HOSANNA: SAVE US, WE PRAY

PALM SUNDAY - Mark 11:1-10

When we mention Palm Sunday, what comes to mind is the procession with the crowds carrying the palms in their hands, singing and shouting Hosanna and acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah.

The word hosanna is understood as a cry of praise. In Mark, the crowds shout: “Hosanna in the highest heavens!” (Mk 11:10), while in Luke they say: “Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven” (Lk 19:38), as if the crowds were repeating the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus: 

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” 

(Lk 2:14)

However, the original Hebrew word is a cry for deliverance. Convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the crowds shouted:  Hosanna, which means: Save, we pray.  Or, please, save us.

Understood in this way, the entrance in Jerusalem was like a political rally, with the crowds welcoming Jesus, convinced that he was going to take action and bring about the liberation of the nation.

It is not surprising that the leaders of the people became very upset. They knew that the Romans would act swiftly and with full force at the slightest sign of a revolt, and they were not ready to defy the Roman rule and the Roman armies.

However, Jesus was not looking for political power and he was not going to overthrow the Romans to establish a Jewish kingdom. He entered the city on a donkey, the companion of the poor in the daily tasks of transport. Jesus was not a threat to anybody and he would say it very clearly to Pilate, when he told him that his kingdom is not of this world (Jn 18:36).

Re-enacting the solemn entrance of Jesus in Jerusalem, we start carrying palms in our hands, full of joy, acclaiming Christ as the King and the Saviour, and then we join the crowds once more to demand the crucifixion of Jesus.

Palm Sunday put us before the crowds and helps us to realise how fickle they are. One day, you are their idol and they make you a hero; the next day, they pull you down and reduce you to dust to be trampled upon. That is the glory of the world, and those who look for it and put all their hope in it, are in for a big disappointment.

Jesus knew the hearts of the people and was well aware of how little they could be trusted. Jesus put all his trust in the Father. This Sunday’s first reading, from the prophet Isaiah, speaks of the Messiah as being given the heart of disciple, who is woken up every morning to hear and to listen like a disciple (Is 5:4). In times of difficulty and danger, he did not run away and he did not cover his face against insult and spittle (Is 5:6):

“I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Is 5:7).

THE NEW COVENANT IN JESUS CHRIST

V SUNDAY OF LENT - Jeremiah 31:31-34

In the Old Testament, we can find reference to several covenants. There is the covenant made with Noah (Gn 9:8-17) after the flood, a universal covenant in which God commits himself to take care of the whole universe. There is a covenant with Abraham (Gn 15:18-21), by which God seals his promise to Abraham and his descendents. And there is the covenant of Sinai, by which God sets the people of Israel aside and commits himself to be their God. However, time and again, the people broke the covenant, turning against God and giving their allegiance to other gods. All prophets denounced this unfaithfulness and called on people to repent and turn back to God. Jeremiah was fearless in his dennounciation, spelling out the consequences of breaking the covenant: The people would loose their freedom, being carried away into slavery. Sounding like a prophet of doom, he complained to God about this role given to him. In spite of that, Jeremiah became a prophet of hope. God does not go back on his word and his promise will be fulfilled. God’s love for his people is a faithful love. Looking at the people’s unfaithfulness, we may think that God made a mistake in choosing them and putting his trust in them. They turned out to be hopeless and incorrigible. However, God always finds a way where there is no way. And so God promised a New Covenant, in which God will transform people from within:

“I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jer 31:33) 

The New Covenant is established in Jesus Christ, and his death on the cross is the sacrifice that seals that Covenant. Jesus himself interpreted his death in that way:

“This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Lk 22:20).

That is why the gospel of John presents Jesus’ death on the cross, sheding his blood, as the Hour, the saving hour, that is the hour of glorification, when the Son is glorified by glorifying the Father.

For Christians, united with Jesus Christ, the cross is no more a shameful and ignominious symbol, but a sign of victory and glory, by which God’s love overcomes the power of evil. Dying on the cross, Jesus left us his Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, who guides us and transforms us from within.

GOD HAS A PASSION FOR HUMANITY

IV SUNDAY OF LENT - John 3:14-21

If we read the Bible, we will discover that it was written about God’s passion for human beings, portraying also the human reaction to God’s offer of passionate love, which many times is one of rejection.

