Palm Sunday (Cycle A)

The tie in between today’s readings: Faith’s Spiritual Dimension

Psalm 22:8-24, Isaiah 50:4-7, Philippians 2:6-11, Matthew 26:14-27:66

Our readings on this Palm Sunday focus on Good Friday.  Matthew 26:14-27:66 is the Apostle’s account from Judas’s betrayal to Jesus’ burial. Even though you may be familiar with the story, it will be worthwhile to read it again. Like rewatching a good movie, you pick up on things that you may have missed the first time around. With that in mind, you can approach our Lord’s sacrifice from quite a few different angles. Many sermons explain Jesus’ physical sufferings from a medical point of view. Some pastors go for emotion as they ask you to place yourself at the cross and react to His agony. You may have even sat through character analysis that explain the actions of the Good Friday participants. All of these are done to get you to make a connection with Christ’s crucifixion. The problem is that it leaves our understanding on a superficial level. Faith can’t work there. Just believing the truth that Jesus suffered a horrific death, paid for sins, and rose again on Easter Sunday won’t get your faith to where it needs to be. You’ve got to look behind the scene at the other dimension. That’s where you can see this story again, for the first time.

Besides guiding us in this physical world, the Bible reveals a co-existing spiritual world. This physics of that sphere are much different from this material one. Today’s readings in Psalm 22:8-24 and Isaiah 50:4-7 are examples. Both give insight into the life of Christ, His crucifixion, and even His very thoughts. By whatever means these revelations are accomplished, something beyond this world occurred. So, why bother with this? We need this other dimensional mindset. We, ourselves, need to transcend space and time to better grasp our own participation in Christ’s sacrifice.

God established sacrificial rules in the Bible in order to have a relationship with us. Throughout the Old Testament, God was pleased with the believer who responded to Him with heartfelt love and sacrifice. But, even then, he was a flawed sinner in a disrupted condition with his Creator. The physical sacrifices of the Old Testament could not reach the world beyond to mend his sin broken condition with the Almighty (Hebrews 10:4). So, The Father offered His own sacrifice instead. God loved us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to bring us back to Himself. Now, on Good Friday, the Messiah fulfills His destiny as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Behind the scenes…in the spiritual dimension…strange things are happening.

Jesus stands before His Father. He is not alone. Beside Him is a sinner; it could be anyone of us. They are gathered together for, of all things…a wedding. This sinner has accepted the Lord’s proposal in marriage and is betrothed to the Son of God. We call this many things: accepting Jesus as Savior, entering into Christ’s sufferings, cooperating with our Baptism, Second Conversion, etc. It all comes down to the fact that this sinner, as a bride, now belongs to Jesus. The Father pronounces them man and wife. The two have become one. With that, something marvelous occurs. Jesus, acting out of love and as our high priest, ransoms His sinner bride with His own blood.

Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

and the bride…

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

They both die. Jesus dies physically on the cross. The bride dies spiritually with Him in the sacrifice. The Resurrection validates the triumphant reality of this union.

The idea of marriage to Jesus for salvation may seem a little farfetched…but think about it. The description of the believer as being a priest, a bride, and part of Christ’s body, all fit into this scenario. The sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ is the most intimate relationship that a person can enter into. We must expand our thinking into it! That’s why faith is so necessary for salvation. Only faith can bring you to that deeper dimension beyond space and time to the cross. There you can meet, Jesus Christ the lover of your soul. There, by faith, you can join with Him in His death and rise again! Then you will realize a deeper dimension of living as you see yourself along with Christ in the Mass:

“… In the eucharistic celebration we do not simply remember an event in history. Rather, through the mysterious action of the Holy Spirit in the eucharistic celebration the Lord’s Paschal Mystery is made present and contemporaneous to his Spouse the Church. Furthermore, in the eucharistic re-presentation of Christ’s eternal sacrifice before the Father, we are not simply spectators. The priest and the worshiping community are in different ways active in the eucharistic sacrifice. The ordained priest standing at the altar represents Christ as head of the Church. All the baptized, as members of Christ’s Body, share in his priesthood, as both priest and victim. The Eucharist is also the sacrifice of the Church. The Church, which is the Body and Bride of Christ, participates in the sacrificial offering of her Head and Spouse. In the Eucharist, the sacrifice of Christ becomes the sacrifice of the members of his Body who united to Christ form one sacrificial offering (cf. Catechism, no. 1368). As Christ’s sacrifice is made sacramentally present, united with Christ, we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to the Father. ‘The whole Church exercises the role of priest and victim along with Christ, offering the Sacrifice of the Mass and itself completely offered in it’ (Mysterium Fidei, no. 31; cf. Lumen Gentium, no. 11)” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: Basic Questions and Answers).

Finally, in our reading in Philippians 2:6-11, we get a synopsis of the humiliation, passion, and exaltation of our Savior concluding with every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus is Lord. Just one more thought. Jesus is God. Glory, honor majesty, and worship belonged to Him already. What, then, did Jesus get from His mission here on earth? He got you. Nails didn’t hold Him to the cross; love did. He’s waiting for you. Come to the cross. By faith, unite with Christ. Do not neglect His salvation. Too much is at stake. There’s a new life of faith, a marriage feast, and a happily ever after waiting for you.