Behold Him
Homily for March 25, 2018 (Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord)
Mark 11:1-10; Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47
Behold him
Stripped
of his clothing,
dignity and respect,
power and authority,
justice,
friends, companions, and disciples,
skin and blood,
religious standing.
Deprived of hope
and the sense of his Father’s presence and care.
Behold him
Victim of a lynching,
an execution
sanctioned by Roman law
yet conceived
in spiritual blindness
and an orthodoxy
rooted not in love
or a desire to teach or learn
but instead in fear,
hardened hearts and stiff necks.
Behold him
Never stripped of his love for his Father,
for his friends and disciples
or us.
Clothed in humility
and the power of self-sacrifice.
Behold him
INRI: Iesus Nararenus Rex Iudaeorum.
King of the Jews.
The real Barabbas, “Son of the Father.”
The Son of Man.
The Son of God.
Stripped of his life
yet clothed in eternal glory.
Behold him
Iesus Christus
and give thanks. +