Work of Holy Week

Forgiving our enemies like Jesus did

03/28/2021

Mark 11:1-10 When Jesus and his disciples drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’” So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” They answered them just as Jesus had told them to,and they permitted them to do it. So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come! Hosanna in the highest!”

The preacher’s Sunday sermon was “Forgive Your Enemies.” Toward the end of the service, he asked his congregation, “How many of you have forgiven your enemies?” About half raised their hands. He repeated his question. Since it was now about lunchtime, this time about 80 percent held up their hands. He asked his question a third time and all responded, except one small, elderly lady. The minister inquired, “Mrs. Jones, are you not willing to forgive your enemies?” She smiled sweetly and answered, “I don’t have any.”

The preacher was surprised and said, “That is remarkable! How old are you, if I may ask?” She replied proudly, “I am 93.” The minister said enthusiastically, “Oh, Mrs. Jones, what a blessing and a lesson you are to us all! Would you please come down in front of this congregation and tell us how a person can live 93 years and not have an enemy in the world?” The little sweetheart of a lady tottered down the aisle, faced the congregation and said, “I outlived all the old hags.” Well, that is one way to deal with your enemies: don’t forgive them, just bury them.

Today we begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday, and Jesus shows us a much better way to deal with our enemies, namely, before we bury them, try to freely forgive them. The Palm Sunday’s long gospel reading gives us a sort of “preview of coming attractions,” and tells us what will transpire on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, but stops short of spoiling the surprise ending of Easter Sunday. And what is really at the heart of Holy Week? It is the forgiveness of our enemies, just like that pastor preached.

At the Last Supper (on Holy Thursday) Jesus said as he held the cup of wine: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). Jesus celebrated the Last Supper to forgive sins. And as Jesus hung dying on the Cross (on Good Friday), he prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). As they drove the nails into his hands, Jesus forgave his enemies. In other words, what makes Holy Week so “holy” is that Jesus does not try to outlive the old hags that were trying to kill him, but he willingly laid down his life for those old hags as a sign of mercy and forgiveness.

Forgiveness was like a rising tidal wave throughout Jesus’ whole life that reached its high-water mark at Holy Week. For instance, in Luke 2 Zechariah prophesies that Jesus would bring “forgiveness of the people’s sins.” In John 1, Zechariah’s son, John the Baptist, saw Jesus across the Jordan and declared like his dad: “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” In John 8, Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again” In Matthew 18, Peter asks if forgiving 7 times is enough, and Jesus answers: “I do not say to you [forgive] 7 times, but seventy times seven.” In Luke 5, when four friends lower their paralyzed buddy through a roof and place him before Jesus, the first thing Jesus says is: “Son, your sins are forgive you,” and only subsequently does he heal him. More examples are easy to multiply.

This flood of forgiveness finally becomes a tsunami that bursts forth from Jesus’ heart on the Cross when a soldier pierces his side with a lance and water and blood flow forth, symbolizing baptism and the Eucharist, the great sacraments of mercy and forgiveness. In other words, Jesus had handed out piecemeal and person to person his forgiveness, but now on Holy Week, mercy would be available to everyone who has ever lived: past, present or future. That is what makes Holy Week so “holy” – forgiveness is finally available to all.

Folks, we would make a serious spiritual miscalculation if we saw Holy Week as some sort of spectator sport. As if Holy Week is where Jesus suffered and died and we watch safely from the sidelines eating popcorn and sipping our sodas. Rather, Holy Week invites us to carry our cross alongside our Lord. George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis’ mentor, said: “The Son of God suffered unto death, not that men might not suffer, but that their suffering might be like his.” And just as the flood of forgiveness reached its high-water mark for Jesus during Holy Week, so we must likewise forgives our enemies: that is the work of Holy Week for us as well.

Some people say to me: “Fr. John, it must be fun to hear all those juicy sins in confession every week.” But my friends, you, too, hear “juicy sins” every week: the juicy sins of your spouse, and of your children, and of your parents, and of your neighbors, and of your co-workers, and of the Republicans (on CNN), and of the Democrats (on FOX), and on and on. You, too, have a priestly prerogative to forgive other people of their sins, not in sacramental confession of course, but from your heart. Forgiving sins is what made this week holy for Jesus, and forgiving sins is what will make this week holy for you. Don’t sit on the sidelines; get in the game of forgiveness. Christianity is not a spectator sport.

This week try to think of the people who have hurt you in some way. Forgive them from your heart, even if you cannot forgive them in person. Let the flood of forgiveness reach its high-water mark this week for you, just like it did for Jesus. And don’t just try to outlive the old hags.

Praised be Jesus Christ!