Reflection – Dr Nathan Leber

What a difference a week makes! Today, we witness Christ’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. By Friday, he is crucified as a criminal. Seeing Jesus on a colt, cloaks laid out so as not to touch the ground, a vision of victory and royalty, we can be mistaken in seeing this King different from the humble Jesus presented throughout his ministry. However, the prophet Zechariah had spoken of the Messiah’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, riding on a colt (9:9-10; 14.1-5). This is the presentation of Jesus as the Messiah, and not just our Christian belief, but the vision of the one the Jews had been waiting for. His dominion was revealed to the world for only the briefest of moments. This adds further sorrow to Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem’s future downfall – “all because you did not recognise your opportunity when God offered it!” (Luke 19: 41-44)

Jesus offers them what they had imagined him to be and in doing so revealed his fulfilment of the messianic tradition. This arrival in Jerusalem is the moment Luke’s Gospel had been building towards. Yes, the triumph of Palm Sunday increases our sadness over what is coming – the sharp contrast cannot help but create this, but today forms part of the paschal mystery as well. Christ was the Messiah, He was the Son of God, there is no denying it with this public display. Jesus forces their hand, creating choice – our greatest blessing and downfall. In this revelation, those who turned against him did so in full realisation of their actions…and yet, in his dying act of mercy he still offer them forgiveness, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.”

Despite all the signs, miracles, preaching and evidence, he was abandoned by His own. Psalm 22 this week completes Jesus’ fulfilment, as he cried out, nailed to the cross, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?) Listen to the words of this Psalm and you will see Christ’s journey told centuries before his death. Everything Jesus did gave evidence to his place as the Messiah and King. Even his promise to the second criminal uses the word ‘paradise’, a Persian loan-word meaning ‘king’s garden’. All this proof, and yet still we doubt, we question his word, we pretend to know the will of God, we find loopholes in doctrines and scripture to allow ourselves to follow our particular brand of Catholicism.

So, as we look deep in ourselves at all those time we failed to follow Christ in word and deed, those times we let mortal life take precedent over our divine responsibilities, every time we turned away from those in need, let us ask as we look at the jubilation of Christ’s triumphant entry as The Redeemer, the King Divine, “My God, my god, why did I abandoned you?” Ask for forgiveness and know that the same promise of paradise awaits. After all, Jesus died for all those who were abandoned, and that includes us.

Dr Nathan Leber