April 13, 2025
Lectionary Readings: Lk 19:28-40; Is 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14-23:56
Theme: Who Killed Jesus?
Palm Sunday is a momentous day in the Christian calendar, recalling Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah. It is the beginning of Holy Week. We are invited to contemplate the humility and majesty of Christ’s kingship and to reflect on our commitment to follow Him on the path of love, sacrifice, and salvation. With Holy Week we now enter into the climax of the Lenten season after five weeks of preparation.
The whole week from today until Easter Sunday should be seen as one unit – what is commonly called the Paschal Mystery which includes the sufferings, death, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost. With conflicting emotions, we enter into Holy Week. On the one hand we celebrate the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the city of David. There is a glorious welcome for the Messiah along with the mood of Joy and celebration.
But the readings immediately take us into contrasting emotions, narrating the passion of the Lord. We know that Jesus enters the city of David not for establishing an earthly kingdom. He will not wage a war and take over the seat of power. He would rather shed his own blood and sacrifice his life for the redemption of the world. There is still joy in it as it brings freedom and reconciliation. But it is at the cost of Jesus’ suffering and death. Do we need to mourn or celebrate?
Today’s gospel passage portrays the invitation to follow Christ amid suffering, adversity, and the cost of discipleship. This sets the tone for the whole week until Easter Sunday when we genuinely celebrate the victory of Jesus over death. As Jesus carries the sins of the world and does reparation, we shall accompany him, gratefully partaking in his suffering and death.
This is a good time for us as Christians to remind ourselves of the importance of avoiding unintended anti-Jewish prejudice in our reflection, our preaching and our teaching, keeping in mind that the Church today promotes an appreciation of Jesus’ Jewishness and the Jewish roots of Christianity that teaches that the Jewish people remain the beloved of God who is faithful to divine promises (see Rom. 11:28-29; Nostra Aetate, 4). However, it is good to remind ourselves that this was not always the case. This negativity developed into a pattern of anti-Jewish attitudes adopted by the Christian faithful for nearly two millennia. Jews have been depicted in Christian writings, preaching, images and various forms of art as a cursed people, rejected by God for not accepting Jesus as Messiah. A supersessionist mentality regarded Judaism as obsolete and simply replaced by the Church.
Thankfully, the Second Vatican Council put an end to these distortions by way of official Church teaching. It is now widely recognized that certain New Testament texts when not adequately explained and interpreted can perpetuate anti-Jewish attitudes which in the history of the Church have caused great suffering in Jewish communities. A number of these texts appear during the Holy Week liturgies which are frequented by most Christians. Hence, we are asked to be vigilant in avoiding the possibility of transmitting prejudice or false interpretations of scripture as we celebrate these important Christian feasts.
Bibliography: Light of Torah. Preaching Without Unintended Prejudice (2015), Mimeographed Notes.
This week’s Sunday Liturgy Commentary was prepared by
Roy da Silva, MTh [Biblical Theology], India. Bat Kol alumnus, 2002 – 2006, 2015
[Copyright © 2025]
Comments are closed