To know God as the Creator, we do not need the Scriptures, and that’s why all peoples have some notion of a Creator - Shakapanga, as he is called in Kaonde, meaning that he is the father of all those that make things. He is the Supreme Maker (Creator). This notion is so deep that most of the songs of thanksgiving sung in the Sunday liturgy sing the praises of God the Creator. The Bible recognises God as the Creator of heaven and earth and everything else that exists, and dedicates the first two chapters of Genesis to the profession of this faith. However, besides those two first chapters, there is very little else written specifically about God as the Creator. The Bible is written about a God who cares for human beings, having decided to establish a relationship with them and binding himself to that relationship thwough a covenant. And slowly He revealed through his presence and his actions among people (mainly the people of Israel) that he has a plan of salvation for humanity, for the world. The Bible is written about God the Redeemer, the Saviour.

This Sunday’s first reading from 2 Chronicles 36 makes a summary of the response of the People of Israel to God’s proposal of eternal love. 

They “added infidelity to infidelity, copying all the shameful practices of the nations and defiling the Temple that the Lord had consecrated for himself in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of their ancestors, tirelessly sent them messenger after messenger, since he wished to spare his people and his house. But they ridiculed the messengers of God, they despised his words, they laughed at his prophets”. (2 Chron 36:14-16)

Surely, we reap what we sow, and suffer the consequences of our actions. And the people of Israel has suffered in many ways throughout history, but God has kept them alive as the people of the Promise, because God keeps his promises. He leaves us to ourselves for a while, so that we realise the emptiness of our dreans, the shallownes of our reasoning, the shortcomings of our efforts and the weakness and vanity of our power. When God steps away from us, even for a while, we fall into despair and take refuge in all kinds of false values that are no more than abominations. But God never stays away for too long. In fact, he is always near by, and he cannot forget us forever. When we less expect, we receive a helping hand. God’s ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.

God’s passion of love for us is so great that he sent his beloved Son to save the world. Sometimes, we paint an image of God as someone who is full of anger, always on the look out for the slightest faulty step so that he exacts punishment and revenge. Instead, God reveals himself as the one who is always ready to forgive and to welcome us with joy. Jesus is the greatest prove of this. And what is asked of us? That we recognise and accept this love, that is that we believe in Jesus Christ.

“Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost

but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world

not to condemn the world,

but so that through him the world might be saved.

No one who believes in him will be condemned;”

“The Son of Man must be lifted up

as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (Jn 3:14-18)

JESUS AND THE TEMPLE

III SUNDAY OF LENT - Jn 2:13-25

The importance of the Temple

The gospels of Matthew and Luke present Jesus  being tempted while in the desert. One of the temptations had to do with the Temple, when the devil took him to the top of the temple and proposed that he throws himself down to show that God protects him. 

The Temple - and there was only one in Jerusalem -played a very important role in the religious life of every Jew. Whenever in Jerusalem, Jesus spent time in the Temple, where he had the opportunity to meet people coming from everywhere. There, he preached to all willing to listen to him and held discussions with Scribes and Pharisees, who opposed him.

The Temple, which Jesus knew and frequented, was the third temple. The first one, built by Solomon, was destroyed by the Babylonians. The second was built by the  exiles who returned from Babylon. And the third was built by King Herod, in an effort to please the Jews. It was a huge and magnificent temple, completed only in 65 AD, and then totally destroyed in 70 AD by the Roman army.

The exploitation done in the Temple

The Temple was administered and controlled by the priestly families, mainly the High Priest’s family. During Jesus’ life, Annas and Caiaphas held the highest religious position as high priests. And we can say that Annas maintained the control of the Temple for a long time, since five of his sons held the position of High Priest, and Caiaphas was his son-in-law. 

The money exchangers and the animal sellers were doing a great to the worshipers, mainly the ones coming from afar. By expelling them from the Temple, Jesus was inconveniencing many people by disrupting the normal functioning of the Temple and the offering of sacrifices.  However, this service had become a big business, controlled by the priestly families, who exploited it for their own profit. Moved by zeal for God’s house, Jesus, like the prophets of old, decided to take action - a prophetic action, cleansing the Temple and making it clear that it must be a house of prayer for all peoples.

According to the gospel of John, Jesus accused the people involved in this trade of transforming the Temple into a “market place”, robbing it of the dignity and the holiness of the “Father’s house” (Jn 2:16). In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus used even harsher words, speaking of the way they transformed “the house of prayer” into a “den of robbers” (Mt 21:13).

To use the name of God in vain

There is no doubt that Jesus denounced the exploitation taking place in the Temple and the great abuse of using God’s name and God’s service to justify that exploitation. Throughout the centuries, in all cultures, and in all religions, time and again the sacred and the divine has been used to justify oppression and exploitation. We can find everywhere evil actions and evil customs hiding under the name of God and being proposed as good. To use the name of God, his word, his house and the service due to him in order to gain power, prestige, influence and wealth is a grave sin. Jesus suffered this temptation, when the devil proposed that he should throw himself down from the top of the Temple and force God to save him for the amazement of the crowds. We cannot force God and put him at our service, and we cannot do evil things and justify them by hiding under the name of God. Jesus refused the devil’s proposal, considering that we cannot put God to the test (Mt 4:7). And when we do, we are the losers.

