Commemoration of the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem: Luke 19: 28-40 / Reading of the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ: Luke 22: 14 – 23: 56 Holy Week, beginning today with the festive nature of Palm Sunday, is the unfolding of a great drama – the drama of humanity’s rejection of Christ being met by His steadfast and undying love for us. It begins on Palm Sunday as Jesus enters Jerusalem amid shouts of joy and praise with people saying, “Blessed is the king who comes!” We know how the story goes. As is narrated in the Passion of our Lord Jesus according to Luke, it doesn’t seem to go well. Friday ends in death on a cross; the Lord’s body was laid in a tomb. All appeared lost on that lonely and violence-filled afternoon. As he rode into Jerusalem on a colt, Jesus was not oblivious to what would unfold in his life. He knew the cross awaited him. Yes, he knew and he knows human nature quite well. Jesus knew that the praise and adulation of that first Palm Sunday would not last. Jesus hoped for love, but he knew rejection was a very real possibility. Still, he continued on, which led him to Calvary and the cross. Even as he was crucified, nailed to the cross and death closed in on him, Christ continued giving His all. Mercy kept flowing. He kept on loving, even those who crucified him. In one of his more memorable sermons, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., highlights how this moment might appear as a clash between God’s love and man’s sin, but that it is a point where the light of Christ and his mercy enter fully into the reality of human evil. In preaching about the cross, he states: “I am reminded not only of Christ at his best, but of man at his worst.”⁎ When we say, “His mercy endure forever,” not only does it mean that his mercy is eternal, but that it emanates from his heart at all times and even in the most difficult of circumstances, even in the midst of his Passion. The words of Jesus say it all in that very instance: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34a).⁑ Martin Luther King, Jr: describes this moment and response of Jesus to his crucifiers with characteristic clarity: “This is love at its best.”⁂ If you take away anything about Christ and his mission, especially his Passion, may it be the truth that no matter how much rejection we or humanity can give him, he never gives up on us. It is not in his heart to reject us or anyone; it’s always in his heart to love. As we contemplate the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and his outstretched arms, may our hearts be stretched to love as he loves us, forgive as he forgives us, live fully, both now and forever, as He lived and lives. As we contemplate the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and move through Holy Week towards Easter, may we experience consolation in knowing that we are always, no matter what, within the reach of his Divine Mercy; may we extend his arms so that others know his embrace. “The Love of Christ impels us!” Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P. Notes: ⁎ Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love (Fortress Press: Minneapolis, 2010), 41. ⁑ https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041022.cfm