Hosanna To The Messiah! Crucify Him!
2024년 3월 24일Hosanna To The Messiah! Crucify Him!
< Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord >
With the distribution of blessed palms we begin Holy Week commemorating Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and then, by reading of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we focus in a special way on his final hours of betrayal, arrest, torture and execution. We participate in a fuller way in these events by receiving blessed palms and then reading out loud the part of the crowd that welcomes Jesus with “Hosannas!” and five days later yells for his crucifixion. Scripture scholars are quick to point out that these are two entirely different crowds. Those shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David!” were undoubtedly his disciples. Those calling for his crucifixion were surely the religious leaders. But by our participating in both roles, we learn an important lesson: at some time in our life we will indeed play both roles: sometimes we will proudly claim to be Catholics and followers of Christ; at other times our actions– or maybe inactions– will appear as if we are opposing Christ.
Unlike Holy Week, sometimes we play both of these roles within minutes of each other! We might defend the honor of someone whom people are gossiping about, but later if people start to spread rumors about someone we don’t particularly like, we might actually join in the gossip or laugh at the jokes made at other’s expense. I confess I do this sometimes as well. But through the sacrament of confession I try to be more aware of doing this by reminding myself that the person I’m making fun of is Christ himself! The point of Holy Week is to reeducate ourselves into becoming better, holier people, whose sins were forgiven and whom God continues to invite to becoming better by renewing our lives.