Today, Palm Sunday, is an overture of sorts. The first movement is allegro with Jesus triumphantly entering Jerusalem in a sea of palms. The overture ends with an andante, lento mood of sorrow, with Jesus expelled from Jerusalem under a confusing torrent of doubt and tears on Friday.
This, we are told, is how we return to Paradise. Not over a sea of palms, not under a torrent of tears, not even through Jerusalem. We regain what we lost through this Person, who Himself goes through the via crucis of our lives, and is defeated on Friday by our blindness and brutality.
To those outside the Christian faith, all this could be construed merely as the death of a martyr or prophet or rabble rouser. It is not so to us who profess that the man who is fastened to the cross is more than a mere icon of who we are. The Passion is more than a reflection of the pattern of our murderous ways. The man hanging outside Jerusalem is God’s very own, sent to us out of love to break a path back to Paradise.
Could there have been another way? Perhaps. Crowds were captivated by his teaching. He spoke words with power and authority, words we know could save because they set us on the right path. The words He spoke lifted us, freed us of crippling ideologies and distorted notions about God and our pieties and very selves. By His preaching, we were turned to the light of truth. Besides teaching, He healed us, gave us back the strength of our knees; He fed us, forgave us, washed our feet. He walked on waves. These were all powerful signs of love in overdrive. Here at last was a Messiah who had the power to part the waves and lead us out of Egypt again.
Love in overdrive would have been enough. But it would not have been complete or truthful or eternal.
Instead of all the wondrous stuff he did and could have done as things came to a head, He suffered, He surrendered, He stayed to the very end.
Even when we were most sinful and blind and cruel, love stayed. There lies love’s redeeming power. Presence, steadfast and faithful presence is the most sublime expression of the love that brings us back to Paradise. The opposite of saving is not condemning; it is abandoning. The opposite of loving is not hating; it is leaving.
The crosses we bear today arise from the lack of presence. Poverty is one of the most crucifying of burdens on our people. Our statisticians tell us that in spite of our economic growth, there are more people now who are poor. We are poor because our wealth is spirited away, stolen brazenly by people who may reside here but have never really stayed with us.
Our nation is facing a moral crisis these days because there are those who believe that the truth will go away or be bought away. Amid all the partial truths we are seeing, we know only one truth so far, the truth that people are lying. They live as if the truth is something that will fade away or will not stay.
Our families break so easily from promises that do not stay, words that are fleeting. And so we become impatient and we become vicious to each other; we do not allow love to take root, to stay.
Our environment suffers irreparable damage because of the way we live and grow. Someone once remarked, “We are living as if we had another planet to go to.” We are living as if our children and our children’s children will not stay after us. The opposite of loving is leaving. If we love them, we will not leave them to a more dangerous world.
If we take to heart the Mystery of these holy days, let us not be tempted to center these days on our sin or piteous selves. These days are not about us. Let us move from guilt to gratitude. Let us be grateful for love that is strong enough to stay with us. When we ponder our Savior staying on the cross till the very end, let us be thankful. This is how life is given; this is how we are to give life to others. By his wounds, by his very staying, we are redeemed.
* * *
Jesuit Communications invites all to view “Pitong Huling Wika ni Hesus” featuring Bishop Chito Tagle on Good Friday, 3-5 p.m., and Holy Saturday, 2-4 p.m., ABS-CBN 2. Holy Week services at the Ateneo Church of the Gesu will be telecast live on ABC-5, and other JesCom TV specials will be featured on the same channel. Call 4265971/72 or email jcf@admu.edu.ph for inquiries.