Joke: There was a three-year-old boy named Johnny. When it was Palm Sunday, he couldn't wait to go to church to see what Palm Sunday was. But sadly, Johnny came down with chickenpox. His parents hired a babysitter to take care of Johnny while they went to church. When they came home holding palm leaves, Johnny asked, "What are the palm tree leaves for, Mom?" She replied, "When Jesus walked through the town, people waved palm leaves at him in respect." Johnny looked upset and said, "Wouldn't you know? The first day that I'm not in the church, he shows up."

Today, the Catholic Church throughout the world marks the beginning of the Holy Week with Palm Sunday, a purpose of remembrance of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. This Palm Sunday, the Church remembers that Jesus entered Jerusalem as King. It was a long Gospel, but it’s packed with insights. There were present Pontius Pilate, the governor, twelve Apostles, including Judas Iscariot, the betrayer, and Peter, the denier, Caiaphas, the high priest, the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes, the soldiers, the Jews including the bystanders and Simon, a Cyrenian was forced to carry the cross of Jesus, the criminals including Barabbas, a notorious prisoner, and the two revolutionaries who were crucified with Jesus, some women followed Jesus including Mary, his mother, and of course Jesus himself. This was the entire human race from every corner of life, from every profession of life, from every way of life gathered together, engaged into, and witnessed the voice, the groaning of the Son of God, a complete abandonment of the Son of God, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

At his complete abandonment, Jesus, St. Paul testified in today’s second reading saying, “He emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” All those groups of people came out with only one purpose and that was to crucify Jesus. Why? He cured the sick; he healed the disease; he freed the prisoners, the oppressed, the prostitutes, and the woman caught in adultery; and he even raised the dead back to life again. What had he done wrong that they all wanted to kill him? Have we ever wanted to crucify the Lord Jesus and why?

Judas Iscariot crucified Jesus with a price of thirty pieces of silver. Peter crucified Jesus by refusing to be his follower. Other apostles crucified him by fleeing for their lives. The high priest, the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees crucified Jesus because of their jealousy. The soldiers crucified Jesus because of their fidelity to the power of this world, not God. The criminals crucified Jesus because, in their despair, they could find no hope in God. The Jews crucified Jesus because of their innocence in listening to their leaders.

Have we ever crucified our Lord Jesus Christ? When we work too many hours that we cannot make it to Church; when we travel we refuse to go to Church; when our marriage is so bitter and sour that we don’t want to go to Church; when we lie to save our face, to cheat to fulfill our selfish desire, and to bear false witness to gain something, have all these and many more sounded like we are not much different with those groups wanted to crucify Jesus?

Among those people who wanted to crucify Jesus, some couldn’t go against the crowd but faithfully followed Jesus on the way. Mary Magdalen, Mary, the mother of Jesus, John, his beloved disciple, Simon of the Cyrenian, who helped to carry Jesus’ cross, Veronica courageously wiped the face of Jesus on the way to the Cross, Peter, a converter who returned to the Lord and was crucified upside down, and a good revolutionary thief returned to the Lord by acknowledging his wrongdoing and asked for forgiveness, together with some others that they were fearlessly followed Jesus even to the foot of the Cross. We often profess on our lips that we are the followers of Jesus, and when challenges and difficulties storm down on our lives, we have no fear and still faithfully follow the Lord Jesus. On a raining day or a cold day, I observed and touched seeing some elderly ladies and men walked slowly under the rain to come to Church. More touching to see husband brought the umbrella to accompany his wife to come inside the Church as if it’s mission to be born in the world to protect his wife.

In his passion, was Jesus afraid of dying? Hanging on the Cross, reported in Saint Mark Gospel, Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Was the silent response what God the Father wanted to abandon him? Or was it because of his love for the humanity fallen state that he willingly accepted to die for the sake of the human salvation? Did his death on the Cross show the weakness of God? Or what does it mean for us? The Church throughout the whole world celebrates this Holy Week yearly including Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter, what does it mean? Jesus Christ, God and the Son of God, loved us to the point of death, death on the Cross. What does he want return from us? Holy Week after Holy Week will become meaningless if we don’t take time to reflect the meaning of the death of Jesus, the Son of God and God himself. The decision is yours.