Going Too Far and Doing Too Much

Homily for Palm Sunday in Holy Week

The readings from the Gospel of St. Mark that we proclaim today recount two episodes that hold us in tension. The first episode is the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The second episode recounts the passion and death of Jesus outside that same city. Triumph and tragedy are welded together on this particular Sunday which we call Palm Sunday.

American president Abraham Lincoln also had his moments of triumph and tragedy one hundred and fifty-nine years ago in 1865. Palm Sunday in 1865 marked the end of the Civil war. The General of the Confederate Army, Robert E.  Lee, surrendered to the General of the Union Army, Ullyses S. Grant. It was the greatest moment of triumph for the American president Abraham Lincoln. However, he was assassinated five days later, on Good Friday, the greatest tragedy for the President and the nation. The triumph and tragedy of Abraham Lincoln are also welded together in the history of the United States.

As we listen to the stories told in the Gospel today, I would like to make four observations.

First, perhaps you noticed that Jesus had to borrow everything for both his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and his celebration of the Passover with his disciples. He rode on a colt that his disciples found tethered in a small village outside of Jerusalem. Then he sent his disciples to ask one of the villagers for the use of a room in his house. Does the obvious poverty of Jesus and his disciples say anything to us today as we remember both of these events? Are we moved at all to share some of our wealth with the poor of our own day?

Second, I would like to turn our attention to the anointing of Jesus by a woman who broke an alabaster jar that contained a costly ointment. Those who witnessed this anointing were infuriated with the woman. They claimed that she had wasted a commodity that could have been sold for 300 day’s wages. Their comments reveal that they thought that she had done too much, that she had gone too far. However, when Jesus gave his life by dying on a cross, no one claimed that he had done too much or that he had gone too far to save us from our sins.

Third, when Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of his disciples ran away. One of them was in such a hurry to get away that he dropped the linen cloth that had been covering his body. These were the same men who were said to have left everything to follow Jesus back in the first chapter of this Gospel. Now they quite literally left everything behind to get away from him.

Finally, throughout his Gospel, St. Mark has made the point that no one really understood who Jesus was. In fact, it was only the demons that Jesus expelled from those who had been possessed by them who recognized that Jesus was the Son of God. As he dies on the cross, it is a Roman centurion who finally recognizes the truth about Jesus. No one who had been waiting for the Messiah for more than 2,000 years recognized Jesus when he came.

These four details that we find in the passion narrative of the Gospel of St. Mark are the height of irony. The Savior of humankind was a poor man who owned nothing and was abandoned by all those who had followed him at the most crucial point of his life. I hope that we can recognize in this narrative that Jesus has gone to extraordinary lengths to save us. I hope that we can offer our gratitude and our prayerful praise to one who was willing to go too far in his efforts to bring us back to his Father. Whenever I hear that people don’t have time to worship once a week, whenever I hear that people don’t remember the need to share with the poor, whenever I hear that people have left their faith in the dust, I simply remember the immense and extraordinary generosity and love displayed by Jesus in his passion and death. Then I pray for those who simply don’t have time for Jesus.