That’s a paradox? When you google this question, you might stumble on this joke:
Son: “Dad, what’s a paradox?”
Dad: “When there’s two doctors in a room.”
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a paradox is “a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet is perhaps true.”
When we hear the words “PALM SUNDAY,” we understand that it is a celebration of the joyful and triumphant entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem. While this is true, the theological content of the Palm Sunday celebration is “THE LORD’S PASSION.” During this Palm Sunday, we remember most intensely the PARADOX of our faith: the joyful, triumphant entry and the sad, painful death of the Lord. It’s a story of acclamation and betrayal, a royal welcome and a rigged trial culminating in crucifixion and death.
So, today we join Jesus in His entry into Jerusalem as pilgrims for the Passover with palm branches in our hands to hail Him in
His triumph. Palm Sunday was not a past event. It continues to take place today. Just as the Lord entered the Holy City riding on a donkey, He comes again and again into our hearts, into our homes, into our churches “in the humble form of bread and wine” (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, 2011, 10).
As we enter the Church with Jesus to celebrate His Passion, we also remember our own sufferings and those of our brothers and sisters who are in war zones in Ukraine, who are in the borders of Turkey and Syria rebuilding their lives after the catastrophic earthquake, who are in their homes still mourning the deaths of their loved ones due to the pandemic or the recent shooting in Nashville, and who are in prison, in pain due to sickness, old age, racism, injustice, and poverty.
They are with the Suffering Servant that we hear from the First Reading (Is 50:4-7). Jesus is foretold as the Servant who obediently listens to the word of God and humbly submits to being struck on His back and cheeks and to having His beard pulled. He does not protect His face against insult and spittle.
Our sufferings and those of Jesus are so painful that, at the Responsorial Psalm (Ps 22), we pray with Jesus as He hung on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Ps 22:2a).
And this is exactly what is proclaimed in the Gospel (Mt 26:14 – 27:66) which is about the Passion and Death of the Lord. But, our Christian faith tells us that death is not the final word. And the three readings bring this encouraging message.
God comes to the aid of the Suffering Servant in the First Reading. “The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced” (Is 50:7). In the Second Reading (Phil 2:6-11), Saint Paul speaks of the self-emptying of Christ who humbled himself and offered his life on the cross. But he immediately adds, “Because of this, God greatly exalted him (Phil 2:9). And the Gospel already gives us a glimpse of the Resurrection after Jesus “gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split,