Nowadays, many Christian churches are like a “market place” or a “supper market”, with churches for all likes, offering all kinds of promises. The Father’s house cannot be transformed into a “market place”.

Jesus is the new Temple

The religious authorities demanded from Jesus a justification of his action. His answer was puzzling: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:19). This would be used against him in the religious trial before the High Priest (Mt 26:61). But Jesus was referring to a different temple, the Temple of his body. Jesus is the Temple, the new temple, not build by human hands, which is really the Father’s house, where we can feel at home.

THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC

II SUNDAY OF LENT - Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18

This Sunday’s first reading is about the sacrifice of Isaac, presented as a test of the faith of Abraham.

A test of faith

As a test of faith, this passage brings to mind the story of Job. Both Abraham and Job were “blameless and upright”, fearing God and staying away from evil (Job 1:1); and both of them were very rich. God had indeed filled them with blessings. And a question could be asked: Were they truly faithful or their faithfulness was due to enjoying a good and easy life? Wouldn’t they turn against God, once touched by suffering? And so they were put to test to find out how good and faithful they were. In both cases, the test is either set up by God himself (in Abraham’s case) or is allowed by God (in Job’s case).

Being tested is a feature of human life, and all of us are tested time and again in all kinds of circumstances. Some are easy tests, while others seem impossible to overcome. However, it is in the tests that we reveal the genuineness of our attitudes towards others and towards God.

A test of faith, like the one Abraham went through, makes us feel as if walking in darkness, guided only by obedience to God’s word. Abraham obeyed, as he had obeyed before, when ordered to leave his family and his country and to go into a foreign land; but this time, God’s demand would sound like madness, putting in jeopardy his future and causing to see the Promise as a lie. In spite of that, Abraham obeyed, although with a heavy and troubled heart, as it is well manifest in the journey made in silence.

The law of the firstborn

We must remember that, according to God’s Law, human sacrifice was strictly forbidden (Lev 20:2-5), even though sometimes the Israelites did it imitating the practice of the neighbouring nations. But God claimed for himself all the firstborn. And the Law, as presented in the books of Exodus and Numbers, is very clear about that:

“The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.” (Ex 22:29) 

“All that first opens the womb is mine”. “All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.” (Ex 34:19-20).

In the book of Numbers, we are told that God took the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn:

“I hereby accept the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn that open the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine; when I killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both human and animal; they shall be mine. I am the Lord.” (Num 3:12-13, 41)

The Levites were set aside for God and consecrated to him, and so they dedicated themselves to the work of the Lord. Besides taking the Levites as substitutes for the firstborn, we are told as well that they should be redeemed.

The firstborn of a cow, of a sheep or a goat should be offered in sacrifice to God. Instead, the firstborn of a human being should be redeemed. And that was the procedure followed with Jesus. He was taken to the Temple, built on mount Moriah, and consecrated to God, being then redeemed by a sacrifice offered in his place (Lk 2:24). 

The story of the sacrifice of Isaac is like a graphical explanation of this law of the firstborn, who belongs to God and must be offered to God, but then is redeemed by a sacrifice offered in his name. And God provided Abraham with a ram to be offered in place of Isaac. And Abraham, understanding that God is the one who provides, called the place “The Lord will provide” (Gn 22:14).

Isaac accepted to be offered in sacrifice

The sacrifice of Isaac comes to remind us that we belong to God and that He has a claim on us. He does not need our blood to be shed, but he wants to receive the whole of our lives and all that we are; our hearts, our minds and our souls belong to him, and we cannot give them to anything or anybody else.

Isaac was well aware of that, and he accepted to follow his father and then allowed himself to be bound and put on the altar of the sacrifice. His willingness and his acceptance to be offered in sacrifice is seen in the fact that he did not offered resistance nor did he run away. In this, Isaac prefigures Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who offered his life in sacrifice.

Your children are not your children

The story of the sacrifice of Isaac comes to remind all of us that the children, although coming through their parents, do not belong to them. In this respect, it came to my mind a passage of The Prophet by Khalil Gibran:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thougts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.

Abraham was forced to learn that the hard way, and the same happens with all parents. In the end, the children belong to God.

THE CLEANSING WATER OF BAPTISM

I SUNDAY OF LENT - Genesis 9:8-15

This Sunday, the first reading speaks about the aftermath of the great flood or the covenant that God made with Noah, humanity and the whole creation.

