Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord B (2105)

Early on in Lent I read that ‘Passion’

comes from a Latin word that means ‘to undergo’.

The same root gives us the word ‘passive’.

Jesus moves from the active to the passive,

from ‘doing’ to ‘being done to’,

from ‘being active’ to ‘being acted upon’.

Mark’s stark account is of a man having terrible things happen to him.

Betrayed, denied, and abandoned by friends.

Interrogated by authorities that show no interest in the truth.

Condemned though innocent.

Rejected by the people.

Abused and tortured by soldiers.

Crucified, and mocked on the cross.

This isn’t just physical pain.

This is also deep anguish, deep ‘emotional’ pain.

All resulting from ‘being acted upon’, from things that happen to him.

Every human life involves being ‘acted upon’,

being on the receiving end of things we do not control.

That was the experience of the people

on the plane that crashed in France this week.

That is the experience of all their relatives.

That is what Fr Tolan is experiencing acutely at the moment.

The passion is the humanity of Jesus ‘on display’.

‘On display’ in being ‘acted upon’, in having things happen to him,

and in the pain and desolation this brought.

Mark’s gospel encourages us to look steadily at this human horror.

Why?

Because this is God revealing Himself fully.