20160320 GOING ALL THE WAY TO THE CROSS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Red.
This
gospel is read at the procession with palms before Mass:
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First reading
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Isaiah 50:4-7 ©
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The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know
how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with
speech.
Each morning he wakes
me to hear,
to listen like a
disciple.
The Lord has opened
my ear.
For my part, I made
no resistance,
neither did I turn
away.
I offered my back to
those who struck me,
my cheeks to those
who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my
face
against insult and
spittle.
The Lord comes to my
help,
so that I am
untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my
face like flint;
I know I shall not be
shamed.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 21:8-9,17-20,23-24
©
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My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
All who see me deride
me.
They curl
their lips, they toss their heads.
‘He trusted in the
Lord, let him save him;
let him
release him if this is his friend.’
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
Many dogs have
surrounded me,
a band of
the wicked beset me.
They tear holes in my
hands and my feet
I can
count every one of my bones.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
They divide my
clothing among them.
They cast
lots for my robe.
O Lord, do not leave
me alone,
my
strength, make haste to help me!
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
I will tell of your
name to my brethren
and
praise you where they are assembled.
‘You who fear the
Lord give him praise;
all sons
of Jacob, give him glory.
Revere
him, Israel’s sons.
My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?
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Second reading
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Philippians
2:6-11 ©
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His state was divine,
yet Christ Jesus did
not cling
to his equality with
God
but emptied himself
to assume the
condition of a slave
and became as men
are;
and being as all men
are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting
death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him
high
and gave him the name
which is above all
other names
so that all beings
in the heavens, on
earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee
at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue
should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God
the Father.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Phil2:8-9
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Christ was humbler
yet,
even to accepting death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him
high
and gave him the name
which is above all names.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Luke 23:1-49 ©
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Key: ✠ Jesus. O. Other single speaker. C.
Crowd, or more than one speaker.
The
elders of the people and the chief priests and scribes rose, and they brought
Jesus before Pilate.
They
began their accusation by saying,
C. We found this man inciting our people to
revolt, opposing payment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a
king.
Pilate
put to him this question:
O. Are you the king of the Jews?
He
replied,
✠ It is you who say it.
Pilate
then said to the chief priests and the crowd,
O. I find no case against this man.
But they
persisted,
C. He is inflaming the people with his
teaching all over Judaea; it has come all the way from Galilee, where he
started, down to here.
When
Pilate heard this, he asked if the man were a Galilean; and finding that he
came under Herod’s jurisdiction he passed him over to Herod, who was also in
Jerusalem at that time.
Herod was
delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long
time to set eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by
him. So he questioned him at some length; but without getting any reply.
Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, violently pressing
their accusations. Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with
contempt and made fun of him; he put a rich cloak on him and sent him back to
Pilate. And though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were
reconciled that same day.
Pilate
then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people. He said,
O. You brought this man before me as a
political agitator. Now I have gone into the matter myself in your presence and
found no case against the man in respect of all the charges you bring against
him. Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see,
the man has done nothing that deserves death, So I shall have him flogged and
then let him go.
But as
one man they howled,
C. Away with him! Give us Barabbas!
(This man
had been thrown into prison for causing a riot in the city and for murder.)
Pilate
was anxious to set Jesus free and addressed them again, but they shouted back,
C. Crucify him! Crucify him!
And for
the third time he spoke to them,
O. Why? What harm has this man done? I have
found no case against him that deserves death, so I shall have him punished and
then let him go.
But they
kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be
crucified. And their shouts were growing louder.
Pilate
then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they
asked for, who had been imprisoned for rioting and murder, and handed Jesus
over to them to deal with as they pleased.
As they
were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming
in from the country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus.
Large numbers of people followed him, and of women too, who mourned and
lamented for him. But Jesus turned to them and said,
✠ Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep
rather for yourselves and for your children. For the days will surely come when
people will say, ‘Happy are those who are barren, the wombs that have never
borne, the breasts that have never suckled!’ Then they will begin to say to the
mountains, ‘Fall on us!’; to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if men use the green
wood like this, what will happen when it is dry?
Now with
him they were also leading out two other criminals to be executed.
When they
reached the place called The Skull, they crucified him there and the two
criminals also, one on the right, the other on the left. Jesus said,
✠ Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are
doing.
Then they
cast lots to share out his clothing.
The
people stayed there watching him. As for the leaders, they jeered at him,
saying,
C. He saved others, let him save himself if he
is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.
The
soldiers mocked him too, and when they approached to offer vinegar they said,
C. If you are the king of the Jews, save
yourself.
Above him
there was an inscription: ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of
the criminals hanging there abused him, saying,.
O. Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and
us as well.
But the
other spoke up and rebuked him:
O. Have you no fear of God at all? You got the
same sentence as he did, but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what
we did. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come
into your kingdom.
He
replied,
✠ Indeed, I promise you, today you will be with me in
paradise.
It was
now about the sixth hour and, with the sun eclipsed, a darkness came over the
whole land until the ninth hour. The veil of the Temple was torn right down the
middle; and when Jesus had cried out in a loud voice, he said,
✠ Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
With
these words he breathed his last.
