Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (Year B)

At the Procession with Palms

Mk 11:1-10 or Jn 12:12-16

At the Mass

Is 50:4-7;
Ps 22;
Phil 2:6-11;
Mk 14:1-15:47

BIBLICAL-MISSIONARY COMMENTARY

The Heart of Divine Mission

Palm Sunday is also called Passion Sunday because “two ancient traditions shape this unique liturgical celebration: the custom of a procession in Jerusalem, and the reading of the Passion in Rome” (Homiletic Directory 77). Therefore, the Church document continues, “The exuberance surrounding Christ’s regal entry immediately gives way to the reading of one of the Songs of the Suffering Servant and the solemn proclamation of the Lord’s Passion.” Thus, we immediately enter into the atmosphere of Holy Week - the events of Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem - which is the culmination of his earthly life and the very core of his divine mission.

In this regard, as the above directory emphasizes, “In the liturgical celebrations of the coming week we do not simply commemorate what Jesus did; we are plunged into the Paschal Mystery itself, dying and rising with Christ.” In other words, it is not simply a remembrance of what happened in the past, but a realization of the mystery of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection for us in the present. We are called to relive these events, to participate in them, moreover, to die to ourselves for a new life in Christ and in God. It will therefore be fundamental to listen attentively and humbly to the Word of God that speaks abundantly to us today, and in the coming days, in the readings as well as in various liturgical prayers. It is also necessary to have an attitude of personal reflection and meditation on what has been heard, to enter into the depths of the mystery being celebrated.

The Passion of Jesus, his suffering, death and resurrection was the center of the first Christians’ proclamation, because it is the heart of his divine mission, so much so that the Gospel has been elegantly called “the Passion narrative with a long introduction.” In the Passion, the mission God entrusted to his Son, by sending him into the world, is ultimately fulfilled. It is also the starting point for the mission that Jesus now entrusts to his disciples, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you,” (Jn 20:21) said the risen Christ to his disciples.

Therefore, the spiritual richness of Jesus’ Passion is immense for Christian life and mission. What I share with you for these special days of Holy Week is just some introductory notes, which hopefully may invite all to deeper personal reflection and meditation upon its meaning for us. On this Palm Sunday, before the procession of the palms and in the narrative of the Passion according to the Evangelist Mark, we contemplate three “anonymous” figures: the colt, the woman who anoints, and the young man who flees when Jesus is arrested. These figures, mentioned almost in passing, turn out to be very fascinating and very formative for our mystical life with Jesus in this Holy Week, the culmination of our salvation.

1. The Colt of Jesus

For the triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah-king, Jesus chose to ride a colt. Some might ask why not a horse to emphasize the royal, victorious and powerful character. The answer is found in Sacred Scripture. Although St. Mark does not make any comment about this, Matthew’s gospel points out, “This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: ‘Say to daughter Zion, ‘Behold, your king comes to you, meek and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden’” (Mt 21:4-5, quoting Zec 9:9). This is also the case with St. John the Evangelist, who, after the quotation of the biblical text in question, comments: “His disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done this for him” (Jn 12:16).

Jesus’ choice, therefore, wants to emphasize the fulfillment of the messianic era already foretold and, at the same time, to emphasize meekness, and not power, as his distinctive character in realizing the divine plan. His victory will never be that of violent domination that annihilates enemies, but that of meek and merciful love that raises all to the new life in God.

Accordingly, if the horse is an animal associated with wartime, the donkey/colt is an animal of everyday life in times of peace. Thus, Jesus’ image on the colt signals another fundamental characteristic of the new messianic era that He now establishes. It is peace, that Shalom in Hebrew, which means not only the absence of war, but also, and above all, life in full harmony with God, from whom all happiness, well-being, and prosperity come. As the evangelist Luke notes, the crowd accompanying Jesus proclaimed, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.”

Jesus’ mission, therefore, is the one that God declared through the prophet Jeremiah, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you – oracle of the LORD – plans for your welfare [shalom] and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope” (Jer 29:11). That is why, when Jesus sent his disciples, he instructed them to say as a greeting, “Peace to this household” (Lk 10:5). And the risen Christ himself greeted his disciples in the same way, “Peace be with you.”

