Sixth Sunday of Easter, cycle C

John 14:23 - 29

In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles we hear about the controversy over circumcision and by extension, how Jewish you had to be in order to be a Christian?  It was a serious debate because the early Christians were mostly Jewish converts, and there was no question in their minds that God had given the Jews a lot of commandments.  If you were Jewish, you just accepted that this was the way you lived.  But as the Church began to reach out to gentiles,it had to begin the difficult task of looking at what had been given to Jews and asking what was essential, what of Jewish law applied to the new converts to Christianity.  And as it did so, the Church could not allow these questions to divide it.  The apostles valued unity among the assembly so highly that they sought to speak with one voice.  That’s why Paul consulted with Peter; that’s why in the early church there were ecumenical councils. Unity meant peace, and Jesus, after he rose from the dead, told the apostles “Peace be with you”. 

In a few minutes Father will offer us the peace of the Lord.  I will then ask you to offer a sign of peace to each other.  Some of us will wave, some bow, some studiously look straight ahead and not move at all.  And there will be the wavers and a few people who just have to shake hands because they can’t imagine the sign of peace without actually touching.  And after a couple of minutes we will be back to ignoring each other as we prepare for communion.  There have been some liturgical authorities that think we should do away with this little ritual, or maybe have it at the beginning of mass, so that we could all say hello to each other before we get down to the serious business of why we are here.  And being really old, I remember the Mass before Vatican II.  The Priest would be saying Mass in Latin with his back to the people.  You couldn’t hear what he was saying because he was speaking very softly.  And then he would abruptly turn around and say in a louder voice, “Pax vobiscum”.  And the altar server, me, would answer for the congregation, “et cum spiritu tuo.”  

But there is an interesting document from the third century which has come down to us in Syriac and Greek, and we have several copies or fragments of copies.  It was called in Latin, the Didacalis Apostolorum.  Some people of that time thought it had been written by the apostles, but we doubt that today.  It was kind of an encyclopedia about how to carry out the liturgy, who could administer sacraments, who could marry who, and so on and so forth.  But the part that has something to do with today’s gospel is a description of the kiss of peace.  Once the priest or bishop had finished the Eucharistic prayer and consecrated the Bread and Wine, he would kiss the deacons (I want you to know I am not saying we should go back to the old way).  The deacon would then kiss a few members of the congregation, who would in turn kiss more members, until everyone had exchanged the kiss of peace.  The celebrant was instructed to stop the liturgy if the kiss of peace was refused by someone, or not given by someone.  The celebrant was instructed to intercede until the two individuals had their differences smoothed over; and if they could not, they were to be expelled from the congregation before the Eucharist was given.  It was considered absolutely necessary for everyone to share the peace of Christ before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.  

Jesus contrasts the peace he gives with that given by the world.  When he mentions the peace the world gives, what undoubtedly came to the minds of his hearers was the Pax Romana.  The Peace of Rome was attributed to the Roman state, which built roads and cities, controlled the shipping lanes, and in general maintained an effective civilization -- at the cost of suppressing dissent by the use of its huge standing army.  The Romans were very proud of the peace they had brought about.  But it was fragile;  there were rebellions, invasions from the north and east of the empire; and sometimes nature would step in to shake up the peace with an earthquake or a plague or a volcano..  

Jesus’ peace is different.  It is based on the giving of the Holy Spirit, who God promises will stand beside us and speak for us and through us -- that’s what an advocate does.  In another place Jesus promises that we don’t need to prepare what we are to say in our defense before the authorities -- the Spirit will provide the words.  Jesus' peace also comes from knowing that he is with the Father and has promised that if we keep his word the Father will love us and Jesus and the Father will make their dwelling in us.  With these kinds of promises it is no wonder that the early Christians did not fear the powers of the state and went to their martyrdoms singing.

So you can see how, every time the liturgy was celebrated, the congregation would exchange the kiss of peace which reminded them that they had been given the peace of Jesus Christ, and that if we accept it, our hearts cannot be troubled or afraid.  Remember that today as well when we exchange the sign of peace, that in this community, in our unity, the peace of Christ truly lives.

Fifth Sunday of Easter, cycle C

 John 13:31 -35

In today’s gospel Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment  But what is new about it?  The old testament is full of admonitions to love your neighbor.  The writings of Moses insisted that the strangers and foreigners in the midst of the Israelites should be treated not only with respect but with love.  So what is this commandment of Jesus’ all about? Why is it new?

