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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Solemnity

The Purpose of the Palm

Someone once told me that people come to church on Palm Sunday because  they get something. But I like to think that palm says something they recognize  as true. 

“He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness,”  writes Paul, quoting the words of an early Christian hymn. “He humbled himself,  becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” follow soon  after (Philippians 2:7, 8). Emptying and humbling are the two key words embracing the trajectory of the life of Jesus Christ, the Son of God: from incarnation to  passion and death. 

He poured himself out for us and for our salvation, certainly suffering physically—from the beating, the scourging, the crowning with thorns, being struck  with a reed, spat upon, prodded, pushed, and stumbling up the hill to Golgotha.  Then he was stretched out on a crossbeam, nailed to it, and lifted up, his body  suspended between heaven and earth. Finally, he suffocated, unable to raise  himself to take in more air. 

There was also the inner suffering of abandonment, of seeing his disciples run  off, of realizing that all those who had cried “Hosanna” a few days ago had either  been silent or had cried out, “Crucify him.” Only the women had remained with him. 

Today, when we take home a piece of palm, it invites us to prepare to renew  our baptismal promises on Easter. Then we can add our voices to that solitary  voice almost two millennia ago, saying, “Truly, this is the Son of God!” 

Consider/Discuss

  • Do you have a special place for the blessed palm so it can call you  to remember? 
  • What does Mark’s Passion say to you? 

Responding to the Word

Loving God, lift up our hearts to give you thanks and praise for all you have  done for us through the saving death of your Son. We sing out in our day, “Blessed  is he who continues to come in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.” 

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Scripture Study for

The prophet’s ability to speak and the words that are spoken all come from  God, but they are given for the sake of the weary. The speaker suffers both physical attack and personal insult. Despite this, he does not recoil from his call. He  willingly accepts what appears to be the consequence of his prophetic ministry  to the weary. In the face of his affliction, he maintains that God is his strength. For  this reason, he declares that he is not disgraced and he will not be put to shame.  There are no grounds to make these claims other than utter confidence in God. 

The Philippians hymn states that though in the form of God, Christ chose the  form of a slave. Without losing his Godlike being, he took on the likeness of  human beings. He did not merely resemble a human being, he really was one.  In a sense, Christ’s crucifixion, a common punishment for slaves, was inevitable  given his controversial teaching. However, his subsequent exaltation is as glorious as his humiliation was debasing. It is important to note that while Christ  was the subject of his self-emptying, his superexaltation is attributed directly to  God. Now every knee shall do him homage and every tongue shall proclaim his  sovereignty.

The entire Passion narrative lays bare the contradiction of Jesus’ life and the  paradox of God’s reign. The initial fear of the religious leaders shows that Jesus  had a following among the people, but it was the people who cried for the release  of Barabbas and Jesus’ own death. Among his intimate followers, only the women  remained faithful; one anointed him, others kept watch at his crucifixion and took  note of where he was buried. Of the men who knew him well, one betrayed him,  another denied him, and the rest fled for safety. It was a foreigner, a centurion,  who publicly acclaimed his divinity. At the moment of his greatest agony, he was  recognized as the Son of God. 

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A Feast for Searchers

“If there weren’t any Wise Men, there should have been,” a spiritual mentor once told me. This was at a time when a story’s truth was equated with its being  factual. The story of the Wise Men is true, whether it is factual in its details or  not. From the beginning of time, there have been those who have been searching for “truth” or “light” or other divine signals. This journey often begins when  something in our world catches the attention of those looking up or out from  themselves, glimpsing a “star” beckoning. 

The truth behind the story of the Wise Men affirms that God sends out signals  for searchers to pick up on and move further down the road that will take them to  God. Sometimes we might get lost for a while, our internal GPS ceasing to function because we have made a sudden turn or gone past a suggested turn-off. But,  then, in a moment of grace, we hear a welcome “recalculating,” and we are off on our way once again. 

