Palm Sunday Homily - March 29, 2015

Homily for Palm Sunday

March 29, 2015

The Scandal and the Hope of the Cross

 

            We wear it around our necks, we hang it on the wall of our homes. The most gruesome torture device ever invented by the evil of man – the Cross.

            I have an aunt and uncle who are Jewish, and when my cousins were eleven or twelve, they brought them into a Catholic church for the first time for some family function. The girls were horrified – they asked their dad, “Why is that dead man hanging on those pieces of wood?” They had never seen a crucifix before, and they were shocked that such a disgusting image was the centerpiece of this church.

            We see it so often, it loses its shock value. But anyone living in the first-century Roman empire would have been sickened to look upon a cross. It was only a symbol of death, of failure, of misery.

            And it is precisely in this that God shows His power – He has used this symbol of death to defeat death. He took upon Himself the ugliness of sin to defeat sin. He embraced the one thing all men fear – suffering – to tell us, “do not fear”.

            So when you want to see what love looks like – look at the Cross. When you want to see whether there is any hope for your life – look at the Cross. If you fear suffering and death – look at the Cross. If you want to be healed of your wounds – look at the Cross and Jesus’ wounds. If you want to see what our sins look like – look at the Cross. And if you want to see if you are forgiven – look at the Cross. If you ever doubt that you are profoundly, personally loved by God – look at the Cross. Jesus Christ would rather die than spend eternity without you.

            The Cross is a scandal because God chose to die. But the cross is more than an instrument of torture and a symbol of death – it is also our only hope, because on the Cross we see a love that is more powerful than death and sin – a love that forgives us, heals us, and invites us into eternity with Him.