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Perhaps
some of you may recall the film that shows up every year during the run
up to the Christmas season (in fact, the movie runs for 24 straight
hours without commercial interruption on TBS each Christmas day), aptly
entitled “The Christmas Story.” The central character is a
“toe-head” whose name is “Ralphie.” Every time Ralphie gets into
trouble, his mother says, “You have better change your attitude,
Mister.”
Everyone who
watched me grow up swears that I am Ralphie and the story depicts what I
not only looked like but actually was like. The first time my former
secretary and her husband saw the movie, they called me to tell me they
had just seen me starring in The Christmas Story. I had never
heard of the movie. My nephews and niece also swear that I am
Ralphie. Why? Because my sister has shown “the family slide show”
so many times and heard my sister tell the same fables so many times
that my nephews and niece actually believe they grew up with me.
What I do know is
that every time I got into trouble, my Mom would always said, “You had
better change your attitude, Mister.” Yes, it is true: I really do know
what Lux soap tastes like. Yes, it is also true: I know what it’s like to
get into really big trouble. For example, once I talked back to my Mom
and she slapped me smack across the face. If that wasn’t bad enough, I
compounded the already big trouble I was in when I laughed and said, “I
guess you think that hurt.” To which she responded, “No. That was just
a warm up, Mister. What’s really going to hurt is when your father gets
home.” It’s sort of funny how, for Mom, “Dad” became “your Father”
when I was in really big trouble.
That having been
said, being one of Jesus’ disciples is all about changing one’s
attitude.
Today’s
celebration of Palm Sunday reminds us that our attitude should be that
of Christ. As St. Paul noted in his letter to the Philippians:
Son of God though he
was,
Christ Jesus did not
deem this dignity
something to hold on
to.
Rather, he gave it
up and became a slave,
coming in human
likeness.
He humbled himself
being obedient to death,
even a slave’s death
on a cross.
Contrast Jesus’
attitude—one characterized by humility, self-emptying, and
obedience—even in suffering and, even more so, in death, to the attitude
of the crowd (whose role you played in today’s Passion Narrative):
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On
Palm Sunday, the members of the crowd shouted: “Hosanna! Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord!”
·
By
Thursday, the disciples had grown distressed. One by one, they asked
Jesus: “Surely, it is not I?”
·
Late
Thursday evening, Peter said: “Even if I should have to die with you, I
will not deny you.” Yet, the scripture reminds us: “…they all spoke
similarly” and we all know where they headed as soon as the authorities
arrived.
·
Then,
on Friday morning, the crowd shouted “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Of
his disciples we heard: “…they all left him and fled.”
This change in
attitudes from that expressed on Palm Sunday—when the crowd dressed
Jesus in purple robes to designed him as their king and waved the palms
of victory at him—to that expressed on Good Friday—when Jesus was left
abandoned and alone on the Cross between two revolutionaries and
wondered to the point that he cried out, “My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?”, is rather dramatic.
But, I might add,
not surprising.
Over the
centuries, people have proposed many theories have about the physical
cause of Jesus' death. These have included: heart attack, suffocation,
dehydration, and the loss of blood. These are the most likely
explanations concerning what caused Jesus’ physical death. Far more
profound and painful than the passion of Jesus’ body that led to his
physical death was the passion of Jesus’ soul. Afflicted by betrayal
and abandonment, this was the most excruciating of all Jesus’
suffering. He was not just condemned unjustly; everyone abandoned him.
During the days of his Passion, Jesus saw everyone flee—turning their
backs on Jesus and running away—especially those whom Jesus most loved
and trusted. These were the people who had professed a lie because,
despite all of their protestations to the contrary, they did not truly
love and trust Jesus. No, they loved and trusted themselves first
and foremost.
In the midst of
this “torture of the soul,” which far surpasses any “torture of the
body,” Jesus did not turn his back on God. Despite the physical and
spiritual pain, despite the mental anguish caused by doubt, despite
sorrow resulting from abandonment—even to the point of feeling abandoned
by God, despite everything, Jesus did not yield to spiritual death but
yielded himself to God.
Upon witnessing
this momentous event, it was not the apostles, the women, nor the people of
Jerusalem who understood who Jesus was and what Jesus’ life meant for
all peoples and all times. No, it was a pagan—a Roman centurion—who
saw clearly into the mystery of who Jesus was and what Jesus’ life and death meant for all
people and all times. Awestruck by this mystery, he exclaimed: “Truly this was the Son of God!”
Like the crowd of
falsifiers, we also cause suffering for other people, inflicting upon
them by our choices not only physical pain—torture of the body—but also
spiritual pain—torture of the soul. We do so when we profess to love
others, but we then lie to others about them. We do so when we call
others “friends,” but we then gossip and malign them behind their
backs. We do so when we tell others how highly we regard them, but we
then set out to disregard them the moment someone or something better
comes along. And, we do so when we punish them as we attempt to make
them conform to our image and likeness rather than to encourage them to
conform to the divine image and likeness which God breathed into them.
When we act in these and so many other ways, we turn our backs on others
and on all of the promises we’ve made to them. We may not be shouting
“Crucify them! Crucify them!” But, through our behavior, we inflict
physical pain—torture of the body—and spiritual pain—torture of the
soul—upon all of those people we treat in these and so many other evil
ways.
“You had better
change your attitude, Mister!”
The attitude we
must adopt is that of Holy Week which means walking the way of the Cross.
We do this by atoning for the physical and spiritual healing we have inflicted
upon others.
The attitude we
must adopt is that of Good Friday. We do this by suffering willingly for
the sake of those who have sinned against us, to be full of confidence
no matter what the world and all of its inhabitants may say about us or
actually do to us, and to abandon ourselves and our lives to God.
The attitude we
must adopt is that of Christ. We do this by being humble and obedient, even
unto death on a cross.
Why?
Because when we
adopt this attitude as our way of life, we profess our faith not in
words but through obedience to God’s truth and the willingness to suffer for it.
We do so not having answers but trust, namely, trust that God will
vindicate us, just as God vindicated Jesus. Our vindication will
come, however, not in the voice of a pagan Roman
centurion. No, our vindication will come in the resurrection of the dead Jesus Christ has won for
us through his obedience to God’s truth and willingness to suffer for it.
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HOMILY
