Every Holy Week, we listen to the proclamation of the Passion of Christ twice.
On Palm Sunday, we hear from the Gospel of the current liturgical cycle, (this year, it is St. Luke) and on Good Friday, it is always the Passion from the Gospel of John.
As anyone who studies the Scriptural texts knows, the four Gospels uniformly narrate the story of Jesus Christ, but they each differ in the details. Why would that be? Several reasons.
We need to remember that the Evangelists wrote the Gospels to proclaim the Good News of Jesus’ life, death, and Resurrection in hopes of eliciting faith from those who heard and read their words, that their audience would convert their lives and become Christian disciples.
While actual historical events ground these sacred writings in the truth of what factually happened, these Gospel texts are also theological statements, and therefore emphasize different details of the Lord’s life, dying, and rising for distinct communities. For example, Matthew was writing for a Jewish audience while John was writing to Gentile Greeks.
Secondly, different eyewitnesses would have remembered different things.
Imagine a police officer interviewing four witnesses to a traffic accident. While they all observed the same event, they will report different facts, depending on where they were standing at the time, what they could remember later, or even perhaps their past experiences of such accidents.
In the same way, the four Gospels detail different aspects of the same saving events. Thankfully, they did, because we have a greater and richer knowledge and understanding of Christ with all four accounts instead of just one narrative.
A closer look
In light of this context, look at some of the unique features of Luke’s Passion. Only Luke mentions the startling fact that Jesus sweats blood during His agony in the garden.
During the altercation with the guards in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of Jesus’ followers cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave.
Only in Luke’s account does Jesus heal the injury. (Luke 22) Only in Luke does Jesus pray, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing,” immediately after being lifted up on the Cross, and again only in this one Gospel do we hear the dialogue between the Lord and the Good Thief, ending with the criminal’s plea to be remembered by Jesus in His Kingdom and the Master’s moving response, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23)
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus evidences profound compassion for the poor and the outcast, beginning with His jubilee proclamation of liberation for the poor and the captive in Chapter 4, His calling the poor “blessed” in Chapter 6, the raising of the son of the widow of Nain in Chapter 7, the healing of the woman with the hemorrhages in Chapter 8, the parables of the Rich Fool in Chapter 12 and the Prodigal Son in Chapter 15, and the story of Zacchaeus in Chapter 19.
Of course, the Lord is loving and compassionate in all the Gospels, but Luke’s has a particular emphasis on Jesus’ restorative mercy and tender concern for the folks on the margins of life.
An invitation from the Lord
As we listen to Luke’s Passion this Palm Sunday, the Lord is inviting us to meditate on His forgiveness and mercy, won for us on the Cross.
As Jesus heals the slave’s ear in the garden, so too He wants to heal and bless us. As He forgave those who crucified Him, so too He wants to forgive us. As He promised Paradise to the repentant thief, the Lord promises us a place in His Kingdom.
Christ holds these remarkable blessings and gifts in His hands and heart, desiring to share them with us so that we can rejoice in the supernatural gifts offered to us in His Paschal Mystery, but we must desire them as well, reach out for them, surrender ourselves to His grace, practice our faith, soften our hearts, admit our sins and weakness, and accept the wonder of the Lord’s mercy in all humility and wonder.
This Holy Week, read Luke’s Passion on your own in prayer, ponder everything that Jesus suffered and endured to win our souls for Him, and put yourself in the place of the Apostles in the garden, the wounded slave, Mary and John at the foot of the Cross, and the Good Thief.
What do you feel? What is the Lord saying to you? How will you respond?
Then, hold a crucifix in your hands, probe the crown of thorns with your finger, touch the wounded side of the Lord, kiss His bleeding feet, and let your heart be torn open by the enduring and tender love of the Crucified.
He is on the Cross with His head bent to kiss us, His arms open to embrace us, and His feet nailed to forgive our sins.
How could any human heart remain cold or indifferent before such a wondrous love? How precious our souls are to God, if He deemed such sacrifice and suffering worth it, in order to win us to His heart forever.