Jesus is at the last supper.  Judas has gone of to betray him.  He’s alone with the other eleven disciples.  Notice that he says, “Love one another as I have loved you”.  He hasn’t been crucified yet, he hasn’t given up his life for his people, he hasn’t even started his church.  But he gives them a new commandment, to love one another as He has loved them.  So before Jesus went to his death, he must have loved his disciples in  new ways.  And what do we know about that?  

So how did he love his disciples in a way that they could imitate?  I think you have to look at the whole time that Jesus was with his disciples.  The first thing that happened was that he called them to share in his ministry.  You remember when he called Peter, who fell to his knees and asked Jesus to leave him because he was a sinful man.  And Jesus invited Peter to become a fisher of men.  And as Jesus gathered his twelve apostles, the story was always the same; he called and they answered, and he promised that they would make a difference, that they would be there to judge the world, that they would be able to work miracles like he worked.  But first they would have be be disciples, first they would have to learn from him how to see the world in a new way.  And the disciples did. When you look at the gospel stories and the Acts of the Apostles, you can’t help but notice how Jesus took a band of illiterate fisherman and tradespeople and turned them into evangelists, into missionaries.  The first way Jesus Loved his disciples was to allow them to share in his mission.

The second way Jesus loved his disciples was by serving them.  He demonstrated this by the washing of their feet, which took place just before this gospel story.  It must have been pretty obvious to the disciples that Jesus expected them to serve each other; the greatest among them would be the servant of all.  Peter took this to heart, as shown in the Acts of the Apostles.  He served the early Christian community by being someone who settled disputes, who sought out the Holy spirit in prayer and in consultation, who served the community in humility -- when he was called out by Paul for treating the gentile Christians differently than the Jewish ones, he accepted the correction..  Peter lived for the Church, he put the needs of the Church first.  And we see that among the other early leaders of the Church.  When you read the scriptures you see this, and it's so familiar to us that we don’t see the uniqueness any more.  Before and after Jesus, most leaders chose to be leaders out of self serving motives, and often gained those positions by violence..  But Jesus turns the attention of his disciples to humble service.  This is loving  leadership.

The third way Jesus loved his disciples was by forgiving them.  We think about the betrayal of Peter and how Jesus forgave him there on the shores of the sea of Galilee after the resurrection.  But there were plenty of other times Jesus forgave his followers.  Maybe their offenses weren’t as serious as Peter’s, like when James and John wanted to call down fire upon the Samaritan village that had rejected them, or when they couldn’t see the point he was making with a parable and he had to patiently explain what he meant.  And perhaps that’s the kind of forgiveness we need to imitate.  It’s one thing to forgive an enemy, but when someone does us serious harm we tend to avoid that person in the future, forgiven or not.  It’s another thing to deal with what we see as shortcomings in people -- our children, our spouse, our friends -- and rather than “put up” with them, learn to love those shortcomings, knowing we have them as well.  When Peter proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, Jesus gave him a nickname -- Peter which means “Rock”.  And that nickname would be prophetic, because Peter would eventually become the rock upon which the Church would be built, but he would also be very un-rock like in the courtyard of the high priest the night before Jesus was crucified.  And Jesus called James and John “Sons of Thunder” when they wanted to destroy the Samaritan village.  And I think when the disciples returned from the mission on which he had sent them and told of all the things that had happened, Jesus observed that he had seen Satan falling from heaven.  In other words, as I read the gospels, Jesus loves the things about us that make us unique, and doesn’t just put up with them.  

So the new commandment of Jesus is to love as he did -- to invite others into a common ministry; to serve each other without expecting thanks or recognition; and to forgive each other, especially of the little things we don’t even recognize as worthy of forgiveness.  

And we are all called to this kind of love.  And how do we know when we are living that way?  When people see it and know we are Jesus’ disciples.  

Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time, cycle C

John 10:27 - 30

The 10th chapter of John’s gospel is all about Jesus as the good shepherd.  There are many images in there that do not resonate with us because, unlike Jesus’ audience, we don't have much to do with shepherds these days.  But to the Israelites, the image of the shepherd was very prominent.  When you think about it, a lot of the big names in Jewish history were shepherds --- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs were all shepherds.  Moses was a shepherd during his exile, when he tended the flocks of his father in law.  King David was a shepherd, and the author of the Psalm that starts out “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.  And we could go on.  In the New testament we see that the first people to hear about the birth of Jesus are shepherds.  

