Today is April 13, Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion.
The first reading comes from some of the most beautiful prophecies of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament: the Songs of the Suffering Servant. If you’ve never read them before, I highly, highly encourage you to look them up in the coming week. What I love about this passage is the description of the servant’s resolve: “I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame” (Is 50:6-7).
I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. The heart of Jesus Christ is an obedient heart. His greatest desire is to do the Father’s will. Indeed, the sacrifice of Christ is essentially his obedience on the cross, where “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). His obedience was built on trust that exists between the Father and the Son, that the Father would not abandon him but would rather raise him up in glory. And so, he set his face like flint, knowing that he would not be put to shame. We will see this unfold in the coming week.
Taking our crosses and following Jesus
As baptized men and women, the mysteries of Christ are relived in each of us, including his passion and death. We identify with the Suffering Servant and the crucified Lord, knowing that we, too, must pick up our crosses, follow him, ascend our crosses and die on them. Christian obedience is not always easy and sometimes is a sorrowful experience. Holy Week is the story of Christ but also the life of Christ within us. United to Christ, we know that the Father will not abandon us but will raise us up in glory. Therefore, we look ahead, setting our faces like flint, trusting that we will not be put to shame.
Let us pray,
Almighty ever-living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Savior to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
