A Homily For Passion Sunday, 2007
Today we hold in our hands palm branches. Why? What is the significance of palm branches? In the ancient world, palm branches were the symbol of victory. The elegance, strength and simplicity of this tree became a symbol for the Israelites in the Old Testament of the just person, the one in whom God’s law triumphed. Palm branches also symbolized victory for the Romans. Palm trees were not native to Italy, and so, when the Romans started conquering nations in the Mediterranean, the generals brought palm trees back to Rome as souvenirs of their victories.
The crowds waving palm branches as Jesus entered Jerusalem, which we heard in today’s first Gospel reading, were declaring His victory – and we join in their celebration. But what victory did Jesus win, and how did He win it?
Jesus’ victory is over sin, particularly original sin. What is original sin? To understand it, we must look at the first few chapters in the Book of Genesis. After creating the first human beings, Adam and Eve, made in His Divine Image, God placed them in His garden “to till it and to care for it” (Genesis 2:15). God provided everything for Adam and Eve for them to live a life of perfect happiness. However, God did place limitations on them. Of the many trees in the garden, God said that they could eat from any of them except one; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God wanted to give that knowledge as a gift to Adam and Eve, at His good time. However our first parents rebelled against the limitations that God placed on them. They chose to believe the devil’s lie, so that they could be “like gods” (Genesis 3:5). Original sin was mankind’s disobedience to God and obedience to the devil, and it shattered our relationship with God, let loose the scourge of evil, and gave the devil a certain power over earthly society.
We too find it difficult to accept our human limitations. We long to be masters of our lives, in full control of our destiny. When we say that we want to be beautiful, strong and successful, we are really saying that we want to be “like gods.” Yet nothing we do can satisfy the deepest longings of our heart. Only God, who is infinite, perfect Love, Beauty, Truth, and Justice can fulfill our deepest longings.
Through His passion, death and resurrection, Jesus reversed the disobedience of original sin by obeying His Father’s will in spite of all the devil’s attempts to thwart Him. In that beautiful hymn that St. Paul gives us in today’s second reading, we hear how Jesus wins His victory for us, “Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God…Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness” (Philippians 2:6-7). In other words, Jesus accepted the human condition with all its limitations. Because of His perfect obedience, even “to the point of death, even death on a cross, … God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name…” (Philippians 2:8-9).
The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard.” By His obedience Jesus establishes a beachhead in this world that is under the devil’s sway. Jesus’ passion is D-Day for the devil, and liberation for us. This is the victory we celebrate.
This victory is too wonderful to keep to ourselves. In addition to giving thanks to God for the great things He has done, we need to bear witness to this victory in the world for there are still people who do not know about it. They do not know Christ Jesus, or maybe they are afraid to follow Him. They need to be liberated by Him. They need to learn that by uniting their sufferings in this fallen world to Christ’s sufferings they can become meaningful and fruitful.
There are two ways that each one of us can make this Holy Week truly holy, not only for ourselves, but for those around us – by our words and our deeds. We should not be afraid to speak of Christ and the meaning of His passion. We are His messengers so that others can encounter Jesus Christ risen from the dead. The Holy Spirit can work through us; we just need to be ready and willing to answer the call. We can also image Christ’s Passion this week by doing what He did, by sharing our neighbors’ burdens, by taking upon ourselves the crosses of others. It can be as simple as a phone call to someone feeling lonely, or inviting someone to come and participate in the Holy Week liturgies.
So wave those palm branches. Celebrate Christ’s victory of love; not only here in church but everywhere we go – even to the ends of the earth.