2. The Woman of the Anointing

In this mission of peace of Jesus, which now reaches its peak, in these last days of his on earth, in the total gift of himself in death, a mysterious woman, unnamed, accompanied him with a spontaneous but significant act, that of anointing his head before his passion. What the woman did (who, moreover, never spoke!) reveals itself to be so important for Jesus himself that it not only deserved His defense (“Leave her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. [...] She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial”), but it has also “earned” a declaration from Jesus truly unparalleled for a character in the Gospel: “Truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” “In memory of her,” or in another possible translation from the original Greek εἰς μνημόσυνον αὐτῆς (eis mnemosynon autes): “In remembrance of her.” This, in some ways, echoes Jesus’ recommendation to the disciples for the celebration of the Eucharist: “Do this in memory of me!” (εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν – eis ten men anamnesis). Not by chance did the renowned French biblical scholar Légasse write in his commentary: “[With this remembrance of the woman] It is not simply a reminiscence of a past event: the term mnemosynon, like the Hebrew ziqqaron, which in the Septuagint [Greek version of the Ancient Testament] is often its translation, or like anamnèsis, engages the present of the community that remembers what was good and remains so for it.” It is also noted with the same author that “here this remembrance concerns not the actions or words of Jesus, but, exceptionally, the action of a woman of whom not even the name has been preserved.”

Among the significant details of the story, there is one that particularly struck me: “She broke the alabaster flask and poured the perfume on his head.” The decisive action of breaking the flask is eloquent because it was not necessary at all to do so to pour out the contents, but it instead reveals the woman’s intention to use the flask exclusively for Jesus. Thus, with the precious and costly perfume inside (worth more than 300 denarii, almost a year’s salary), the broken flask for Jesus becomes the symbol of the woman’s very life, offered entirely to the Master in the mystery of His passion and death.

There is still so much to say about this Gospel episode, but due to limited time, I leave to the readers the pleasure of meditating on each detail of the story during this Holy Week, to then be inspired by the Word of God to act generously like the woman herself towards Jesus in his passion. As Jesus acknowledged, she did what she could, offering everything she had without considering the cost to accompany Jesus in his passion. And we, his disciples today, are willing to do what we truly can for Jesus? Women, like this one and also the anonymous widow with the two coins in the temple, have offered to the Lord all the little they had, leaving the testimony of faith and love that radiated throughout the world and until the end of time. Thus, the Byzantine tradition has written a beautiful antiphon on the action of the woman of the anointing, later called Mary by tradition, which is worth mentioning: “When Mary breaks the flask, the whole house is filled with perfume, the whole world is filled with the Gospel, and the entire universe with God’s saving grace.”

3. The Youth Who Flees “naked”

Let’s conclude the reflection with a few words about the mysterious youth who flees at the arrest of Jesus. Among the evangelists, only Saint Mark mentions this figure and therefore knows the event. This leads many, in the long tradition of the Church, to think that perhaps it is Saint Mark himself. Without passing judgment on this hypothesis, we only want to underline the spiritual significance that emerges behind the event. Ironically, as the famous American biblical scholar R. Brown says, if at the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus called the disciples and they left everything to follow Him, now, at the decisive moment of the mission, all His disciples fled from Him; indeed, some were even willing to leave everything behind, just to escape “naked”! Perhaps we need to ask ourselves if indeed that youth sometimes is not one of us, you or I: to not “lose” our lives, we leave Jesus alone and our garment of faith in him.

Let’s continue our celebration and strive to follow Jesus, teacher and Lord, even in this week, with the renewed generosity of the woman and with the zeal of the true disciple who does not flee in the face of difficulties, all to continue his mission of peace. Jesus, the true peacemaker, blesses his disciples who work for peace, the genuine divine peace that starts with a heart reconciled to God (cf. Mt 5:9). And for peace, Jesus, the Messiah-king, sacrificed himself to make everyone choose life in God over death. In a world still torn asunder by violent conflicts and senseless wars to assert power and dominance, the time has come for us, Jesus’ disciples, to proclaim him as “our peace” even more loudly and convincingly than we already may do. Indeed, he always remains our one and only genuine peace to be shared with all. The fruit of Christ’s mission is lasting peace, now entrusted to his missionary disciples, and, in mystery, made real and present in this Holy Week of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.