Palm Sunday 2015

Today we read Mark’s account of Jesus’ Passion; yes it is the long Gospel but we should not miss out on the journey that this account offers us. A good question to ask is “Where do I stand” in this Gospel? Are you looking on as a bystander, are you in the group of disciples, are you closer to the Roman Soldier who confesses Jesus’s identity after his death ~ an unlikely hero? Perhaps it is a more difficult journey as you relate to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, a Jesus who is ‘distressed’ and ‘agitated’ because of many things: isolation, the disappointment he must feel because of the abandonment of his closest friends, betrayal, loneliness, mocking, torture? Mark has Jesus die in total isolation.

The cry of abandonment on the cross has to be one of the most frightening aspects of this account: “Eloi, Eloi Lema Sabbachtani?” My God, my God, why have you deserted me?  At the crucial moment, even God is silent. This is not an easy journey. We know the story does not end there, but for this week we enter into the rawness of Mark’s cross. We can remember those today who stand for justice, who fight for human rights, those who are counter-cultural, who stand against oppressive systems even though the path is dangerous and lonely. And we can continue to ask ourselves: “Where do I stand?”