamatory statements about someone to damage their reputation, is alive and well on social media. It is also all too prevalent in our places of work.
Unfortunately, the times I’ve done things like this have stayed in my memory. There was an incident in the fifth grade where I was jealous of another student because she had been assigned Argentina for a geography project, but since I had lived in there for seven years, I felt that Argentina should have been mine. After all, there was no other 10-year-old in my class who could possibly be as great an authority on the country as I was. So, I let her know what I thought about her presentation. I was not kind. Although I can’t tell you another thing about the fifth grade, I remember this scene in detail to this day.
The Ones Who Went Along with the Crowd
Sometimes, we aren’t the ones who start spreading lies or attacking others, we just go along with the crowd. When the high priest accused Jesus of blasphemy, “they all condemned him as deserving to die.” (Mk 14:64) “Some began to spit on him.” (Mk 14:65) “And the guards greeted him with blows.” (Mk 14:65) Even “Pilate [who] was amazed” (Mk 15:5) by Jesus, yet wishing to satisfy the crowd, had Jesus scourged, and handed him over to be crucified. (Mk 15:15) Then, on the Cross, “those passing by reviled him.” (Mk 15:29) And “the two revolutionaries, who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.” (Mk 15:32)
When I was in my twenties, I was at a company employee party at the beach. One of my coworkers brought a monster water balloon launcher and a cooler full of water balloons. Most the guests were dressed for a day by the water, so launching water balloons into the crowd was just part of the fun. That is until one of the balloons hit the wife of a new VP in the head. She wasn’t hurt, but we did ruin her hair and drench her nice blouse.
I felt awful. Most of the balloon-launchers scattered, but I couldn’t not apologize. So, I dragged my coworker along with me and we asked for forgiveness. She was very gracious, but I felt like a total jerk. I should have given more careful thought to having fun at the expense of others. But, in the short-term, going along with the crowd makes us feel included, stronger, better about ourselves. But when you have a well-formed conscience, that feeling dissipates when you’re left to live only with yourself. I remember the details of this incident to this day.
Abuse of Authority
Some of the most horrifying tales are of the Roman soldiers who when carrying out their orders, clothed [Jesus] in purple, weaved a crown of thorns and placed it on him. (Mk 15:17) Then, they saluted him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage and mocked him. (Mk 15:18-20) Then, fearing that Jesus might not survive their abuse, “they pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, to carry his cross.” (Mk 15:21) And, when they reached Golgotha, “they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take.” (Mk 15:24)
Some might say that the Roman soldiers were just doing their jobs. But the way they went about it, the way in which they took pleasure in mocking him, the way in which they sought personal gain, was an abuse of their authority.
One of my first jobs out of college was with the Latin American audit staff for my company. My first assignment was a balance sheet audit of our subsidiary in Argentina. Over the course of the three weeks, it became apparent that my audit team lead was not there to be of assistance to the general manager by helping find and correct problems. Instead, his approach was adversarial. It was an ego trip for him. He took pleasure from disclosing every audit finding and attacking the GM’s competency. Our team lead would say that he was just doing his job, but the way he did his job was abusive.
Many people are in positions of authority that include difficult decisions that will negatively impact someone. They also are responsible for holding others accountable. Their jobs require taking disciplinary action against someone. This was true of Pilate and it was true of the Roman soldiers, and it was true of my audit team leader. But that’s not why we remember them. We remember them for how they crossed the line from exercising their authority to abusing it.
The Unfaithful
Like us, the followers of Jesus wanted to think that they would always be faithful, but they failed. Sometimes, we are weary from our daily trials and like Peter, James, and John, who fell asleep and could not keep watch for one hour, our “spirit is willing but [our] flesh is weak.” (Mk 14:38) We lack the energy to persevere in our faith.
The one who is most remembered for his denial was Peter of whom Christ foretold “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows twice you will deny me three times.” (Mk 14:30) Although Peter believed he was willing to die for Jesus, when he was put to the test, “he began to curse and to swear, ‘I do not know this man about whom you are talking.’ And immediately a cock crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had said to him.” (Mk 14:71-72)
Mark’s Gospel also mentions a less prominent figure, the young man who “followed him wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his body and when they seized him, he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.” (Mk 14:51-52) One of my Bibles’ commentary said that some scholars suggest that this was referring to Mark himself. But Bishop Barron has a different take on who this young man represents, that is each of us. He points out that the Greek word for the linen cloth is the same word that refers to the white garment of Baptism. How often are we guilty of abandoning our Baptismal promises when the world grabs hold of us? I don’t think I’ll ever listen to this version of Christ’s Passion without seeing myself in the reflection of the young man.
Faithful Followers
Mark’s Gospel account for Palm Sunday begins and ends by mentioning Christ’s faithful followers. It begins with the woman with an alabaster jar of perfumed oil who poured it on Jesus’ head (Mk 14:3) and ends with Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, [who] watched where he was laid. (Mk 15:47) But there were others too.
There was the “one [who] ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.” (Mk 15:36), “the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last and said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk 15:39), and Joseph of Arimathea, who “courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus” (Mk 15:43), “wrapped him in a linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock and rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.” (Mk 15:46)
But the one I identify with the most is Peter. Peter who having denied him three times, “remembered the word that Jesus had said to him and broke down and wept.” (Mk 14:72) How many times do we regret what we’ve done? How many times do we have the best intentions and yet fail? How many times do we find ourselves weeping for our sins?
The Good News
But there is good news. No matter how often we fail, we have a Savior who “humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:8) And Jesus is remembered every day, across the globe, as we re-present his sacrifice with the words from Sunday’s Gospel, “’Take it; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. He said to them,
‘This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.’” (Mk 14:22-24) At his command, we do this in memory of him.
There is no greater love, no greater gift, no greater sacrifice, nor will there ever be. For this reason, we remember his name “which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11)
What do you want to be remembered for? Do you want to be remembered for insulting others, falsely accusing them, or making disparaging remarks? Do you want to be remembered as someone who abused your authority? Do you want to be remembered as someone who made a promise but when the going got tough, didn’t follow through? Or do you want to be remembered as someone who when they fail, recognizes it, and makes things right; someone who is courageous in doing the right thing; someone who is faithful to the end? We get to make these choices every day.
Let’s pray. Lord God, you are our loving Father who in your mercy do not remember the times we have been unfaithful but rejoice in our return to you. Help us this day, and every day, to strengthen our resolve to choose to be faithful to our Baptism. Give us the courage to turn away from the pressure of this world and when the going gets tough, turn only to you. So that in everything we do, we glorify your name.
May God bless you abundantly throughout this Holy Week and may you glorify the Lord by your life.
If you liked this episode, spread the word. You know what to do, forward, share, or click to post. Also, check out the Resources page where you can find a link to the books and other resources mentioned in other episodes of By Your Life. I’m always interested in what you think, so give me some feedback by leaving a comment.
