Awakenings

by Father Thomas Keating

Celebrations of Jesus' Presence

Chapter 26

Passion Sunday

When they drew near Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them here to me. And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, 'The master has need of them.' Then he will send them at once." This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

"Say to daughter Zion,
'Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt,
the foal of a beast of burden. '"

The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them. They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them. The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and strewed them on the road. The crowds preceding him and those following kept crying out and saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest. "

And when he entered Jerusalem the whole city was shaken and asked, "Who is this?" And the crowds replied, "This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee. "
(Matt. 21:1-11)

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He said in reply "I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out!"
(Luke 19:39-40)

    This event constitutes the one earthly triumph of Jesus' life and ministry. The crowd was following him because of the great miracle he had wrought in raising Lazarus from the dead. The sisters from Bethany and Lazarus were apparently well known. As the crowd grew in numbers, Jesus sensed that the Father was asking him to acquiesce to this acclamation. He sent ahead for a beast of burden. For the first time, as far as we know, he mounted. He was thus slightly above the crowd so that all could see him. The people started pulling down branches from the trees and throwing them in front of him. Their enthusiasm became contagious. The whole city was plunged into excitement. The crowd was waving palms, singing and proclaiming him to be the son of David, the king of Israel of times past and the father of the Messiah. The words clearly implied a divine visitation. That is why the Pharisees demanded, "Stop your disciples from crying out. They are making you equal to God." He replied, "If they are quiet, the stones will cry out." All creation was bearing witness to the coming to final term of the life of him who is the source of all that is.

    The thunderous shouts and applause of the immense crowd form the background for Jesus' amazing entry into Jerusalem. When he came to the brow of the Mount of Olives, the procession stopped and Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He wept because the city could not perceive the great opportunity that it was about to lose. He was fully aware that the authorities were plotting his death and that the adulation he was receiving would soon turn to condemnation. The superficial enthusiasm of the crowd had a hollow ring.

    Nothing could be worse public relations than to have the celebrity of the moment burst into tears, especially when you are trying to turn him into a king or a god. Jesus wept because of, the deep tragedy that only he had eyes to perceive. "Jerusalem " he sobbed, "if only you had known the time of your visitation. Now it is too late." Thus, the city that he loved so much was fated to undergo total destruction. It did not know the time of its divine visitation.

    Jesus is the paradigm of humanity, the universal human being, God's idea of human nature with its enormous potentialities. According to the great hymn of Paul to God's humility, the divine Person of the Word, source of everything that exists, did not cling to his divine dignity or prerogatives, but threw them all away. In God there seems to be the need not to be God. In creating, God, in a sense, dies, because he is no longer alone; he is completely involved in the evolution of these creatures whom he has made so lovable.

    Christ emptied himself of the divine power that could have protected him and opened himself in total vulnerability as he stretched out his arms on the cross to embrace all human suffering. In the most real sense, we too are the body of God; we too are a new humanity in which the Word becomes flesh; we too can put ourselves in the service of the divine Word. Then God is experiencing human life through our senses, our emotions, and our thoughts. Each of us can give the eternal Word a new way in which he discovers his own infinite potentiality. Thus, God knows himself in us and experiences the human condition in all its ramifications. The Word lives in us, or more exactly, lives us. We are incorporated into the new creation that Christ has brought into the world by becoming a human being. We leave behind the false self and solidarity with Adam, which is solidarity in sin, death, and human misery Jesus invites us to experience his consciousness of the Father, the Abba of infinite concern, the God who transcends both suffering and joy and manifests equally in both.

    Christ on the donkey, waving aside the cheers of the crowd, is riding to his death. This is his way of revealing the heart of God once and for all in such a way that no one can ever doubt God's infinite mercy The priest says over the bread and wine, "This is my Body " The power of those words extends to each of us as Christ awakens and celebrates his great sacrifice in our own hearts saying, "You are my body. You are my blood." You, with all of humanity, are a manifestation in the flesh of the new creation.

This chapter is taken from the book Awakenings by Fr. Thomas Keating. You can obtain a copy from the Bookstore.  See Awakenings