I was in Seattle for Palm Sunday night Mass and I felt something on the way out that seems silly to say but Palm Sunday is the perfect way to end Lent.  I would love to rush to Easter joy, to get to the open tomb, to forget the Sacrificial Lamb and to get to the Resurrection but Palm Sunday doesn't let you do that.  Instead of thinking that my 40 days were almost over, the music of Palm Sunday forced me to see Jesus in all of his humanity and the Gospel stories of betrayal and Jesus in agony reminded me of my own human sin.  Hearing the Gospel being read about the crowd shouting "crucify him" had me remembering the song sung on Good Friday: Were you there when they crucified my Lord?. 

Palm Sunday is the only Sunday when two Gospels are read.  Yesterday, we heard from Luke's account which is particularly detailed.  Palm Sunday packs a punch because in the course of one Mass we get two very different Gospel visions of Jesus.  In his first, Luke describes Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a colt as people spread their cloaks on the ground in front of him so the dust doesn't unsettle. Jesus arrives as the Son of Man with the multitudes praising God because of the wonderful things they have witnessed Jesus do.  He is their Savior, the King whom they have longed for to bring justice to their world.  Luke writes that Jesus rides as the crowd acclaimed, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord."   This is the Jesus the early Jews expected and the narration of Jesus that Christians are most comfortable with today. 

 The second vision of Jesus is the one we sometimes would rather not see because this is the broken Jesus.  This is the Palm Sunday Jesus who suffers and is nailed to a cross. This is not what we really want to dwell on after a long Lent.  Palm Sunday rocks us into remembering that believing in Jesus means that it is especially through his death that Jesus shows us how to live.  When we allow ourselves to be with Jesus in his final days on earth, we see Jesus is healing those who have come to arrest him; loving those of us who deny knowing him ; forgiving those who persecuted him asking God the Father, "forgive them for they know not what they do."  The Palm Sunday Jesus never stops loving us, with his last breath he shows us how to die even when we may feel abandoned, "Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit."

I may be ready for Easter but I am glad to try to rest with the suffering Jesus who is my God and savior.  I pray that you will guide your children into this holiest of weeks as we move closer to the glory of the cross.  Find a way to get to Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper.  Join us for stations of the cross on Good Friday.  Whether Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday, I pray that you are together with your loved ones so that your hearts are filled with the joy of our Risen Lord and if you tried to restrain that joy, " the stones will cry out."

Blessings on all of your Easter tables.