“I have
eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” These are the
words of a man who could foresee the narrow gate through which he was about to
pass, the narrow gate of suffering. But it was the gate through which Jesus could
best manifest his love and affection for his disciples as well as his obedience
to his Father’s will. On this Palm Sunday, we have come to that narrow gate.
Fortified by our 40 days of Lent, let us eagerly follow our Lord in his passage.
Certainly, the words of Isaiah
should give us confidence for our journey. He speaks of the Servant of the
Lord, a prefigurement of Jesus. “He gave his back to those who beat him, his
cheeks to those who plucked his beard; his face he did not shield from buffets
and spitting.” It seems hard to imagine that our heavenly Father would allow
such things to happen to his beloved Son. Why? What had he done to deserve such
treatment? It is a mystery, but perhaps we could take Isaiah’s words as a
commentary on another paradoxical saying in Scripture. The Letter to the Hebrews
says: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered.” But why
did Jesus have to learn obedience? He was never disobedient. Why did he have to
suffer buffets and spitting? Simple – he did it for us. His obedience allowed the
Father to transform our human nature so that it could be fully conformed to the
Father’s will. On our own, we could never endure the transforming and painful fire
of obedience. Only Jesus could endure it, and by doing so, our human nature was
remade in him. In Jesus, we have become capable of the transforming obedience of
love.
The sufferings of the Servant of the
Lord can shed light on another passage in Scripture as we pass through Holy
Week. Paul says in the letter to the Romans: “Not only that, we boast of our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and
proven character, hope…” In our union with Jesus the sufferings we endure ultimately
produce hope. That is the great fruit of Holy Week: the gift of hope that in
Jesus we will witness the Father’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Brothers, with
that hope firmly held in our hearts, we know that we shall never be put to shame.
Let us eagerly desire to share this Passover with Jesus and pass through the
narrow gate which leads to eternal life.
This morning's homily by Abbot Vincent.
