Each year during Holy Week, we journey with Jesus amid the crowds that shout, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The day is filled with jubilation and praise. The King of peace is welcomed but a few days later, the people will demand his death on the cross.
The gospel narratives of the Passion recount how the sins of the people and their leaders at the time conspired to bring about the Passion and death of Jesus, implying that we are all to blame. Their sins and ours bring Christ to the cross and he bears them willingly. As Paul told us in this letter, Jesus emptied himself totally, becoming obedient to the point of death. He subjected himself to such torture and pain so that he could then take on the fullness of humanity.
Jesus emptied himself to demonstrate his complete self-surrender to God of his personal interests. That didn’t come easy. In the garden, following the Last Supper, he pleads, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not as I will, but as you will.” Then on the cross, he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Still, Jesus knew that for him there was no choice. To place his interests first would mean to be unfaithful to his mission, the one voiced by those who pleaded, “Hosanna! Save us, Lord!”
And saved us, he did. Yet there are times when we forget that. The Passion brings to mind a question that many of us deal with from time to time and that is, “How will I face life today?” Consider the reaction of the apostles. The death of Jesus left them devastated. The man in whom they had placed their hope had endured the most barbaric form of execution known to the western world. Now that he was in the tomb, how are they to face life? How do we face life when things are not going as we had hoped? When we feel burdened, lost, alone, overwhelmed, ill or exhausted?
Consider how Jesus must have felt in the days leading up to Calvary. The gospels mention more than once that Jesus knew he was going to endure this painful death, so I cannot imagine that he never asked himself that question. In prayer, he found the answer. He would face life with God.
The apostles in a few short days would come to realize that they could still face life with Jesus. Looking back on their time with him, they recalled how often Jesus placed all things in the Father’s hands. If Jesus could face life by placing all things in his Father’s hands, so could they.
Unlike the apostles, who had yet to experience Easter morning, we know the aftermath of the Passion story. In his death and resurrection, Jesus provided the clearest answer to our perennial question on how to face life. Sadly though, the answer is so familiar that it comes across as a cliché.
Face life and its issues with the God who shows up right where we are and lives through everything we live through; the God who is abandoned, abused, forsaken, scourged, and then crucified, experiencing death, which is our common human experience, only his is much heavier than ours will ever be since his death takes away our sins. Through his passion, God has done the most that can be done to then say, “Now I understand the human experience!”
In response, do we seek to understand the divine experience by facing life with God? Holy Week breaks open our lives in ways we hadn’t thought possible. Each liturgy retraces what Jesus did by facing each day with God. Now, he wants to help us face the uncertainty of our future and our personal turmoil. In response to the question, “how will I face life?” Jesus doesn’t mind if we choose to lean on him. Not just today but everyday for he comes to save us if we let him.