All kneel and pause a moment
When the
centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said,
O. This was a great and good man.
And when
all the people who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they
went home beating their breasts.
All
his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him
from Galilee, and they saw all this happen.
GOING
ALL THE WAY TO THE CROSS
Today
we commemorate Jesus’ triumphant entry into the Holy City Jerusalem to complete
His mission of bringing about the establishment of the kingdom of
God. It would be naïve to think that Jesus deliberately entered Jerusalem
in order to die. Rather, it was because of His conviction that He had to
lay down the final challenge to His people to accept the message of the coming
of the kingdom. At the same time, He was fully aware that such an action
would cost Him His life.
To say
that He gave Himself to the very end means that He followed the cross
as the culmination of the path of humiliation that began with His
Incarnation as the Son of God and continued throughout His whole life of
obedience. Indeed, the Christological hymn forms the theological basis
for humility and selflessness in love and service.
We are
told in Luke’s gospel that Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a colt. He
came in as a humble and lowly king to bring about the kingdom.
Indeed, this is the expression of the second reading. In the
Christological hymn, St Paul speaks of Christ’s self-emptying of His divinity
in order to assume our humanity and be a slave for us all unto death.
Indeed, “His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God
but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are;
and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on
a cross.”
Indeed,
it is through His martyrdom, His witnessing to the love of the Father until
the end that the kingdom was realized. That Luke intends His gospel
to be presented as a witness to the kingdom, that is, the unconditional love of
the Father until the very end is brought out in his gospel and in the
Acts. For in Part two of the gospel in the Acts, the response of Jesus to
His disciples’ question as to when the kingdom of Israel would be restored, He
told them that when they received the Holy Spirit, they would be His witnesses
in Jerusalem and to the ends of the earth.
So how
did Jesus witness to the kingdom and the Father’s love to the very end?
By being the Compassion, the Good News of the Father. This is even more
clearly brought out in the Passion Story when Luke described how Jesus, even in
His sufferings, was more concerned for others than Himself. When He was
arrested and one of His disciples “struck out at the high priest’s servant, and
cut off his right ear”, Jesus healed him. Then on the way to His
crucifixion, when the women lamented and wept for Him, He reassured them
instead saying, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather for
yourselves and for your children.” On the cross too, He showed mercy to
the Thief who asked for forgiveness when He said, “Indeed, I promise you, and
today you will be with me in paradise.” He also prayed for the
forgiveness of His enemies instead of seeking revenge.
Finally,
it is important to pay attention to the serenity of Christ’s death.
He surrendered Himself to the Father saying, ‘Father, into your hands I commit
my spirit.” Hence, we can conclude that the passion story as told by Luke
is truly the Good News. We find in Jesus as the One who went to the very
end for our sake. Christ’s sensitivity to the needs of others and His
compassion is the good news of the story of the cross.
Having
understood this, would we follow Jesus all the way to the cross in
love and service? Would we be like the Jews who welcomed Christ with
great enthusiasm only to reject Him when they realized that Jesus did not live
up to their expectations of a political messiah? Their great enthusiasm
was followed by rejection when they realized that the kingdom He came to bring
was not that of political liberation, material satisfaction and earthly power
and glory. The kingdom of Jesus was that of humble service, even unto
death.
For
five weeks, the Church had prepared us for the day of His passion and
resurrection. For five weeks, we were invited to love and give ourselves
in selfless service to others. Now that we have come almost to the
end or the last lap in the season of Lent, we are called to follow Jesus to
Jerusalem, the place of His death and glory. To follow Jesus to Calvary
is to give ourselves completely even unto death, bearing our sufferings for the
good and salvation of others. In other words, we are called to
give all. We are called to give ourselves fully to death so that we
can share in the glory of His resurrection. Death is of course
total. No one can die halfway. Death is the summary of all that we
live for. Hence, it is said that the way we live is the way we die.
So our participation in the death of Jesus must be total and complete.
But
there is a danger that we might go only half way when Jesus went all the
way. We might place certain limits in our willingness to carry the
cross. We might not be willing to sacrifice ourselves for love, for truth
and for the kingdom. Unlike Jesus, we might be like the disciples who ran
away when their master needed them most. Indeed, the greatest sin is the
sin of infidelity. When we sin, not only do we hurt ourselves because we
are not faithful to our calling and identity as the children of God, but we
become counter witnesses to the gospel.
It is
notable that Luke says the people welcomed Jesus saying, “Blessings on the King
who comes … Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!” Luke wants
us to remember that the Good News of peace that was promised to us at the birth
of Jesus, uttered by the angels will be realized only at His death and
resurrection. His passion and resurrection is therefore the fulfillment
of the promise made at Christmas. Indeed, Christmas cannot be separated
from Good Friday and Easter because the Christmas story can only be told in
light of the Passion and resurrection of Jesus.
Thus, we
are called to be like Jesus to be faithful to God’s will to the
end. Like Jesus, we are called to surrender ourselves to God.
Jesus was confident like the suffering servant that God would vindicate
him. He said, “The Lord Yahweh comes to my help, so that I am untouched
by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be
shamed.” For this to be realized, we must wake up “to hear, to listen
like a disciple” so that the Lord can open our ears to receive the Good News of
salvation.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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