If we had heard a few verses before today’s gospel, we would have heard Jesus call himself the Good Shepherd.  Today’s gospel is why he can claim that title.  Sheep follow the shepherd.  They are herd animals like cows, horses, and human beings, if you want to be honest.  Herd animals feel more secure when they are part of the herd, when they have a leader to follow.  When the leader is in dispute, there is trouble.  In the wild, flocks of sheep follow a single leader until that individual begins to show some sort of weakness.  Then rivals try to take over; they either replace the leader or end up splitting the flock.  Domestic sheep look to the shepherd as the leader, and he outlives all of them; sooner or later if you're a sheep you end up being mutton.  And that’s why Jesus is the Good Shepherd; he gives his sheep eternal life.

So what is eternal life and why do I want it?  If you were to talk to a devout Buddhist, he would look at you blankly -- why would anyone want to keep living, to keep reincarnating, over and over again, with all the pain and suffering that comes into even the richest and 

wealthiest life?  Vlaidimir Putin a few years ago rode around on a horse with his shirt off -- easily the image of a very strong, powerful and rich man.  And we hear that he’s got cancer, and may have to go through surgery soon.  No one is immune, and to the Buddhist, the best thing is to get off the train -- to rid yourself of all desire so that you won’t keep coming back in a new body.  And I think we tend to see eternal life this way as well -- It’s all well and good to never die again, but being human beings, we know that deep down sooner or later we’d get bored.  And to talk about enjoying the beatific vision is abstract; I look forward to that because I’m told that this is what awaits the saints.  But is that going to be an everlasting subscription to Netflix?  I hope not.  

But listen to Jesus’ words:  “I give them eternal life”.  He doesn’t say, “I will give them eternal life”.  IF you are one of his sheep, if you know him, if you hear his voice, you already have eternal life.  Eternal life doesn’t just mean living forever -- although that’s implied.  But we haven’t got the faintest idea about how things would be if we did not experience time passing.  It just can’t be put into words.  But eternal life has already started for us.  So what is it?  Jesus defined it.  He said, “And this is eternal life, that they might know you, the eternal God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”  So eternal life is knowing God.  Kind of disappointing.

But knowing God is not the same as knowing about him, that he exists, that he is Trinity, that he is all powerful, all knowing, and so forth.  Knowing God is really on the order of responding to his offer of friendship, of a relationship of intimacy.  This relationship is life-changing; just read the life of any saint.  And I think most of us have known people that we knew had a deep and strong relationship with God.  But I suspect that God lets us sense that in some people, but not all.  More importantly, you and I already have this relationship, but it’s like any human friendship; it can grow, or diminish.  If I want a friendship to grow I have to hang out with my friend; I have to learn about what gives him joy, where his interests are.  To grow a friendship requires conversation with that friend, which is why God became a human being, so that we could relate to him.  

You and I already have eternal life -- Jesus gave it to us.  We can reject the gift of course.  But most of us probably won’t.  But what Jesus offers is an eternity of increasing intimacy with him, with God, which will completely satisfy us.  No one can really put it into words, we can only experience hints of it during this life -- some more than others.  And I suspect that what we call purgatory is that state in which our loving God will continue to call us out of unselfishness, our self-centeredness, until we finally give up resisting.  Because we do resist.  You would think intimacy with God would be something we would want so badly that nothing would stand in our way.  Saint Jane Francis de Chantal had a mystical experience of this and described it as a drip of water falling into an ocean.  You stop being the drop and become the ocean -- or perhaps you lose yourself and become God.  But most of us really don’t want to lose ourselves.  But our Shepherd keeps after us, and sooner or later, will achieve what he wants.  So listen to his voice, and be confident that nothing can snatch us out of his hands.     

Third Sunday of Easter, cycle C

John 21:1 - 19

Our gospel reading tells us that this is the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples.  We will hear about the second time, according to John, this Sunday, when Jesus appears to the apostles along with Thomas, who missed the first time eight days before.  The first time of course, was Easter Sunday -- but before he appeared to them on Easter Sunday, he appeared to Mary Magdalene.  

