Palm Sunday 2022 – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon, and Missions; April 10, 2022

Crux stat; dum orbis volvitur. “The Cross stands still while the world spins.” That is the motto of the Carthusian Order. As we enter into Holy Week we want to do our best to leave the spinning world and stand still before the reality of the Cross.

Each Gospel, and so also each passion narrative, gives us a different insight into the same, inexhaustible reality of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Savior.

St. Matthew and St. Mark both show us the stark reality of Jesus’ abandonment on the Cross. St. John, however, shows us the divine majesty of Jesus Christ crucified. St. Luke, by reporting certain words of Jesus Christ that no one else does, reveals his Cross as the throne of mercy.

First, there is his prayer: Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

To understand this prayer we need to grasp both that we need to be forgiven and that we can be forgiven.

The rebel angels were excluded from God’s mercy because of the nature and perfection of their sin. The angelic nature is such that the angel cannot act in ignorance and also that the angel cannot act or decide by ‘half-measures’. In other words, the angels who rejected God’s command knew full well what they were doing; they knew, such as a creature can, who God was, that the command came from God, that it was for their good, and yet they chose to disobey. They knew also the consequences of disobedience. They made a complete choice for rebellion and its consequences. They could not plead ignorance, nor would they even want to plead ignorance. They embraced their rebellion so completely that there could be no turning back for them, hence no repentance, and no forgiveness, and no mercy. From angels, created by God, they made themselves to be devils. Their sin was perfect.

For our part, we are incapable of such a perfect sin. We suffer from ignorance, we are often deceived, and we do not fully grasp the consequences of our disobedience. We walk through time and learn through experience and so as long as we are upon the way in this world we can come to regret our choice and repent. As much as we might want to commit ourselves entirely – as in a vow – we can never really do so. No choice we make in this life is once and for all; we must continually recommit ourselves to the path we have chosen.

Because there is some measure of ignorance in every sin we commit, we are forgivable. Because there is some measure of personal responsibility for our sins, we need to be forgiven. Because the dividing line between ignorance and responsibility is obscure even in our own case, we cannot very well judge ourselves, much less others. Because of the inconstancy of our path through time, we are capable of repenting so as to receive God’s pardon.

Ignorance, deception, and weakness do not, however, exonerate us of all responsibility and fault on our part. We still need to repent and be forgiven.

Consider someone who gets involved in a ‘bad relationship’ and looks back on the whole affair after extracting himself from the relationship and then sees clearly all the ‘red flags’ that he missed. Sometimes the person saw them but refused to pay heed to them or discredited them. At other times he was blind to the red flags, but in some measure, perhaps, he wanted to be blind.

Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

There is always some measure of ignorance in our sin, but the greatest ignorance is in the relation between our sin and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. How many of those who, at the time called for and collaborated in his crucifixion, while they knew that Jesus was an innocent man, did not grasp that he was the Son of God? Indeed, we could even say that the High Priest, who had most reason to recognize that he was indeed the Son of God, could scarcely grasp the truth he sought to deny by crucifying him. Yes, he knew he was opposing the truth; he knew that Jesus was innocent; he even dimly recognized that he must indeed be the Son of God, but he could scarcely comprehend so great a reality; he could scarcely comprehend what it might mean for a man to be the very Son of God. St. Paul writes, None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor 1:8)

For our part, when we violate our own conscience; when we know something is wrong, but choose to do it anyway, we know that we are opposing the truth and doing wrong, but we usually do not recognize the voice of Christ speaking to us through our conscience and even if we do, we scarcely grasp that we are joining our voice to the crowd that cried, Crucify him! Crucify him!

What next. There were two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. Like us, but unlike Jesus, they were guilty. Like us – and more than us – like Jesus, they were suffering. They are suffering and nearing death, and we too, after passing through the suffering of this vale of tears, will die one day.

Both thieves heard the words of Jesus, Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.

One thief refused, even at that point, to recognize his guilt. He blamed others and even blamed Jesus. Alas, that is the path that all too many people follow; others are to blame; circumstances are to blame; life is to blame; God is to blame – anything but me. That is indeed the path of the modern world that seeks to solve the problems of the world without recognizing the problem that lies in the human heart, the wound that can only be healed by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. As for the path of refusal and blame, it is the path through the passing trials of this life into the everlasting fire of hell.

The other thief heard Jesus’ words, saw his suffering, recognized his innocence, and let the light of faith dawn in his heart, repented of his own sin – we have been condemned justly – and opened his heart to the reality of hope.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

These words should stop us in our tracks and brings us to our knees with awe and wonder. What man looks at a dying man, recognizes him as a king, and begs to share in his kingdom? In this world a king loses his kingdom when he dies. What man enters into a kingdom when he dies? What man except the man who is the very Son of God? What man except the man who by the indestructible life he possesses in himself will destroy death by his very death?

The Apostles, who had lived with Jesus, who had heard his teaching and witnessed his miracles, even John who stood with the Virgin at the foot of the Cross, did not really understand, and so they all gave way to despair in their hearts, thinking that the Cross was the end because death was the end. In the moment of this greatest darkness the light of faith in the resurrection burnt only in the heart of the Virgin Mary. From there, from her prayers, it was kindled also in one of the thieves crucified with Jesus, the good thief. He alone acknowledged Jesus Christ crucified as the King, the King of kings who bestows an eternal kingdom. So he merited to hear the words and receive the promise: Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.

When the prayers of Mary win for us the grace of repentance, we must follow the example of the good thief, and confess our faith in the Christ the King and his eternal kingdom.

The good thief heard the promise of Christ but he was still hanging there on his cross; nothing seemed to have changed; he hung upon his cross even after Jesus breathed his last saying, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Nevertheless, he had then both Jesus’ promise and the example of his complete surrender into the hands of his Father. He hung on to Jesus’ promise and his example. We too have Jesus’ promise and example and also gift of his Holy Spirit to guide us, sustain us, and give us strength. Let us hang to these.