Homily for Palm Sunday

Homily for Palm Sunday

March 29, 2026
Is 50: 4-7
Phil 2: 6-11
Matt 26: 14—27: 66
Assumption, Bronx
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

Christ being tormented
(Hieronymus Bosch)

In the 1st reading, Isaiah prophesied about a servant of the Lord who would suffer beatings, mockery, and being spat on.  Christians see that fulfilled in our Lord’s passion.

In the 2d reading, St. Paul quotes a hymn about the Son of God’s lowering himself, debasing himself, to descend from the glory of heaven to our human condition and suffering all that implies, right up to the most humiliating and painful death known to the ancient world—crucifixion.

Why?  Because God loves us so much that he wanted to share our humanity completely—its pains, sorrows, and finally a miserable death.  If you’ve been paying any attention to the news, you know how painful the human condition can be.

In the Lord’s passion, we heard that Jesus had was betrayed by one of his own apostles and denied by Peter.  We heard him mocked by soldiers, leaders, and even criminals.  We heard how Pontius Pilate acted out of fear, not out of truth or justice.

But God’s love triumphed:  “God greatly exalted” Jesus, raising him from the tomb and bringing his humanity to the heights of heaven.  God’s love for us intends the same future for us if we accept Christ’s love and respond to it.

How?  By loving others—not mocking them, for example, as Jesus was mocked.  No gossip, no verbal abuse, no harsh treatment; rather, respect for the dignity of everyone, even those we don’t like.

Pilate washing his hands
(Gebhard Fugel)

By standing courageously with Jesus.  No denying that he’s our Lord and Savior.  No hiding in fear.  No compromising truth.  No injustice meted out to anyone out of fear or prejudice.

And by being grateful to God for his goodness to us—grateful prayer, reverence for his name, participation in the celebration of the Eucharist every week.  Eucharist means “thanksgiving,” and there’s no better thanks we can give to God than the Eucharist, thru which we commune intimately with the body and blood of Christ.

We prayed earlier that we might heed the lesson of Christ’s “patient suffering and so merit a share in his resurrection.”  Amen to that!