Natural disasters

Natural disasters that turn out to be great catastrophes have happened at different times and in different places. As an example, we can remember how science speaks about the catastrophe that wiped out the dinosaurs.

These catastrophes, which sometimes are of cosmic proportions, leave people terrified and hopeless. And most peoples and cultures go through this experience, be it in one way or another. In many parts of the world, people may experience tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes or volcanos. For many, it is the end of the world; the ones who survive, in most cases, give thanks to God for their salvation.

In the Bible, the great flood - a flood that affected the whole world - stands for all the natural disasters that fall upon people, leaving them speechless in the search for the meaning of life and the purpose of this world. While many survivors give thanks to God, because they were spared, many others question themselves about a God that allows so terrible a suffering to be inflicted on so many people. 

In the story of Noah and the flood, the Scriptures present us with several layers of understanding, which may shed some light on the relationship between God and people.

A God of Nature

In this story, we are presented with a God who is charge and in control of every phenomenon and every possible event that takes place in the world. This is a very traditional view, which can be found in many cultures. Here, they praise God as Chimba-milonga or Chenda-mu-mwela, meaning that which digs streams or walks on the wind. He is like a power full of energy that is present everywhere and in everything. And some go to the extreme of identifying natural phenomena, like the rain, the sun, lightening and thunder, with God.

An occasion of salvation

However, even though prisoner of this way of thinking, the Scriptures introduce new ways of understanding God as the One who sets his mind on a personal relationship with human beings. On one side, God regretted to have created human beings, because their sin was great and their rejection of God was so complete that they contaminated the whole world. The flood is presented as a punishment and a cleansing of the world, which had been corrupted by sin.

But the Scriptures do not dwell upon God’s anger that led him to inflict so great punishment on the world. Instead, the flood is seen as the opportunity for a new start. In the story, God shows his care for the ones who remained faithful to his love. Their lives are in his hands, and he holds them close to his heart. The flood became the occasion for a covenant and a promise of life.

If we are able to see and receive God’s love with open hearts, the darkest moments of our lives and of our history may become an occasion of salvation.

The cleansing of baptism

Many passages of the Old Testament acquired new meanings, as generations heard them being read and explained. St. Peter, in this Sunday’s second reading, explains that the water of the flood prefigures the water of baptism by which we are cleansed, not of the dirt of our bodies, but of our hearts, saving us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Pe 3:21).

With these two passages, the Church asks us to direct our minds and our hearts to the Baptism: the baptism of all who were baptised long ago, and the baptism of those who are preparing themselves to be born of water and spirit. The baptism is not an external washing of the body, but a grafting in Jesus Christ, done by the power of the Holy Spirit. With baptism, we enter the New Covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus and then approved and promulgated with his resurrection.

COME BACK TO ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART

ASH WEDNESDAY - Joel 2:12-18

Many people will find it strange that many Christians start the lenten season by putting ashes over their heads or by participating in a celebration in which they are anointed with ashes, as they say it in Bemba language. 

In fact, if we go by the wisdom of the world, there are many things in Christianity that are strange. The cross is one of them and in many traditionally Christian countries, there are outspoken groups fighting against the use of the cross in public, be it in schools or in working places. It is strange that an instrument of torture is cherished and carried by many, and it is even more strange that we glorify and worship the crucified One.

To be a Christian every Christian has to make a choice to follow Jesus and carry the cross. We may ask ourselves how suffering can be redeeming, putting us on the path to salvation and life, but we proclaim that we are saved by death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

We use oil and all kinds of creams to anoint ourselves, so that we keep our skins smooth and enhance the beauty of our bodies. It gives us a sense of worthiness. Using ashes, instead of creams and oils, we are forced to understand the emptiness of such beauty and of a worthiness built upon the decay of the body. The ashes remind us of the continuous ageing that leads our bodies to decay and are a statement of rejection of a false notion of beauty and worthiness. And we must ask ourselves where is the true beauty.

On the Wednesday of Ashes, we do public penance as a community, recognising our sinfulness and listening to God’s to repentance and conversion. The ashes are a recognition of the emptiness of our lives and of our impotency to achieve true beauty and goodness. We walk daily towards death and possible annihilation. They represent a cold and realistic look at our lives in this passing world. But like the cross of Jesus Christ, the ashes do not represent an attitude of hopelessness. Recognising that everything is passing away, we decide to turn our hearts and our minds to what is permanent and eternal. 

Although, looking at ourselves with open eyes, we see our shortcomings, weaknesses and failures, we do it turning  to God and throwing ourselves in his arms, confident of his mercy and love. That’s why we are told, as we receive the ashes: Repent and believe in the Good News.