WE CHOOSE, Palm Sunday, Year B
How often people deny their human freedom in order to escape the responsibility which accompanies it! Human freedom’s value is realized when it is denied, such as happens to vast numbers of peoples who live under repressive political systems. Even then people can remain free from within.
More often, people hand over their inner spiritual freedom by choosing sin, which claims to give freedom, but places someone in bondage. The addiction to sin in whatever form it takes lessens freedom. The heart of the matter is that we choose to be free or in spiritual chains. No one can prevent us from praying, or force us to sin, or prevent us from following Christ. They can interfere, and make it more difficult. But no one prevents us from reading Scriptures, worshiping God, and living a peaceful and just life. No one but ourselves are ultimately responsible for our decisions to be free in Christ, or to choose the bondage of sin, and lesser forms of spiritual freedom.
It’s false to deny that we are free to choose. Many factors can affect and lessen our freedom, but basically we are free to choose. You choose to read this or not to read it. A sign that we recognize our freedom is our willingness to take responsibility for our actions and life. A sign of denying freedom is blaming others. The Gospel calls us to use our freedom, especially in responding to the Lord. The Gospel also tells us that some will use their freedom against the Lord and people. Use of freedom against the Lord leads to a loss of true freedom. Some choose to hand over their freedom, and then plead they were not free. Yes, we are free. We choose the direction of our life.
Holy Week reveals human freedom. We choose and decide to follow the Lord or not to in our lives. Whatever decision we make affects our future freedom in the Spirit or our bondage to ourselves or sin. We choose. Denial of that is a denial of our human nature created by God to be free. Wherever we are now in our life has been chosen to some greater or lesser degree. Even the powerful Holy Spirit and God’s grace can be resisted as well as responded to. Whenever we choose to sin, we lose some of our freedom. Isaiah said the Lord gave him what he needed to be free. He could say: “And I have not rebelled, have not turned back”.
Jesus was totally free. He chose to empty Himself. This is the deepest and greatest kind of freedom. Some seek freedom through fulfillment of their needs. True freedom is found in emptying one’s self for others. Human experience reveals those are most free who live for others rather than just for themselves. Paul tells us of Jesus’ freedom. “Rather, He emptied Himself and took the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men.” Jesus teaches us the way to freedom. “He humbled Himself, obediently accepting even death, death on a cross.” The best indicators of the truly free are those who live for others, rather than just for themselves. A life lived for others in Christ produces spiritual freedom. A life lived only for one’s self eventually produces spiritual bondage.
The passion account of Mark’s Gospel reveals human freedom. Each of us decides which part of the passion account we are going to live out in our life. We are free to look for a way as the priests and scribes did “to arrest Jesus by some trick and kill Him” in our life. We are free to give Jesus’ body great respect and reverence as the woman did who “entered carrying an alabaster jar of perfume” and “began to put the perfume on His head”.
We can love the Church Body of Christ or choose not to. We can choose as Judas did “to hand Jesus over to them”. We can sell Jesus out in our life and choose the world’s ways. We can be the disciples who chose to prepare for His Passover Celebration, take part in it, and live it out in our lives. We can choose as Peter and John, Mary and Mary Magdalene did to follow the Lord all the way to the foot of the cross. We may not always succeed, but we can choose and choose again. We can spend time with our Lord in prayer. We can choose to help Jesus carry His cross as Simon did, and wipe His face as Veronica did. We can stay under the cross!
We choose!