The Sunday Project
My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?
Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion |
By Darby DeJarnette
The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him that is weary. Morning by morning he wakens, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been confounded; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus said, "You have said so." But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he made no answer. Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?" But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge; so that the governor wondered greatly. Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted. And they had then a notorious prisoner, called Barab'bas. So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you, Barab'bas or Jesus who is called Christ?" For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. Besides, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered much over him today in a dream." Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the people to ask for Barab'bas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barab'bas." Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified." And he said, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Let him be crucified." So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood; see to it yourselves." And all the people answered, "His blood be on us and on our children!" Then he released for them Barab'bas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him. As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyre'ne, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Gol'gotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews." Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, `I am the Son of God.'" And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, la'ma sabach-tha'ni?" that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "This man is calling Eli'jah." And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Eli'jah will come to save him." And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"
Right now many of us are cloistered in our own homes and doing our best to adapt to our roles as newly-anointed anchorites, barely maintaining a semblance of normalcy as we enter this very unusual Holy Week. Palm Sunday is the first time we read about Christ’s Passion. It feels very personal this year. Thirty pieces of silver is what Christ’s life was worth to Judas. The lives of the most vulnerable among us—the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the incarcerated, the refugees, the institutionalized—are at the mercy of some of the most corrupt elements of our society. How many pieces of silver are we willing to sacrifice our fellow human beings for?
This year, we are all at the foot of the cross. The Passion unfolds and leaves us bereft. The only thing we can see is death and destruction; immorality and greed. So many things which make us think, “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Sometimes the best we can do is to try to remember that the story doesn’t end with the crucifixion.
We are told that all life began in a garden. This is also where things, supposedly, went wrong. In the Song of Songs, King Solomon describes “a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse”—this garden has been interpreted to represent the mystical love between Christ and the Church. After the resurrection, Mary Magdalene mistakes Jesus for a gardener. I don’t think this is a coincidence. Right now we are all waiting for Jesus in our enclosed gardens. Regardless of what suffering is occurring around us, we are always in His garden. Our separation from Christ is temporary, just as life is temporary.
We are emptying ourselves into the unknown. God knows why all of this is happening, but our own vision is clouded and darkened by our own sin and the sin of others. You’ll have to excuse me for dipping in to scripture that wasn’t featured today, but I’m reminded of what was written in Ecclesiastes:
“What profit have we from all the toil
which we toil at under the sun?
One generation departs and another generation comes,
but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun sets;
then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Shifting south, then north,
back and forth shifts the wind, constantly shifting its course.
All rivers flow to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they flow,
the rivers continue to flow.
All things are wearisome,
too wearisome for words.
The eye is not satisfied by seeing
nor has the ear enough of hearing.
What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!”
Plagues, famines, wars, corruption…these are not new things. Jesus comes into Jerusalem and walks right towards this darkness, knowing how it will end. Christ still knows how things will end. Even as we are drawn towards death, we have to believe that we are not drawn towards a complete obliteration of the soul but towards a beginning. This pain is not an accident and it’s not useless. It is a way of participating in Christ’s new creation. After the birth pangs, joy comes into the world. Even if we cannot yet see the shape of the life we are bringing forth, we can trust and know that it will be very good—and that Christ will never leave us alone for long.