HOMILY – PALM SUNDAY
ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA CATHOLIC CHURCH & FURMAN U.
APRIL 5, 2009 – 8, 10, 12 & 6:30PM
May our Lord Jesus’ triumphant ride into Jerusalem give us courage.
Speak to the weary, exalted obedience, all kneel & pause for a short time.
Speak to the weary. The prophet Isaiah was given a gift that you have been given also. Like a gift that gets put in the attic, a gift can become rusty, unused, forgotten. I am here to speak to you weary of a gift you have been given which when used will please God tremendously.
You alone have knowledge of the people nearest you. Only you can speak to them in a way that will rouse them. They wait for you to speak.
Like the prophet Isaiah you are called to use your mouth like he used his.
What do the people around you wait to hear from you? Rouse the people!
Lift spirits and encourage! This life is hard for us all. I want to hear things like, “thank you for the time you put into that” “thanks for giving your best, that wasn’t easy” “get away for a while, we’ll be ok, I’ll cover for you.” What do your people need to hear?
The prophet is not afraid of what people will say or think about him. He speaks what needs to be said, knowing he shall not be put to shame.
God asks this, he serves for God’s pleasure. Speak to the weary!
Exalted obedience. Jesus humbles Himself, takes the form of a servant, and remains obedient even to death. He is obeying His Father who asks faithfulness, that His Father’s kingdom be made known. Jesus does this.
For doing this His Name is exalted above every other name. But oddly,
it is in following not leading that He is honored, humbled, He is exalted,
in serving He shows Himself the master. Welcome to the great Palm Sunday whiplash experience. Whaaa?
The Lord - goes down, the King - humiliated, Messiah - messed with.
Yet through it all Jesus knows we need Him to be faithful. We have failed, He must succeed. We observe Him walk obediently to death today.
It is an exalted obedience. We understand - love is messy. Ummm Hmm.
All kneel and pause for a short time. There is a rubric we obeyed when Jesus gives the world His last breath. We all kneel and pause to let it all in. The death of God. The life giver, the one who raised people up from the dead, now goes down into it. There is no experience of ours that He doesn’t share. For our great hope in the Resurrection…
we kneel and pause for a short time. Can’t take it all in.
So is it the case that like Him - you have been mistreated, misunderstood, missed period? Is it the case that you too have had friends betray you?
Is it the case that you tried and fell? Loved and lost? Do you still wait for faithfulness? Jesus did before you! He takes all our pain, and walks it to Jerusalem. Everything we hurt about, and everything we hope for, comes together in Him. And God does not disappoint. The rubric is a tiny gesture to return for so great a gift to us. All kneel, pause for a short time.
You know what? After kneeling, all ought to find a fitting return, each of us, a personal decision. We can speak the things we KNOW people have longed to hear from us. We can humble ourselves and more literally follow Him. Take it up! Like it’s for the first time!
What a gift to give, another life, obedient, grateful, rousing the weary.
Some will praise you, some will mock you. Set your face like flint.
The level of gladness will cause a pause, how do they do it? Jesus Christ.