Archbishop of Sydney

PALM SUNDAY

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Lk 19:28-40; Is 50:4-7; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14-23:56

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
4 April 2004

Holy Week has now commenced for us once again. We have heard about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, certainly a small triumph, certainly a cause for excitement among Jesus’ followers.  Whether many others in Jerusalem noticed this excitement is another question.

We should pray that during this Holy Week we shall be like the men and women waving palm branches (at least metaphorically) who welcomed Our Lord’s arrival.  Our praise too should be loud or at least audible, and our hearts should be open to Christ; open, high and wide, like the ancient doors and gates to the city of Jerusalem.  Especially at Holy Week, Christ should not pass us by like a ship in the night.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prayed every morning that he would wake to listen like a disciple.  In fact he was more than that as he had a disciple’s tongue, so that he would know how to reply to those who were tired and dispirited.  He claimed that the Lord had opened his ear to receive the message.  We might say today that he was on the right band or wavelength.  Are we open to Christ’s message?  Are we tuned in accurately, or are we more than content that there is static on the line; quite determined not to turn up the volume so that the Lord’s message comes through loudly and clearly?

Holy Week in particular is a time for listening and for pondering, meditating on the interplay of good and evil, the human and divine in Jesus’ passion and resurrection.

As we begin this week of contemplating Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection we must never forget that He is also the only Son of God, the Second person of the Blessed and eternal Trinity, as well as the man of suffering.

The one true God is not simply the Lord of history, but the Creator of the universe which began at least 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang, (according to most cosmologists).  I am told there are all sorts of problems with this.  The Hubble telescope has discovered formed stars 13.3 billion light years away.  This does not fit the theory, as they should have been soupy, not stars with planets.  Perhaps the big Bang is even further away.  Moreover the galaxies are not moving at a uniform speed.

I am no scientist.  The particulars are interesting and I believe basically true but quite subordinate to my principal claim that God is the creator and sustainer of this universe and it was God’s only Son, through whom all things were made, who was crucified.

In a recent interview a reporter explained to me that she understood a God of love, compassion and forgiveness, but did I really believe God created the entire universe, all these stars which are more numerous than the grains of sand scattered over the entire earth?  Yes, I replied.  In fact if God did not create the universe He would not be God.  She lapsed into silence.

Life itself is a mystery.  In faith we know it is a mystery of love, but it is also scientifically mysterious.  There is so much we do not know.  All the evidence so far shows that humans are alone in the universe.  The Son of God probably had nowhere else he could go except to Planet Earth!  But why does God move so slowly across billions of years, while we humans arrived so recently?  What was the purpose of the dinosaurs?

This is not entirely a self indulgent digression because the Creator God of the Universe is the Father of Jesus his only Son, who suffered and died for us.  We should not forget this.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians explains this mystery of the human and divine in the person of Jesus in his own provocative way.  “Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave,” humbling himself to accept death on a cross.

It was after that suffering and death, that God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names and above all other creatures in the heaven.

Resurrection and triumph are also realities.  Christ has conquered sin and death, but he did not achieve this by the small triumph of his entry into Jerusalem.  Jesus did not deny his followers this brief moment of rejoicing, nor did he rebuke their enthusiasm.  In answering the critical Pharisees who were urging him to do this, he explained that “if these keep silence the stones will cry out.”  Jesus’ followers were on the right track in rejoicing over his arrival.

But this happy moment did not win our redemption.  The agony in the garden, the scourging and crowning with thorns, the way of the cross and the crucifixion lay before him as the necessary preludes to the resurrection.

Why did the one true God organize things this way?  Why did the one true God allow and require His beloved Son to follow this path?  That is a question to contemplate this Holy Week.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.