Doing God's word is what brings lasting change
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By: Father Shay Cullen
Palm Sunday is the Christian festival that re-enacts the welcome that the people of Jerusalem gave to Jesus of Nazareth. I grew up believing that this was the glorious acceptance and recognition of his mission. Even the disciples are reported to have been overwhelmed with the sudden popularity of Jesus and mistakenly believed that he would be proclaimed Messiah by the people. It would be the end of the tyrannical regime of hypocrites and religious bigots that oppressed the poor they thought. How wrong they were, as Jesus said in exasperation, "How long have I been with you and still you do not understand".
The disciples were so convinced that victory was theirs that a power struggle broke out between them. The mother of the disciples James and John, ambitious for her sons, intervened and asked Jesus to appoint them to high office in the Kingdom one to sit on his right and the other on his left. They were filled with delusions of grandeur. We can all be easily carried away with the enthusiasm of the moment.
Other disciples also argued about who was the most important, little did they know that in just a few hours all their false notions would be dashed and the truth would be revealed. There would be no earthly kingdom over which Jesus would reign. There would be nothing but rejection, arrest, torture and execution.
This is the most heartbreaking day in the story of Jesus and the church liturgy. The palm waving crowds were not filled with faith in Jesus as a holy man or a great leader and liberator, they had just heard about the miracle of the raising of Lazarus from the dead and they wanted more of it. They were miracle seekers as St. John tells us in his account. "That was why the crowd met him-because they had heard that he had performed that Miracle". (John 12:18) Within hours where was hardly anyone found to defend him when he was falsely accused and condemned.
Even his own followers were denying they even knew him. What greater pain can there be than to be rejected and denied by your own friends, by those that you believed were your faithful followers?
Most of us have felt this pain and hurt and it can haunt us for the rest of our lives. It is a deep wound that can hardly ever heal unless the one who hurt us accepts the wrongdoing and asks forgiveness. Even if that does not happen we can cope, forgive them in our heart and cheerfully get on with life and pray for justice, their understanding and repentance.
True lasting faith does not come from the emotional euphoria of discovering the stupendous love that Jesus has for each and every one of us it comes from living the values and teaching of Jesus. There are any number of eloquent preachers and leaders who claim to be the voice of God or the people Jesus said it all so clearly as reported by St. Luke: "The rulers claim the title, 'friends of the people', Jesus said (Luke: 22. 25 ff)... but it must not be like that for you, the greatest among you must be like the youngest, the leader must be like the servants. I am among you as one who serves".
It is when we do our very best according to our resources abilities and circumstances to care for and help others, never oppress, hurt or harm another or the creation that sustains all of life will we experience, like Lazarus, a resurrection in heart and mind.
Those who lord it over others exploiting them, or abusing power and position are the Judas people of this world. They are most in need of redemption and resurrection. Those who work for justice and love and strive to protect the helpless and vulnerable are truly the doers of the word and in this they find lasting happiness. (End)