It’s too bad we hear John’s account in fragments and not even in order.  John is telling us something important if we listen.  Consider the apostles in this particular story.  Why are they in Galilee?  It’s not clear from John’s gospel.  We hear in the gospel of Matthew that Jesus told the women to tell his brothers, the apostles, to go to Galilee, where they would see him.  We don’t see that in John;  the first and second appearances seem to take place in Jerusalem, both times in a locked room; and then we are whisked off to Galilee. Geographically, it would take four days to walk that distance.  You have to wonder what was going on.  

There is a hint, perhaps in that Peter tells the others that he is going fishing.  The others, at least some of whom are also fishermen, volunteer to come with him.  We can imagine what might be going on.  Maybe the apostles left Jerusalem because they feared for their lives if they hung around, and went back to familiar territory.  And perhaps they had run out of funds and prudence dictated that they make a little money.  But they had seen the Lord twice, and from John’s gospel we don’t see any consequences.  He doesn’t commission them, he doesn’t tell them what to do next -- it’s all a blank.  And in the context of the earth shattering miracle they just witnessed, they return to their ordinary lives, their comfortable surroundings.  

And were we to read further in chapter 21 of John’s gospel, we finally get around to the actual commissioning, when he tells Peter, in the presence of the others, to feed his lambs and tend to his sheep.  

During the Easter season, we see proclaimed everywhere including the daily newspaper, the words, “He is risen”.  Father Richard Vera, who wrote a wonderful book called “The word made flesh” points out that once God took on human flesh, once God became incarnate, he did not discard that body after he ascended into heaven.  He is still with us, still incarnate, still around to be discovered.  You and I are like the apostles.  We believe, on faith, that Jesus truly died and truly rose again.  We believe that somehow this set of facts changed everything, making it possible for us to live good lives and participate in the sacraments and to eventually find our way to heaven, to the eternal presence of God, to be finally filled up with the only thing that can satisfy us forever -- God himself.  But like the apostles, we need to eat, we need to work, we need to live our lives.  

But like the apostles, we have to bear in mind that he is still with us, and it’s important for you and I to be tuned in enough to see him.  Peter and the other disciples notice the man on the seashore who asks them to cast the net on the other side of the boat.  That certainly resembles the miracle recorded in Luke, after which Peter is called to become a fisher of men.  But it isn’t Peter who recognizes Jesus, it’s the disciple Jesus loved -- that’s you, that’s me.  And the disciple recognizes Jesus because he is doing what he did before.  And that’s how we are to recognize Jesus.  Wherever his work is being done, wherever his word is being preached, he’s there, and we can recognize him with the eyes of faith.  He is truly risen -- present tense.  He is still God in the flesh.  And if we keep alert and indeed if we also do the things Jesus did, he will be incarnate in us and we will see him all the better.  

I think that’s what John may be showing us; if we are sons and daughters of the Father, and if we are doing the work given to us with devotion and attention, we’ll meet Jesus right here in this life, and over time his presence will become more and more clear so that at the end of our lives we can say with Saint Stephen, “I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”

Easter Sunday, 2022

The four gospels all tell us about the Resurrection of Jesus, but the stories are all a little different.  This is in contrast to the way they handle the passion and death of Jesus -- pretty much the same from evangelist to evangelist.  Needless to say, scholars have spent a lot of time discussing the discrepancies.  But there are some common threads.  The first is that the Resurrection begins with an empty tomb.  The second is that the people who discover the empty tomb are women; not as significant now as it was then.  In that society women were not considered reliable witnesses and their testimony meant a lot less than that of a man in a court of law.  But all the gospels insist on this fact.  The third is that those women who discovered the empty tomb met with some kind of supernatural being or beings -- men dressed in white, two angels, one angel, a young man -- but something supernatural explained that Jesus had risen from the dead, and this is the important part -- as he had promised. And the fourth is that when Jesus appeared to people, they at first did not recognize him.   

