Humility And Patience
PALM SUNDAY
“May Almighty God grant unto you, that as ye present yourselves before Him with branches of palms and of other trees, so after your departure from this life ye may attain to appear before Him with the fruit of good works and the palm of victory.”
This beautiful benediction is from an ancient Palm Sunday liturgy attributed to St. Ambrose, the 5th century Bishop of Milan. Now, that name may ring a bell. He is the same ‘Bishop Ambrose’ that a certain woman named Monica used to implore almost daily for him to pray for her lost and confused son. Well, as circumstances would have it, this same son found himself living in Milan and, on most days, sitting in St. Ambrose’s church listening to this wise bishop preach from and explain the Old Testament scriptures.
As an unbeliever, the man’s mind was darkened to spiritual things, for he had not yet been illuminated by the Holy Spirit. But, as St. Ambrose exposited Holy Scripture and posited great spiritual truths, an awakening began to stir within his heart. Well, to make a long story short, one day, Monica’s son was feeling the weight of having lost one of his beloved friends and the weight of his own sin as well. So in his sorrow, he flung himself under a fig tree and sobbed. And as he anguished in this emotional storm, he heard a mysterious voice saying, “pick it up and read, pick it up and read.”
Thinking this was a Divine command of some kind he immediately ran and opened the Bible and read the first passage his eyes fixed upon, which said, “Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.” He closed the book. And in his own words, he describes what happened next, saying, “I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty, and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.”
And at that moment, Monica’s lost son was found by the grace of God. Well, of course, her son was none other than Augustine, who would become the bishop of Hippo and perhaps the greatest theologian of the Western church. But first, Christ had to win a victory in his heart, overcoming years and years of skepticism, doubt, and arrogance.
There is another accompanying storyline in the conversion of St. Augustine that often gets overlooked: the story of his mother, Monica. You see, her story is one of a mother’s love and suffering for the sake of a son’s salvation. How many, many days were spent in humility, pleading for Ambrose’s help casting herself in prayer upon the Lord to open the eyes of her son’s heart. Her daily bread was but sorrow and anguish as she patiently waited for the Lord to come and conquer the stronghold of darkness that lay upon her son. And through patience and humility, Monica eventually gloried in the victory of the Lord! For by Christ, she and her son Augustine overcame the death grip of sin.
Humility in the face of adversity. Patience in suffering. This is the message of Palm Sunday, which seems contrary to the triumphalist and celebratory nature of this day, the day in which Jesus, Israel’s true king, enters Jerusalem for the last time to conquer the enemy of his people. The waving of the palms and the crowd joyfully shouting is that of a war party returning from a great victory. Or, in this case, coming to achieve a great victory!
You see, the people are longing to be saved from Roman imperial rule, and longing for a King to be restored in Jerusalem, and they believe he is riding into the Holy City on the back of a donkey. Yes, victory is coming, but one of unimaginable magnitude. The opening of the city gates on Palm Sunday and the entrance of our Lord ushers in the glorious victory to be won on Easter Sunday. However, the road victory is not without its trials, sorrows, and sufferings. And we experience this progression- from triumph to suffering- in today’s appointed readings, from triumph in Zechariah to suffering in St. Matthew’s gospel.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ was perfected through suffering, writing “For it was fitting that [the Father], for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Heb 2:2). In the Divine economy, glory comes through suffering. If this was true for Jesus, then friends, it is true for us as well. Humility and patience in suffering. This was the way of Christ, and it is to be our way as well.
His very entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday is a picture of humility. He comes not on a warhorse, but meekly, lowly, and defenseless on a donkey. But the depths of his humility are far greater than this. From the Epistle, we learn of the great humility of the eternal Son of God, who being equal with the Father in divinity and Godhead, he nevertheless took upon himself our human nature and became a servant, to save us from our sins and bring us into a right relation of love with the Father. The condescension of the eternal God to become man IS humility; all other acts of humility are but grains of sand in the vast ocean of Divine humility.
On Palm Sunday, Jesus humbled himself beneath the will of his Father and obediently rode into the face of suffering. He would humbly drink the cup of suffering: “not my will, but yours be done.” He took humanity upon himself, meaning he was willing to experience death and the horror that it is so that you and I might live. Humility in suffering.
And he was patient. This we see in today’s Gospel account. See how patient he is towards Peter who couldn’t remain awake and at prayer in Jesus’ time of agony, “could you not watch with me one hour?” (26:42). Or his patience towards his betrayer, Judas, of whom Christ calls friend, “do what you’ve come to do” (26:50). What patience he shows towards those who arrest him (26:52), who mock and spit upon him (26:67; 27:29,30), patience before the high priest (26:62,63), patience before Pilate (27:13-14).
Patience with those who mock him saying, “He saved others; himself he cannot save: if he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God” (27:29-30). And finally, what incredible patience he showed when abandoned by God, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (27:46). Patience in suffering.
Of all the things we might think to pray for (especially in these challenging and stressful days facing our communities, nation, even the entire world), we are directed by Mother Church on this Palm Sunday to ask for grace. Not for relief, not for strength to endure, neither for immediate victory. No. Today, our prayers are for grace to follow the example of Christ’s humility and patience.
“Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant, that we may both follow the example of his patience, and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
So why, on this day, are we being called to follow his example of humility and patience? Because, through imitating Christ’s PATIENCE in these difficult times and in our dealings with imperfect people we learn HUMILITY and in being humble before God, we believe that by his grace we shall be made partakers of the resurrection from the dead and life eternal with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Now, perhaps more than any other time in our lives, we need grace. And we need to humble ourselves before God in prayer and thanksgiving, beseeching him to preserve and protect us through these sick days. And we need grace for patience. Patience with our husbands, our wives. Being patient with our families, our children, and grandchildren. We need to be patient with our government, with our officials and leaders. And most of all, we need to wait patiently upon the Lord to come and conquer this evil plague and restore us back to life.
Friends, let us follow the example of our Lord’s great humility in his great suffering and manner of death, which will be vividly on display during this Holy Week. And let us learn of the patience of the Lord Jesus just as he patiently endured every hardship. Now, you have not suffered unto the point of death. But if you should taste death, remember, you have already conquered death by the Death of Christ. Humility and patience are but the precursors to resurrection. You shall not die but live.
“May Almighty God grant unto you, that as ye present yourselves before Him with branches of palms and of other trees, so after your departure from this life ye may attain to appear before Him with the fruit of good works and the palm of victory.” Amen+
