Passion (Palm) Sunday
Cycle A
April 9,
2017
8:00 am at Saint Mary, Pylesville
11:00 am
at Saint Matthew, Baltimore
Passion
According to Matthew
As you know, there are four gospels.
And each of the gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John –
each of them tells the story of the Passion, the account of Jesus’ suffering
and death. Each of them tells this in a
slightly different way, including different details or highlighting different
themes.
This morning we heard the account of the Passion according to
Matthew. I want to comment on just two
features that convey some of Matthew’s unique insight.
God’s Love
First,
Matthew is the only gospel writer who informs us about the suicide of Judas.
Why
does he mention this? Judas comes to
realize that he has betrayed a good and holy man.
But
tragically, Judas does not realize that Jesus is so good that he still loves
him and will forgive and accept him.
Judas fails to see this.
So
implicitly, by recalling this, Matthew wants us to be clear that nothing we do
is too bad to be forgiven by God. God’s
love is unconditional and there is nothing about us as persons or about our
behavior that is beyond God’s love and forgiveness.
One
conclusion I make is that we as a Church must live out this love of God in our
ministry. This means that everyone needs
to be welcome here – regardless of who they are or how they think or what they
have done.
It
must be this way if we as a Church are to be like Jesus. So, if this understanding would assist someone
you know and who feels uncomfortable coming here, please tell them that God
loves them and welcomes them.
God in Everyone
The second feature in Matthew’s account of the Passion that
I want to note is the tearing of the curtain in the temple.
The passage says that at the moment Jesus dies, “the
veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.” What does this mean?
This curtain separates what is called the Holies of Holies –
the area of the temple where God is seen as dwelling – it separates this from
the rest of the temple. So the tearing
of the curtain is a sign that this separation of God from us no longer exists.
It means that with Jesus’ death and eventual resurrection,
God is with and within each of us. And
so, we are to see God in all persons, whether they are Catholic or not, whether
they are Christian or not, whether they are believers or not.
Pope Francis has given us some really good examples of this,
as when he gave an interview to a journalist who is a non-believer and showed
complete respect for him. So we come
here to church, the building that proclaims the presence of God and that gives
us the Eucharistic presence of Jesus.
And this is to awaken us to God’s presence in everyone. They are some of the positive messages that
Matthew is trying to convey to us today in his account of the Passion of Jesus.