Sure, the scriptures tell us that Jesus appeared to his apostles, later on to more than 500 people, surely to Paul.  But when you think about it, you either believe those witnesses or you don’t.  It’s like so many things we hear about.  If I hear that the Blessed Mother is appearing to people in Medjugorje, I guess I neither believe nor disbelieve.  I figure if she wants to give me a special message, she knows where to find me.  It’s the same with the appearances of Jesus.  I’m sure they were momentous to the apostles and the first Christians.  The appearances of Jesus gave them the courage to preach the gospel and to suffer a martyr's death.  But in the long run, you either believe those witnesses or you don’t.  Or if you are like me you neither believe or disbelieve; that's just the way I am.

But the tomb was empty.  If you or I open a tomb, we would expect to find a body, probably in some state of deterioration.  Even the bodies of saints that have been preserved are not quite like living bodies; no matter what, you can tell that they are no longer alive.  But the astonishing thing about the tomb of Jesus is that you don’t encounter death there, you can’t help asking, just as the women did, “Who did this, who took the body away?”  

Not only don’t you encounter death in the tomb, but you encounter life.  You are reminded that he predicted this.  While he was living among you, he reminded you over and over again that this must happen, that the scriptures foretold this event, that the Son of Man must be tortured and put to death, and to rise again on the third day.  What the women encountered was a special insight from heaven, kind of like when Peter realized that Jesus was the Messiah of God.  

Now you have to ask, why women?  We could quibble over how many women were at the empty tomb;  we know one woman was there at least, and that was Mary Magdalene.  But remember, you certainly don’t have to believe women.  In the Gospel of Luke it says that the women returned to the apostles and kept telling them about what they had witnessed, but the apostles didn't believe them.  I like to picture the women who kept telling.  They didn’t say it once, they said it over and over.  But the apostles didn’t have to believe women.  

And maybe that’s the point.  Peter and John eventually go to the tomb and see for themselves that it’s empty -- but there is no angel to tell them why.  They go home wondering what it all means; they still don’t believe..  

Saint Paul tells us that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is futile, and we are still in our sins.  If it is only for this life that we have hope in Christ, then we are to be pitied more than all men.  And that is the mystery.

There are scholars who have studied the scriptures and concluded that Jesus was a good man and a fine teacher, but that’s all.  There are others who talk about a mass hallucination that convinced those early Christians that Jesus had conquered death.  Some in fact think the hallucination came from God.  And there were a lot of theories among the enemies of Christianity -- in the Gospel of Matthew, the soldiers are told to say that someone came and stole the body while they were sleeping.  

In the end we are all in the position of Peter and John, of Thomas, of Mary Magdalene, of the two followers on the way to Emmaus.  If the Resurrection ofJesus is to mean anything to us, we must believe, we must have faith, we must totally commit to this as a fact, like the sun coming up in the morning, or the flowers that burst forth in the spring.  Because we all stand before the empty tomb that tells us death has been conquered for you and I if we believe that Jesus did what he promised to do.  As Jesus told Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen, but have come to believe.”

Second Sunday of Easter, cycle C

 John 20:19 - 31

There is a science called “heuristics''. It’s very important in bible study; it’s the attempt to get back to the original meaning of the text -- not only what the words meant originally, but what the audience heard. So heuristics means that we have to know what was going on historically, what pressures the audience felt; and we need to know what the words meant to the writer and to the audience. And that brings us to the story in John about the first and second appearances of Christ to his apostles.

The first thing to notice is that the doors were locked, for fear of the Jews. According to John, Jesus simply appeared in their midst. But he does more than that, he shows them his hands and his feet. They see the nail holes. And then he performs a god-like act -- he breathes on them and tells them to receive the Holy Spirit. This reminds us of how God breathed life into clay when he formed Adam. He also gives them the power to forgive sin -- a power only God has and only God can give.

John’s gospel account next moves to a week later when Thomas, who was not there originally, is now present and is doubting what his brother apostles are telling him. And at that point Jesus appears and offers Thomas what he said it would take to be convinced, to believe. After Thomas says, “My Lord and my God '' -- and this is the first time a human being has called him God -- Jesus tells Thomas “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” And our gospel goes on to give us the whole reason it was written -- so that you may come to believe, and through that belief you may have life in his name.

