24 March, 2024 | Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion

At the Procession with Palms - Gospel Mk 11:1-10 | At the Mass - Reading I : Is 50:4-7 | Reading II

Phil 2:6-11

Gospel: Mk 14:1—15:47 OR

Gospel : Mk 15:1-39



As soon as morning came, 

the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, 

that is, the whole Sanhedrin held a council.

They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

Pilate questioned him,

“Are you the king of the Jews?”

He said to him in reply, “You say so.”

The chief priests accused him of many things.

Again Pilate questioned him,

“Have you no answer?

See how many things they accuse you of.”

Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.


Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them

one prisoner whom they requested.

A man called Barabbas was then in prison 

along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.

The crowd came forward and began to ask him

to do for them as he was accustomed.

Pilate answered, 

“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”

For he knew that it was out of envy 

that the chief priests had handed him over.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd 

to have him release Barabbas for them instead.

Pilate again said to them in reply,

“Then what do you want me to do 

with the man you call the king of the Jews?”

They shouted again, “Crucify him.”

Pilate said to them, “Why?  What evil has he done?”

They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”

So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,

released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,

handed him over to be crucified.


The soldiers led him away inside the palace, 

that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.

They clothed him in purple and, 

weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.

They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.

They knelt before him in homage.

And when they had mocked him,

they stripped him of the purple cloak,

dressed him in his own clothes,

and led him out to crucify him.


They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,

a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,

the father of Alexander and Rufus,

to carry his cross.


They brought him to the place of Golgotha

—which is translated Place of the Skull —

They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,

but he did not take it.

Then they crucified him and divided his garments 

by casting lots for them to see what each should take.

It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.

The inscription of the charge against him read,

“The King of the Jews.”

With him they crucified two revolutionaries, 

one on his right and one on his left.

Those passing by reviled him,

shaking their heads and saying,

“Aha!  You who would destroy the temple

and rebuild it in three days,

save yourself by coming down from the cross.”

Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, 

mocked him among themselves and said, 

“He saved others; he cannot save himself.

Let the Christ, the King of Israel,

come down now from the cross

that we may see and believe.”

Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.


At noon darkness came over the whole land

until three in the afternoon.

And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”

which is translated,

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Some of the bystanders who heard it said, 

“Look, he is calling Elijah.”

One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed 

and gave it to him to drink saying, 

“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.


        Here all kneel and pause for a short time.


The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.

When the centurion who stood facing him

saw how he breathed his last he said, 

“Truly this man was the Son of God!”


Reflections:

Death was more than something for him to endure, just so he could rise again. Jesus' execution forever writes an identity upon him, as indicated in the Gospels' accounts of his resurrection.

The story just proclaimed

presents Jesus as mocked three times,

by three different groups:

first, the religious authorities;

then the secular authorities;

and finally the ordinary people, the crowd.

we have to look deeper in our souls as to where we can find the courage and strength to face Jesus.

Palm Sunday signals the beginning of the Holy Week, a week that changed the world. 

It is important that some see our Lord’s head bowed in dejection, while others observe his arms outstretched in forgiveness, and still others perceive, in the title on the cross, the proclamation of a reigning king. All these accounts combine together to give us food for thought and prayer.


Activity 

 There is nothing more tragic than the events of a week which began with Hosannas and ended with “Crucify Him”. The question is where do you fit in  this narrative?





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