Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the week when the most significant events in Christian salvation history took place. The suffering and death on the cross of Jesus Christ the only Son of God are for us Christians the most important events in the history of mankind: they are the events that turned the current of history and changed the face of our planet earth. These events are of capital importance, and they are at very heart of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Death on the cross was for the Jews who belonged to the Roman Empire of the First Century A.D. the punishment reserved for the most notorious criminals of the land, much like the firing squad prescribed for armed robbers in our own criminal code. While lynching was the traditional punishment for blasphemy, crucifixion was a most humiliating end brought upon those disowned by society for acts of robbery, banditry, treason and insurrection. Death on the cross was the ultimate statement of rejection made by civil society against those whose behaviour they thought threatened the very basis of the social contract. This is the kind of death that Jesus Christ suffered. The cross, his death-bed was in the eyes of his executioners and adversaries a tree of shame.
The shameful death of Christ on the cross is a vicarious act, a saving event. In John's gospel Jesus Christ likened his death on the cross to the historic event in Numbers 21:8-9. He said while discussing with Nicodemus that just as in the desert Moses lifted up the brazen serpent on a stake, and all those bitten by the poisonous snakes who looked up to it (in faith) were saved, "the Son of Man shall be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." He added that this is an act of God's love, "for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in may not perish but may have everlasting life" (John 3:14-16).
All through his teaching ministry Jesus Christ constantly alluded to and pointed towards this vicarious death that was his fate, the death by which he would bring life to the world. Jesus teaches his followers that the "hour" of his death on the cross is at the same time the "hour" of his glorification. His humiliation and his glorification are not to be conceived separately but are to be seen as one mysterious package, for the cross itself is the Glory of God. In the Gospel of John he constantly talked about when he is "lifted up." It is then his glory shall be seen. It is then he shall draw all men (and women) to himself. It is then we shall know who he really is. But this lifting up refers to the crucifixion (like Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert) as well as the resurrection, the event of Easter Sunday. In this way suffering, rejection and death assume a central place in the life of all who agree to follow Jesus. Though the disciples, like many Christians today, had their various notions about him and their dreams of a future life of power, pleasure and success when they watched him teach with unusual authority and perform miracles, these notions and dreams were shattered with the proclamation of the message of the cross. Their lives henceforth, like his, must be a paradox. They will find life and peace only by following his way of suffering and death.
Jesus Christ matched perfectly Isaiah's image of the "suffering servant" who was led (dumb and docile) to his death, like a sheep to the slaughter. To bring about the desired unity and peace in the human society, to bring about reconciliation between the Creator and the creature, and to establish once again the cosmic equilibrium that was lost due to sin, Jesus lived the life and preached the message of humility, self-denial and self-surrender. To emphasise that the self-abnegation he preached is rooted in love, he told his disciples that there is no greater love than that a man should lay down his life for his friends. And St. Paul told the Romans that what shows the depth of God's love is that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Even while agonising on the cross Christ demonstrated this profound love when he prayed for his executioners: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
It is only through his death on the cross that we get to understand fully what he means when says "blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God"; "blessed are the meek and humble for they shall inherit the earth"; "anyone who wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me...for whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life (for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel) will find it"; "those who humble themselves shall be exalted, and those who exalt themselves shall be humbled"; "whoever wishes to be a leader among you must make himself last and servant of all...for the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for all." Henceforth believers are to enter into this divine logic and make their own the mind of Jesus Christ, who though he was in the form of God did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself taking the form of a slave and was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on the cross.
The life, the message and the death of Jesus Christ are a sign of contradiction to a world of power. The cross of Jesus stands out in contradistinction to the prevailing logic of domination by which powerful men and women make their authority felt. The cross of Jesus stands out against the more familiar logic of oppression, manipulation, control, vengeance and the survival of the fittest among estranged humanity. The cross sums up, consummates or climaxes the many paradoxes of Jesus' life and ministry. This message of the cross according to St. Paulis foolishness to Gentiles and a scandal which the Jews cannot overcome. But he says that to those on the way to salvation (whether Jew or Gentile), it is the power and wisdom of God, for "God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." The cross is the most graphic image of God's love, the veritable symbol of His mercy, forgiveness and compassion, and the locus of His ultimate revelation or self-communication. The cross reveals to us in a most radical manner at one and the same time, the truth of human wickedness, hatred, violence and depravity, and the mystery of God's holiness and love.
We see on the cross of Calvary love exemplified and personified in the twisted image and broken body of God's dearest Son. What we encounter on the cross is not the god of the prosperity preacher, god of our dreams - all glory, prestige and power, always promising victory, success, prosperity and immunity from suffering. What we encounter on the cross is rather love on display. What we encounter is the true God, the suffering, swooning, crucified God, the God of Jesus Christ who loves his people as they truly are, who bore forsakenness in order to drive it from the world, and who through suffering brings life to humanity, and challenges his followers to carry their own crosses if they must follow him, so that where he is, his followers may be too.