Even when “darkness covers the earth and thick clouds cover the peoples,”  the One we are searching for is present, and will not let us go off the trail completely—at least not for long, and eventually, in “God’s good time,” we will find  our way. The light will return and the Lord’s glory will shine upon all seekers and  searchers—even some not much interested in seeking or searching. These, especially, are the ones the Son of Man came to save. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Are you a searcher, a seeker after “something”? Can you name it?
  • Have you had any experience of “finding God,” or “coming to Christ”?
  • Have you ever been a “star” for another? 

Responding to the Word

Jesus, send the guiding light we all need to find you. Sometimes there is only  darkness and we grow tired, frightened, even hopeless. Be with us then and bring  us to that place where you can be found. We pray with St. John Henry Newman:  “Lead, kindly Light, amidst th’encircling gloom. Lead thou me on!” Amen.

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Scripture Study for

Isaiah speaks of enlightenment. He cries out to Jerusalem, “Arise!” “Shine!”  Jerusalem is not only delivered from its misfortune by God, but also it is reestablished as a thriving city. Its dispersed inhabitants return, its destroyed reputation  is restored, and its despoiled prosperity is reconstituted. This is not a promise  to be fulfilled in the future; Jerusalem’s salvation is an accomplished fact. It is  happening before the city’s very eyes. Such good fortune is evidence of God’s  favor. This good favor is another reason why the city is summoned, “Arise and  shine forth!” 

The Letter to the Ephesians declares that in Christ the Gentiles are coheirs,  comembers and copartners with the Jews. According to the author, the status of  the Gentiles had to be revealed because it had been secret until now. The apostles and prophets constituted the foundation of the church. Now, it is through this  appointed messenger that the Spirit reveals a new revelation to that established  church. This new revelation contains a startling message. It claims that in Christ  the Gentiles are coheirs, comembers, and copartners with the Jews. This is a radical insight for a church with Jewish roots and traditions. 

The story of the Three Kings or Three Wise Men was probably a kind of  haggadah or popular Jewish story fashioned from diverse biblical material intended to make a spiritual rather than historical point. This does not mean that the  story is not true. It means that the truth of it is more in the total story and its  meaning than in any or all of its details. The point of the story is that these men  were not Israelite, but they were nonetheless open to and in search of God’s  plan. The story illustrates that people of good will, regardless of their ethnic or  religious background, can be responsive to the revelation of God. These men  searched for and found the child, and they did not go away disappointed.

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A New Time of Hope

What do you seek in a new year? What blessing do you ask of God, who has  revealed the depth of divine love in the birth of Jesus? Consider the blessing  the Lord ordered Moses to give to Aaron and his sons to speak to the people of  Israel. God offered them a blessing that brings divine protection through God’s  gracious presence, revealing a God who intends to look kindly upon and give  peace to the chosen people. 

Our annual celebration of Christmas extends these same blessings into God’s  plan that we become adopted into the family of God by our birth in Christ  through baptism. We are given not only the freedom that comes from being made  children of God, taken up into a relationship allowing us to call God Abba (Father),  but also to consider ourselves as heirs and inheritors of our God’s kingdom when  we pass from this life to eternal life.

The name Jesus means “God saves.” This is the message of this season: God  became one of us to save us, to seek us out and bring us into communion with  the God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are invited to think of ourselves  as part of the family of the Trinity. Mary is set before us every first day of the new  year as the woman who ponders this wonderful mystery of God-become-human  from the beginning. She gently extends to us an invitation to quiet reflection,  prayer, and praise. 

Consider/Discuss

  • Why do you think this feast of Mary was chosen for New Year’s Day?
  • Have you spent time “pondering” God’s gift of divine life to you,  given in baptism? 

Responding to the Word

Mary, mother of Jesus, God’s Son and our Savior, you were ever attentive to  what God was asking of you, keeping the law of Moses, but also open to hearing  and obeying God’s ongoing call in your life. Pray for us to be attentive to what  God will say and ask of us during this new year of grace. Amen.

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