Now this is where heuristics is helpful. The original Greek has the apostles saying “We have been seeing the Lord!” Thomas did not just go out for coffee while Jesus appeared; he probably temporarily left the community out of discouragement. But discouraged or not, he makes the decision to return. That’s why the author tells us that Thomas was “with” them. He

Has missed out on the appearances, and being from Missouri, is not going to take anyone’s word for this. After all, didn’t Jesus promise all kinds of things and here he was, crucified, dead and as far as Thomas knew, still in the tomb. I suspect Thomas was sort of saying “I won’t be fooled twice.” But again, his mind doesn’t believe, his heart is broken, but he believes with his feet. He returns to the community.,

And that is why Jesus offers his wounds to Thomas. Because it’s the only way Thomas can believe.

And what about that word “believe”? In Greek, it is pistou, which doesn’t translate easily

Into English. In fact in some places it is better translated as “trust”. In any event it doesn’t mean purely intellectual agreement - I believe two and two is four. Jesus wants Thomas to believe not just with his feet, but with his heart and with his mind as well. He wants Thomas to commit.

Jesus blesses you and I who believe without seeing -- that’s good. But again, Jesus is calling us to do more than agree that he rose from the dead. The author of the Gospel goes on to tell us the whole reason he wrote the book is so that you and I may come to believe, in this total way, that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, in this total way -- a way that makes a difference in our lives, because if it doesn’t make a difference, it doesn’t get us to life in His name.

You and I have been raised to believe that there is something we have to do in order to receive a reward. And yet, Jesus, over and over again, compares God to a father. A father doesn’t put conditions on what he does for his children. It’s the nature of a father to provide for his children. Even if a child divorces himself from his father, the father welcomes him back if he chooses to return. Sure, the scriptures tell us that it’s possible for someone to live a life that essentially tells God to get lost. We see that around us today. But in this story in the gospel of John, we see that whatever we need to believe, to trust -- Jesus will provide. In the meantime, like Thomas before the revelation of Jesus’ wounds, we need to have the faith of our feet, we need to stay with the assembly of the apostles, we need to live as though we believe even if it’s hard to do. Because this gospel tells us that Jesus will always,always, give us what we need to trust him, to believe in him, to give us life in his name.

Palm Sunday cycle C

Palm Sunday is the only day of the year that we get two gospels. In the beginning of the liturgy, we heard about the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. And then we heard the drama of the Passion. It’s kind of an accident; When I was growing up before Vatican II, we heard the passion read on the fifth Sunday of lent. After Vatican II that Sunday was folded into Palm Sunday. We will hear the passion of John on Good Friday. So perhaps this Sunday we should spend a little time thinking about the entry into Jerusalem.

Luke, like the other writers, talks about Jesus Sending his disciples to get a donkey for him to ride. Luke wants us to think about the prophecy that the Messiah will come riding on a donkey, and perhaps Jesus was thinking about that as well. But I wonder if something else was going on. It was Passover time, and the population of Jerusalem swelled to triple or quadruple its normal number. And when you have hungry, tired and dirty pilgrims from all over the Roman world, there’s bound to be trouble. Pilate was responsible for keeping the peace, and as a Roman ruler he relied heavily on intimidation. There were always bodies hanging from crosses out where you could see them. Before the major feasts some extras would be executed, hopefully still alive when the pilgrims came. And another way of intimidating was to have a parade. Pilate would be accompanied by a large contingent of soldiers mounted on horses, along with foot soldiers. They would march into the city accompanied by the beat of drums. Pilate would be preceded by banners and other symbols of the empire. And weapons would be very apparent. That may have been going on just about the same time as Jesus entered Jerusalem. And what a contrast. He is alone, riding on a donkey, piled with pieces of clothing from the people. They are waving palm branches, and they are saying something very subversive. Psalm 128 reads “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord”. But they are saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord”. And They are waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna! Pilate could not have been unaware, nor could Jesus. He is mocking power and prestige. And his simple act draws the crowds that cheer and shout with joy -- and Pilate's crowds, what there are of them, are silent and trying to get out of his way.

Jesus is doing a prophetic act. He is saying that all the power in the world can’t do anything against someone who is obedient to God -- and he will continue to show this in the passion, death and resurrection.

I think of the president of Ukraine, who taunts the power of Putin. His actions buy him intense loyalty from his people, even though they are outnumbered, outgunned, and left alone by the rest of the world -- and whatever happens, he’ll be remembered as a hero, and Putin will live in infamy.

Jesus reminds us of where true power lies. It isn’t in the army marching into Jerusalem behind Pilate dressed in armor riding on a horse. It is in the humble prophet riding on a donkey.