13 April 2025 #theologyofsuffering

Palm Sunday is one of those interesting Sunday readings that doesn’t seem to make much sense in the liturgical life cycle of the year. We participate in the journey-to-the-cross today when the more appropriate remembrances are yet to be had: Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Today we’ll start the Mass reading with Jesus’ loud and frenzied entrance into Jerusalem and end it with the quiet abandonment of his death on the cross. I get it. Most folks do not mark the Triduum days (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the daylight hours of Holy Saturday), so today we have the gift of the upcoming week all tied up into one neat little bow.

But it’s hard to know what to say today.

Do we focus on Jesus’ triumphant march into Jerusalem, his last Passover dinner with his apostles, Judas’ betrayal and Simon Peter’s denial, the fair trial that wasn’t, the remarks of the Good Thief, or do we ponder the crucifixion? And then our Gospel ends in the “restful sabbath,” as if sleep could come to those who loved and lost Jesus that day.

So much drama to cover and so many spiritual insights to be had.

That’s really the essential truth of the matter, yes? That the drama of life yields an abundance of spiritual insights; without the burden of our crosses there would be no discovery of potential. Without misfortune we feel no compassion. Without falling there is no rising. Without failure there is no growth.

And yet we want to avoid misfortune, falling, and failing at all costs.

But Jesus didn’t. His misfortune, fallings and failings were fodder for a public performance then set to parchment for all to read. Indeed, his entire adult life is played out in our readings each year. We re-live the scandalously poor surroundings of his birth, his ineffectiveness in persuading the Pharisees and Sadducees of their errors, the unwillingness to throw off the oppressive clockwork of the Roman Empire, and the reckless abandonment by all whom he loved, save his Mother and John. Not to mention the pain of crucifixion. That’s some deep drama and trauma from which Jesus never shied from, yes?

I’d love to give you the happy ending here, but I won’t. This week I want us to ponder suffering and the meaning it brings to our lives, especially the type that isn’t of our own making. The things that happen to us, without our influence or cause-and-effect… those things that are thrust upon us despite – or over and above - our striving towards holiness.

Because that’s what Palm Sunday is all about: A reminder that suffering will enter our lives despite our palm-waving Hosannas and Glorias to God. And we are all the better for it. #theologyofsuffering