We are dealing here with the very centre of the Christian story - the story of the self-abnegation of the son of God. This is why the cross has such a prominent place in the Christian life. Jesus teaches his followers that the "hour" of his death on the cross is at the same time the "hour" when he gives life, for unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain. From the beginning of his ministry, and all through his life, Jesus constantly referred to his "hour". He told his mother at Cana in Galilee that his hour had not yet come. He eluded arrest several times because his "hour" had not yet come. This "hour" finally came, and he announces it, and calls on the father to glorify his son. Indeed the hour of Jesus is the long-awaited hour when he would be lifted up from the earth. It is the hour of the cross. It is the hour of judgement and at the same time the hour of salvation. It is the hour when men in their wickedness are at work in crucifixion, while God, in his love is at work in exaltation. It is the hour when the true identity of Jesus will be revealed; the hour when we shall see him as he really is. It is the hour of absolute love, the hour when God is truly revealed as a God of love. One cannot see God or see Jesus unless in the light of this hour, in the context of the cross. The hour (of the cross) is the hour of the greatest revelation of the God of love who dies in order to same the people he loves.
The hour of Jesus is the hour of life multiplied. Jesus Christ dying alone on the cross bears fruit in the billions of people in every place and in every age who have been saved by his sacrifice. The hour of Jesus is the hour of sowing. Like the grain of wheat that falls to the ground, and must die, rot, then germinates and grows to bear fruits in plenty, it is the hour of sowing when a bounteous harvest is anticipated. The hour of Jesus is the greatest life-giving hour. This is the hour of the greatest paradox when true life is to die. The hour of Jesus changes the very meaning of suffering and death. Henceforth, to live is to die, to lose is to gain.
We ourselves are familiar with losses and gains. Our whole adventure in life is a story of losses and gains. We experience a series of losses in life: from the very beginning we lose the comfort and security of our mother's womb, and get thrust into the world, screaming helplessly, but then we gain the a life in the world outside. We could not come into the world without losing the security of the womb. Our gradual development in life is marked by renunciations, for it is only through loses that we learn to change and make new gains. We get to understand that without pain there is no gain. We lose precious possessions, we lose friends and loved ones; we are sometimes cut of from some things and people we are most attached to. As we advance in the world, and as we grow older we lose our childhood dreams and our naïve expectations in the world. In the ageing process we lose the black colour and the rich texture of our hair, we lose our hair altogether and become bald, we lose some of our sight, we lose our youthful strength and agility, etc. But as we lose all these we gain experience in love and in faith; we gain maturity in wisdom and in the spirit; we gain greater focus in life. And when we finally succumb to illness and death, when we let go of this life in the painful experience of death, we gain entry into everlasting life.
Yes indeed this is the centre of the Christian gospel: The death of Jesus was not a terrible accident; it is the providential event of our salvation. Jesus demonstrates through his own death that true death is not physical death. It is the refusal to love. It is the refusal to give away oneself. It is the fruitless withdrawal into oneself. To enter into life, one must first die. His death is our life; his lose is our gain; his crucifixion is our glorification; his humiliation is our exaltation; his seemingly hopeless death is the ground for all our hope. That is why he says that anyone who wishes to save his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life for the sake of the kingdom will find it. He teaches that the hour of his crucifixion is also the hour of his exaltation; the hour of his humiliation is at the same time the hour of his glorification.
The humiliation and glorification of Jesus are not to be conceived separately but are to be seen as one mysterious package. In the Gospel of John he constantly talked about when he is "lifted up." It is then his glory shall be seen. It is then he shall draw all men (and women) to himself. It is then we shall know who he really is. But this lifting up refers to the crucifixion (like Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert) as well as the resurrection, the event of Easter Sunday. In this way suffering, rejection and death assume a central place in the life of all who agree to follow Jesus. Though the disciples, like many Christians today, had their various notions about him and their dreams of a future life of power, pleasure and success when they watched him teach with unusual authority and perform miracles, these notions and dreams were shattered with the proclamation of the message of the cross. Their lives henceforth, like his, must be a paradox. They will find life and peace only by following his way of suffering and death.
Because of the cross of Jesus Christ, suffering takes on a new meaning. Henceforth, poverty, loneliness, pain, sickness, rejection, humiliation and death are no longer an altogether negative experience for those who believe. Jesus calls to himself all who labour and are overburdened, and promises that he will give them rest. Through his suffering and death suffering has become bearable. Because Jesus bears these burdens, they become easy to bear and ultimately they are turned into joy. This transformation of suffering and humiliation (gracefully undertaken), into joy and glorification constitute the message of the resurrection.
