Rejection and Sacrifice

Palm Sunday

Is 42:1-4,6-7, Ps 29:1-2, 3-4, 3, 9-10, Tim 2:11-14, 3:4-7, Gospel: Lk 3:15-16, 21-22

My dear Brothers and Sisters.  We began this Lent six weeks ago with fasting and ashes.  In this time Christ has been calling us to conversion.  Now we come to the focal point of our Lenten pilgrimage – where we dive into the mysteries of God’s love for us.

Our Rejection of God, His Sacrifice for Us
Today’s readings call into focus two different aspects of our relationship with God, that hopefully the past six weeks have prepared us for; our rejection of God through our sinfulness and Gods response of love through his sacrifice.

Our Rejection of God
The Church invites us to reflect this week on the different ways that we have chosen to reject God.  Some are obvious, big, bold and blatant.  Others are subtle, hidden and obtuse.  Think back over the words of Christ’s Apostles, the Disciples, and the Priests – each of them cause Christ to suffer in their own way – by their betrayal, by their denial, by their ridicule and persecution.

Judas - Betrayal
Judas was a trustworthy man – he had to be.  Christ entrusted to him the goods of the community that he might care for the needs of the early Church – and yet it was for Money that Judas chose to betray Christ.  Once he obtained his 30 pieces of silver he understood that it was worthless – so he gave it back and then fell into despair.  He was trapped completely in his betrayal of Christ and thought himself beyond all redemption – for this reason he killed himself – he committed suicide.

The trap of Sin
There are two angles of Judas’ betrayal that are revealing.  When we betray someone we feel trapped.  The thing that we sought through our betrayal is no longer desirable.  It is like a man being attracted to sin, and when he finally achieves it, he recognizes how worthless it truly is.  Judas’ mistake was to despair – to think that he was beyond the love of God.

Peter’s Denial
Peter was filled with a great love for Christ – listen to him, listen to ourselves when he responds to Jesus with denial – Jesus says – you are going to be tested, and you are going to fail – Peter is in denial from the beginning – No I won’t!  I am your Man!  I will be here though all others abandon you!  And yet, he denies Christ not once, not twice but three times.  Then he is filled with remorse and crumbles recognizing just how badly he has denied his love. 

Peter went the way of Repentance
Yet his love for God is still working in his heart – he chooses not to fall into despair but rather turns his heart back to Christ in Repentance.  Have we spent this Lent dealing with our sin, ignoring our sin or seeking reconciliation?

Priestly ridicule - Hypocrisy.
Of all of the people in the Gospels who ought to recognize Christ – it is the priests, the Sanhedrin.  These are the men who have studied scriptures, who have devoted their lives to serving God.  Yet their response to God’s gift of love is to encourage Judas to betray Christ, they deny him, to ridicule him, they torture him.  They behave in the least priestly of all of the people.  When have we acted like hypocrites this lent?  When have we professed or portrayed ourselves as men and women of the Gospel and then acted contrary to the Word of Life that God has given us?

Christ’s response to Sin – his Sacrifice.
Listen to the love of the Father
Christ’s response to all of the sin in the world is first to listen to the direction that the Love of God the Father is directing him.  Even though it means that he will suffer and die.  Christ is able to see the truth of God’s love for Judas, for Peter, for the Priests, for you and for me.  It is for that reason that each time he has to confront the reality of His sacrifice that he ends up with the words – “Father not my will but yours be done!”

Christ’s response to the betrayal is to give us his Body and his Blood to strengthen us when we confront sin.  He forgives us of our sins and invites us to become one with him, to have His presence in our lives today so that he can strengthen us and be with us in our struggles, in our sadness, in the darker areas of our lives.

Christ’s response to the hypocrisy of the priests is to fulfill the prophecy, to be the fulfillment of the Fathers will.

Christ’s response to the denial of Peter is to pray that he would be strengthened, and to encourage him to strengthen his brothers.

In every way that we have rejected God this Lent, Jesus Christ is inviting us to receive the love of the Father in our lives so that our lives can be transformed to give Glory to the Father.  Brothers and Sisters, I invite you to walk with Christ in the fullness of our humanity so that we can encounter the depths of his love this week in the celebration of the Easter Mysteries!