We began Holy Week this morning by processing into the Church, waving palm branches, mimicking Christ's entry into Jerusalem. By this we have begun Holy Week, and over the next seven days we will journey with Christ to his death and resurrection. But this week isn't just a re-enactment or a memorial - by it we are mystically united with the Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Though all around Him deserted Him, we now run towards the Cross, knowing it is the means of our victory over death!
In our Gospel readings today Jesus makes the same journey three times: from the Mount of Olives down into Jerusalem.
The first time he makes the journey, He does it in triumph; riding on a donkey, surrounded by the crowds, waving olive branches and singing ‘Hosanna Son of David, Hail King of the Jews.’ He returns to the mount of Olives, to the house of Simon the leper, with the crowds still about Him.
The second time he makes the journey, He does it in secret, with only the twelve Apostles, in order to eat the Passover with them, and offer them (in sacramental signs) His own body and blood. They return in secret to the mount of Olives, and he takes only three with Him to Gethsemani; Peter, John, and James.
The third time he makes the journey, He is taken alone. Judas comes to betray Him, he brings armed men, and Jesus is taken into Jerusalem for the last time. This time there are no crowds, and no twelve apostles to accompany Him. He is alone, with some following on behind.
Why, in each of these three journeys, does the number of those accompanying Jesus diminish? Why do the crowds not stay with Him? Why are the twelve thinned down to three? Why does three become none?
In each journey, the numbers fall away because Jesus approaches the Cross. The first journey down into Jerusalem and back looks like a triumph. He enters the city as a king. In fact, he is copying and mocking another procession: at the same time on the same day, Pontius Pilate (the Roman governor) was marching into the city via the west gate, on horseback, whereas Jesus enters via the east gate riding on a donkey. Jesus enters, almost, as the people expect Him to - the Messiah come to lead his people on the feast day of their liberation from Egypt. So the crowds rejoice to see Him coming, and they wave their palms, and they shout ‘Hosanna’ which means something like ‘Save us!’ They follow Him into the city and they follow Him back out again up the mount of Olivet.
But here, there is the first break, the first sign of something awry. A woman comes and anoints Jesus with a jar of ointment, spikenard - an oil that comes from a flower that grows only in the Himalayas. Imported and expensive, worth more than three hundred days pay for an ordinary worker - almost a year’s work! Jesus tells the indignant onlookers;
You have the poor with you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not always have me. She has done what was in her power to do: she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.
Jesus starts talking about the Cross. Jesus foretells his death. This isn’t the glorious saving Messiah the people wanted, and so the crowds begin to abandon Him and Judas goes off to betray Him.
So, Jesus goes down from the Mount of Olivet into Jerusalem for the second time. This time He has only the Twelve with Him and even one of them is no longer with Him in spirit. They go to eat the Passover, and Jesus again speaks of His death, this time using the symbolism of the Passover feast: offering them His body in the bread and His blood in the wine. Judas abandons Him then, and the others go back up to the Mount of Olivet.
Reaching the mount, he again prophesises his death, and the scattering of his disciples, and Peter’s denial. Again, more leave Him, and he takes only Peter, John, and James with him into the garden of Gethsemane. Twelve becomes three, and those three are so tired they fall asleep and leave Jesus to pray.
Finally, as the traitor and the soldiers come to arrest Him, he is left alone. John and James run away, Peter follows for a time but (after his denial) he too disappears. Jesus goes from Caiaphas to Pilate to the Cross, with none of his followers left. Only the women, watching from a distance, and John who comes back, are with Him as he is taken from Jerusalem to a different hill - to Golgotha on Calvary.
The Crowds abandon Him because of the Cross. Judas betrays Him because of the Cross. The Apostles leave because of the Cross. John and James run away because of the Cross. Peter denies Him because of the Cross. The looming Cross, the shadow stretched out over the last days of Jesus’ ministry, this is why on each journey in and out of Jerusalem, Jesus is increasingly left alone.
Yet it is precisely the Cross, seen in the light of the resurrection, which now draws us in, as St Paul writes;
Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death on the Cross, but God raised Him high and gave Him the name which is above all names (Gospel Acclamation)
so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord (Second Reading)
The resurrection changes things, and the Cross is no longer a symbol of defeat, something to run away from, but the banner of victory - something we run towards.
Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. In this week we aren’t just re-enacting - this isn’t a Passion Play, where we put on the costume of the crowds for our entertainment. In this week we enter the Paschal mystery; we celebrate the Eucharist with Christ and His Apostles, we die with Him on Good Friday, and we rise with Him on Holy Saturday. In this Holy Week, if we want the joy of Easter, we embrace the suffering and sorrow of the Cross so that, though Jesus went alone to face his accusers and die on the Cross, in a mystical sense He is not alone - this week the Church throughout the whole world and across all time walks with Him on the way of sorrows.
Today we enter Holy Week, walking with Christ, uniting ourselves to His sacrifice, and praying with the crowds who greeted Him in Jerusalem: Hosanna! Save me, Son of David! Hosanna! Save me, King of the Jews!
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