On February 26, the First Sunday of Lent, we looked at
Jesus’ resistance to the temptations of Satan. Palm Sunday, and indeed, all of
Holy Week can be read through this same lens of resistance. We do that today,
remembering Jesus as with Him we try to be faithful to the love, forgiveness
and reconciliation we experience from our merciful God.
Jesus was a resistor. In the midst of the crowd’s Hosannas,
he resisted the temptation to believe that the adulation of the crowd would last.
Jesus resisted running away from suffering – yet in the
garden, as he prayed, Jesus resisted suffering and the very comfort of relying
on His Father’s love.
Jesus resisted the night with its betrayal, the night of
death and the bleakness of the tomb.
Jesus resisted bitterness as His disciples scattered in the
night and Peter faltered, denying any knowledge of Jesus.
Jesus resisted the power of Rome and hostile religious
authority that threatened to crush Him.
Others involved in the events of these days marshalled
resistance as well.
Judas resisted the new, unexpected way that Jesus offered
people salvation. He wanted Jesus to be savior his way.
Simon of Cyrene resisted carrying Jesus’ cross.
Peter, at the Passover meal, resisted Jesus kneeling to wash
his feet. Later, Peter resisted his conscience and the loyalty that Jesus
inspired in him.
The women in their vigil at the cross and at the tomb
resisted the threat of the Roman military and the jibes of the crowd.
Resistance either comes from faith or it does not. When it
does not come from faith, as we see in this week’s drama, it disappears into
cowardice, shrinks from the inside and leaves in its trail failure. Such
resistance obscures the likeness of God in the resistor and offers a spark to
ignite the world.
But resistance that comes from faith leads to new life, a
renewed confidence in God and Easter itself. Jesus’ cry on the cross shattered
the last human resistance, death – forever.
On Easter, the resistance of the stone, the inability of
Jesus’ followers to recognize Him, and the resistance called fear gave way to
lasting, indescribable joy.
Today, absorbed as we are in the power of Holy Week, let us
not forget that Easter lies ahead.
~Sister Joan Sobala
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