Scripture: Luke 19:41-42

Every year we celebrate Palm Sunday, another important event in the life of Jesus. It is a Sunday to recall the triumphant entry of Jesus on a borrowed donkey into the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was at the Mount of Olives, when the disciples arrived with a colt. As Jesus rode into the city, onlookers spread their cloaks on the road to Jerusalem. As Jesus descended from the Mount Olives, he saw a multitude of people. They praised God and shouted: "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!"

Let us walk to see the other side of the story. As Jesus neared the city and saw the city, he wept over it. He recognized unforeseen things to come, including its destruction at the hands of Caesar. He looked intently at the city, heaved a sigh and said, "If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:41).

He foresaw the wounds to be inflicted on the city. Thirty years after Jesus' earthly life ended, the Romans left in Jerusalem only the loftiest towers, Phasael, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a portion of the western wall. The rest of the city was erased to the ground.

Jesus wept over Jerusalem. He wept over its impending wounds and attacks. His heart broke in compassion and tenderness, but Jesus did not stop there. His kindness is always interspersed with justice. He asked why Jerusalem did not know the things that make for peace. Tears of compassion led to a question of justice.

As members of a faith community, we too must shed tears over the recent calamity. We must also offer help and relief to the suffering and the families of the dead.

Moreover, we must ask why we do not know the things that make for peace. Let us not ask simplistic questions. For instance, a question, "Who killed Jesus?," has resulted in the massacre of Jews over the centuries. That question has incited anti-Semitism and negative stereotyping. Rather, a question such as "What are the forces that killed Jesus?" help us address root causes.

In Jesus’ case, Pontius Pilate’s expediency, religious leaders' narrow interpretation of religious laws and sacred scriptures, along with power politics led to his death.

Twentieth century history provides an example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran minister in Germany, who asked some justice questions before the onset of World War II. He asked:

Daring peace is an upstream calling, a difficult calling, in times such as this. Restorative justice and not retributive justice is today’s imperative. Identifying, apprehending, and prosecuting those who committed acts of terrorism through courts of justice is a compelling need. Special tribunals like Nuremberg and Tokyo once tried crimes against humanity from WW II. More recently, special international tribunals were set up to try war atrocities committed in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

In 1998 the Rome Statute was adopted to establish a permanent International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands. Canada has ratified the Rome Statute and incorporated its provisions into national law as have more than forty other countries. The US has not yet signed or ratified it.

Collective punishment of women and children is retributive justice. Restorative justice and not retributive justice is the upstream calling of the hour.

Christ's compassionate tears and searching question at once show the inseparability of God's justice and God's kindness.

REFLECTION:

(1) The story of Palm Sunday, like that of Christmas, has a subordinate story which we often fail to see. Read the story in Luke 19: 28-39 & 19: 41-44. Narrate it in your own words. Pray to God to lead you further in your faith journey. Look for other stories which contain both celebrative and tragic elements at once.

PRAYER:

Loving Jesus, teach us to weep as you do. Help us to ask questions of justice the way you ask, in true humility and compassion. Give us the strength to do both works of mercy and works of justice simultaneously. Amen.