Readings (Year A):
Isaiah 50:4–7
Psalm 22:8–9, 17–18, 19–20, 23–24
Philippians 2:6–11
Matthew 26:14–27:66
Reflection: Palm Sunday calls us to humility and hope
In Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s famous poem In Memoriam A.H.H., the poet responds to the capriciousness of life and the newfound revelations of scientific theories such as natural selection and entropy that proposed challenges to traditions of biblical literalism. Throughout the text, Tennyson wrestles with the tension between the nurturing God whom the prophet Isaiah describes as carrying their creations like a gentle shepherd—and the grim patterns of predation and geological change that have led to the extinction of most forms of life on the Earth.
The poet addresses this paradox most directly in Canto 56 of his poem, which states the following:
“Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation’s final law —
Tho’ Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek’d against his creed —
Who loved, who suffer’d countless ills,
Who battled for the True, the Just,
Be blown about the desert dust,
Or seal’d within the iron hills?”
Although the decades after Tennyson penned this work would bear witness to the exciting challenges and opportunities for theology in light of the theories of evolution by natural selection, continental drift, entropy, and nuclear physics, I submit that many of the problems that Tennyson identifies are those of degree rather than of kind. To wit, change, tumult, and toil are both blessings and curses in the Bible—stories like the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt, Joseph’s abduction by his brothers, and Ruth’s widowhood serve as examples that tragedy and grief can be opportunities for increased spiritual and even earthly reward.
Although the scale of life’s ebbs and flows were often injurious to Christian faith during Tennyson’s life, there is perhaps no greater example of this phenomenon than Palm Sunday, when believers grapple with Christ’s triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem amidst th shadow of his betrayal and unjust execution. Christ’s death on the cross, which was viewed as a humiliating defeat by the governing authorities, is in fact his most courageous and triumphant act. Christ’s eternal reign, and the eventual call to evangelization that appears on the Feast of Pentecost, however, are impossible absent his scourging, mockery, and death.
On this point, Palm Sunday can serve as a powerful call for both hope and humility. In these scriptural passages, Catholics receive a rejoinder to both thoughtless optimism and immobilizing pessimism. There are times in the life of a Catholic more akin to the jubilation of Palm Sunday, and those which wound like Judas’ betrayal. Moreover, there are times when we are humbled by the less savory elements of our nature and find ourselves closer to the fear of Peter than the unshakeable faith of Mary Magdalene. One of the great treasures of this day, then, is that we gain comfort from the promises of Christ’s kingship amidst the perniciousness of death and disaster, albeit with the confidence that all forms of death—biological, spiritual, and cultural, will not have the last word.
Add comment