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April 5, 2020Today’s liturgy begins with the Gospel account of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem. Those who received Jesus and acclaimed him as king recognized him as both Son of David and Savior. Jesus does not enter the Holy City to receive the honors reserved for earthly kings but to be mocked and insulted as Isaiah foretold in the first reading.
Faithful to his Father, he enters to receive a crown of thorns, a reed staff, and a scarlet cloak of a gentile soldier before climbing Calvary to mount a royal throne. On the cross, he is reviled as a sinner, a blasphemer, and a threat to both the religious and secular institutions of the day.
To the world, the Lord’s life and mission came to an end that day; to him, his life and his death was offered as a ransom for many that day. For the fearful, confused, and sinful, he has become the very way back to the Father.
In following the lead of our Shepherd King, we may experience failure, abandonment, powerlessness; we too are prone to fear, confusion and sin. Through the Lord’s death and resurrection, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit is given to each of us that we might reign with him. We do so by loving, serving and forgiving like him.
Anticipating the celebration of Easter Sunday, we pray during these holiest of days of the year, for the grace to come to full faith in him as Son of God who alone conquers sin, evil and death.
