The Death of the Cross

 

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

Year B

Mark 11:1-10

Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47

He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8

It all comes down to this!

We have walked through this season of Lent, which has been characterized by prayer, fasting, and sacrifices.  Its culmination begins today.  This is Holy Week, the most sacred time in the Church liturgical calendar.  This week we will re-live the events that took our Lord from the triumph of His entry into Jerusalem through the betrayal of one of His own apostles, the Last Supper, and the horror of the crucifixion into the wonder of the resurrection.  Even though we know the end of the story, I invite you to enter into each moment as if you were there; as if you were living through it for the first time.  Allow the events of this week to permeate the depths of your soul.  You will find it intersecting with what is actually happening currently in our lives.

Today has always struck me as the oddest day of the Church year.  We begin in jubilation and finish in sober silence.  To say it’s an emotional roller-coaster is an understatement.  Why does the Church give us such contrasting viewpoints in a single liturgy?  Because that’s what this week is all about. Today it is laid out for us as a panorama.  But as we continue through the week we will enter into the moments making it up.

What did this week mean for Jesus?  He knew His death was imminent.  From all appearances He longed for this week and dreaded it at the same time.  The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says, “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross,” [Heb. 12:2].  This was the entire reason for His coming to earth.  His mission culminates here.  But it will be agonizing.  It will be humiliating.  Before Easter, there must be Good Friday.  The way to everlasting life leads through the cross and there is no sidestepping it. 

If you and I had the same perspective as Jesus would we embrace our trials and sufferings more?  Would we glory in the cross, knowing it is purging us of the dross of sin and fitting us to be citizens of heaven? 

This is where St. Paul’s wonderful hymn in his Letter to the Philippians comes in.  Notice the path of humility that precedes the path of glory. 

Jesus was in very deed God.  Yet, He chose to become human.  That’s a serious step down.  To grasp it we would need to consider what it would be like to become an amoeba.  The step down from divinity to humanity is much greater than that.

But then, not content with that, our Lord further humbles Himself.  He hands Himself over to men.  And not just any men, but the worst kind of men.  The men who will justify themselves while they commit the most egregious crimes.  The men who truly thought their actions were pleasing to God. 

Again, not satisfied to merely humble Himself to die, but listen to St. Paul’s language: even the death of the cross.  Why is that the final step in the path of humiliation?

We all know we will die someday.  However, we may hold onto hopes that we may die in a way that is palatable.  “I want to die peacefully.”  “I want to die quickly.”  “I want to die in my sleep.”  “I want to die gloriously.”  These are just some of the things we think to ourselves.  Jesus dispels it all.  He will die in the most inglorious, humiliating, painful, and agonizing way possible. He will be esteemed as cursed of God, and He will seemingly die alone and forsaken by both God and men.  That is the death of the cross.

To what are we still clinging so desperately?  Are we holding out for some ambition?  Some life’s dream or goal?  Is it for our own “bucket list”?  What illusion keeps us thinking that perhaps we have a better idea than God and that is why we can justify not embracing the cross in our own lives?  Holy Week is intended to utterly demolish any such false notions.  And that is a very good thing.

Again, I invite you to walk through the events of this Week as if you were living them for the first time.  Let it become your prayer.  There are so many things the Lord would reveal to us if we would put aside the props and distractions of our lives so we can get quiet and listen for His voice.

I guarantee you this: that the joy of your Easter will be in direct proportion to the degree to which you have embraced the cross.  This is true both in time and eternity. 

There are too many who are content to simply jump from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday.  They want the easy path of least resistance.  They want a cross-less victory.  Such a thing is impossible.  For this flesh cannot inherit eternal life.  If our sin is not purged then we will not be ready for heaven.  Since that is true, let us endure the agony of the cross in our own lives- however it may appear- so that we will have the rest of eternity in the glory of heaven.

With these thoughts I invite you to join me as we walk with our Lord through the events of Holy Week.  Cling not to the passing adulation of the crowds.  The sound of their praises will fade away and before you will lay bare the way of the cross.  Fear not!  This is the way of the Master.  Should not the disciple tread it still?