PALM SUNDAY (A)
(Isaiah 50:4-7; Philippians 2:6-11;
Matthew 26:14 – 27:66)
In Matthew’s
presentation of the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ we heard some
words that are not to be found in the other Gospel accounts:
Jesus said to him, “Put your
sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the
sword. Do you think that I cannot call
upon My Father and He will not provide Me at this moment with more than twelve
legions of angels? But then how would
the Scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must come to pass in this way?”
Those words show us that Jesus lived His life, as St. Paul (1
Corinthians 15:3) puts it, ‘in accordance with the Scriptures’:
I handed on to you as of first
importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance
with the Scriptures; that He was buried; that He was raised on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures.
Jesus Himself would seem to have confirmed this when, after
His Resurrection, He appeared to His disciples on the way to Emmaus and said:
Oh, how foolish you are! How slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and
all the prophets, He interpreted to them what referred to Him in all the Scriptures.
(Luke 24:25-27)
Therefore, Jesus can be said to have lived His life ‘in
accordance with the Scriptures’; but what does, what should, such a statement
mean for men and women of today?
It can all too easily be understood as saying that Jesus
looked to the Scriptures to find out what was planned in advance for Him, to discover
actions for His obedience to bring to fulfilment ‘in accordance with the
Scriptures’. However, it is noticeable
that St. John never uses the phrase ‘in accordance with the Scriptures’, or
even the word ‘Scriptures’, in such a way as to give the impression that Jesus
learned in authoritative detail from the Scriptures how He should live His life. On the contrary, indeed, John quotes a saying
of Jesus to the Jews that we do not find elsewhere, a saying that would seem to
warn us against any such misunderstanding of the Scriptures; for speaking to
His Jewish critics He declared:
You search the Scriptures,
because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my
behalf; (John 5:39)
before
shortly going on to say:
Just as the Father … gives life, so also does
the Son give life to whomever He wishes; (John
5:21)
The Scriptures testify to the God of salvation, they guide
those who meditate on them to that God; but the reality of eternal life is
exclusively the Gift of God, the Gift of Jesus, Who have that life in themselves;
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Gift of God, are Lord of Life and
of the Scriptures.
John himself therefore prefers to express the truth contained
in those words ‘in accordance with the Scriptures’ by emphasizing Jesus’
constant communion with and perfect understanding of His Father:
My food is to do the will of the
One Who sent Me, and to finish His work; I came down from heaven, not to
do My own will, but the will of the One Who sent Me; (John 4:34, 6:38)
The God and Father Who sent His Son as man on earth had
prepared Israel through the Scriptures and inspired prophets for over 2000
years to receive Him: to become first of all a fitting ‘seed-bed’ where the Son
could strike root, so to speak, and also to become a Chosen People able to
recognize, appreciate, and respond with grateful love to Him when ultimately He
came among them. The whole purpose of the Jewish Scriptures was, therefore, to
prepare for and lead to Israel’s promised Messiah, the Son of God and Saviour
of mankind; and those Scriptures continue to validly serve that same purpose
today.
As for Jesus Himself, however, He did not need to learn how
to live His life from the Scriptures -- inspired indeed -- but received,
conceived, and proclaimed by men, for men.
They did, of course, give Jesus light, comfort, and strength, as He grew
to manhood; and as mature man He delighted in them as a revelation of His
Father’s lovingly providential preparation for His advent. But for His own life’s ultimate guidance and
fulfilment, Jesus was in constant Personal, prayerful, communion with His
Father:
I am not alone, I am with the
Father Who sent Me.
When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will
realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on My own, but I say only what the
Father taught Me.
The One who sent Me is with Me.
He has not left Me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to Him.” (John 8:16, 28–29)
The Spirit of God -- given provisionally and proleptically
to Israel in and through her Scriptures and her prophets -- is now given, in
the name of Jesus, Personally and in supreme fullness, to Mother Church, and through
her offered to all the faithful by her proclamation of the Good News of the
Gospel and bestowal of Jesus’ baptism, as by her celebration of the Eucharist
and all the other sacraments of the glorified Jesus.
Just as the living Father sent
Me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats Me will live because of
Me. (John 6:57)
And St. John urges us, People of God, in the power of the
Holy Spirit to recognize, appreciate, and welcome in the Scriptures a truly
Personal aspect: a call from the Father Who wills to communicate Personally
with His children in Jesus. We should
not merely ‘scrutinize’ the Scriptures for stark facts and objective information,
but meditate on, and study, them for the teaching they contain. Yet more, however, and indeed preferentially,
we should use those Scriptures as an
inspiration and invitation to ever deeper understanding of and communion with the
God Who in His great goodness wants to hear our personal response to His
invitation and sacrificial commitment to us His children, called in Jesus, through
the Spirit.
Moreover, St. John seems to be telling us that Jesus did
indeed live His life in accordance with the Scriptures, but God’s purpose for
us can only be meaningfully recognized, truly appreciated, and allowed to grow
and fully develop in us, when we understand the Scriptures, both Old and New, ‘in
accordance with Jesus in the bosom of His Father.’
Dear People of God, we are on the threshold of a week’s celebration
of Jesus’ love for us in the name of His Father and the power of their Holy
Spirit: love the Scriptures that tell us what He did and suffered for our sake,
and will explain the eternal purpose and the sublime meaning of those sufferings. Above all, however, use the Scriptures for personal communion with your God and
Saviour; allow them to move, to inspire, you to love in return -- with fitting
understanding and total personal commitment -- the Father Who is calling you
through those Scriptures; the Saviour Who is goes before you as Shepherd and Saviour;
the Gift Who -- as your intimate strength, counsellor and comforter -- wills to
bring you to eternal fulfilment in your human identity and in your Christian vocation
as a true and well-loved child of God.
