When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:30

There is a tendency to rush to Easter. People are saying, “Happy Easter”, already which almost sounds inappropriate. Easter is meaningless if we don’t spend time at the foot of the Cross. Christmas is just another commercial event if we don’t understand the Cross. Everything Jesus said and did culminates on the Cross. Easter points us back to the Cross. Christmas points forward to it. If we ignore this event today, then we will never understand the person of Jesus or His ministry.

Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. This is where we begin our walk to the Crucifixion. Jesus was a populist leader. The people adored Him. The gospel tells us that the people wanted to make Him King by force ( John 6:15 ). In a sense, Jesus had the people in the palm of His hands. He was the leader that they desired. However, unlike most populist leaders of this world, Jesus refused this power. This was not the first time he had done this. His whole ministry is marked with his constant rejection of power that the world offered him. It was a constant source of temptation. In the desert, the devil proposed to give Him all the kingdoms of this world if He worshipped the devil. Jesus could have had all the power that he needed to establish Himself as a king. Maybe He could have been a successful leader in this world. Jesus never once said that the devil was lying when he proposed this to Him. Instead, He chose the way of suffering. The crowd would have done anything for Jesus if only He had agreed to be their King. However, this King was not interested in an earthly kingdom established by blood and violence. The disciples offered Him their gift of violence. Jesus shattered their desire to fight for Him by saying, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52)

Countless of kingdoms have come and gone because they established themselves through the sword. Power in this world is gained through violence. Jesus refused this power. It goes beyond non-violence.He lived out a lifestyle of non-power even though power was within His reach from the very beginning of His ministry.

The people felt useless when Jesus refused their offering. They turned away from Him. His disciples reluctantly abandoned Him. Judas thought perhaps a betrayal might provoke Jesus to see things differently. He was gravely disappointed. He could not bear the fact that this King whom he loved and followed was not the kind of leader he desired. Once again, Jesus successfully defeated the temptation of the devil. He refused to bow down to his ways to win the world over.

The religious leaders demanded a sign from Jesus throughout His ministry. Herod wanted Jesus to perform miracles. Pilate wanted Jesus to say something to defend Himself. Jesus who was known for his miracles, healing and powerful oratory was silent before all his tempters. It was the same temptation the devil proposed when he asked Jesus to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the Temple. The religious and civil authorities were asking the same of Jesus to prove His divine election. He gave the same answer with His persistent silence; “Do not put the Lord your God to test.” (Matthew 4:7)

Jesus had the power to do all the things that the religious and civil authorities demanded. He refused to use this power. Again, He opted for non-power because He refused to succumb to the way of the world which wields its power to convince people of its authority. Jesus did not need to prove Himself to anyone. He could have done it and His life could have changed. Instead, He chose to suffer.

When He was hanging on the Cross, the people mocked Him. Mockery is perhaps one of the vilest sins that exist. It has become a fashionable sin in recent times. It has no place among those who desire to walk in the path of righteousness.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. (Psalm 1:1)

The people mocked Jesus asking Him to use his healing powers to save Himself from the Cross. It was true that Jesus could heal people and even calm storms and raise the dead. However, He wasn’t going to save Himself. Again, this temptation is an ongoing one in the ministry of Jesus. The devil tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread to meet His physical need. If Jesus had done this, it would be justifiable. On the Cross, Jesus was faced with the need to defend Himself against this crowd of despicable and ungrateful people who take pleasure in the torture and imminent death of an innocent man. Enjoying the torment of someone guilty is abominable and disturbing in itself but these people were beyond redemption. Jesus had the power to pass judgement on them. No one in the past, present or future would blame Him if he unleashed the dormant desire of his disciples to strike in violence against all these people. He had the right to defend Himself. Instead He refused to pass judgement on them to save Himself. His needs were not above God’s will.

“Man does not live on bread alone but every word of God.” (Luke 4:4)

Jesus never put His needs before anyone. Even when they jeered and mocked Him, He did not allow His need for self-preservation or revenge to dominate. It wasn’t because He did not have the power to do it. He chose non-power instead.

On the Cross, Jesus was stripped down literally and spiritually to nothing. The people who followed Him because He was a healer and miracle worker were disappointed. The people who were enamored by His power teachings were disillusioned. The people who wanted Israel to be the center of the world, saw a stumbling block hanging on the Cross. There was nothing left in Jesus. He was just a broken man without any influence or authority in this world. He was just a man who loved and served people with all his heart. He was a man who refused to act like a powerful King and pass judgement on all these wicked people. Instead, He said. “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34). Most of us would beg to differ. They seem to know what they were doing. They were determined to destroy life of an innocent man. However, Jesus spoke the truth from the Cross. These lost souls thought that they were doing something “good”. It happens today still. People act and do despicable things to each other thinking that they are doing something “good”. Some say that it is necessary to do some evil to achieve some good. Truly, we, humans, don’t know what we are doing. The sooner we realize this, the better. Unfortunately we have eyes but do not see, we have ears but do not ear.

The naked man and the naked God hangs on the Cross. A stumbling block to all those who invest their heart and souls in the power that this world offers. Jesus revealed a God who opts for non-power. For many, this God is useless and irrelevant in this world. Perhaps, God does not want to be relevant to this world. However, Jesus was relevant to the Good Thief who suffered next to Him on the Cross. He saw that the non-power of Jesus was truly the only power that prevails in the eternity. All kings and queens and kingdoms and authority will pass away. Their names will be erased and their actions will be forgotten. The Naked Messiah on the Cross will be relevant to the Good Thief for eternity. He only wants to be remembered by this so-called defeated King. The centurion who had spent his career wielding the power of violence was able to see something powerful in the King of non-power that hung on the Cross. He will always be the first and only one to confess the dying King is the true Son of God.

The women and the young disciple at the foot of the Cross only wanted one thing. They wanted the Man whom the loved to be always present in their lives. They did not follow Him because He was a healer or the messiah. They just loved Him. They saw God clearly in His life. Now, they saw God hanging on the Cross. God who chose to suffer rather than wield His power like the political entities of this world.

This is the God that Jesus presents to the world, we either follow His footsteps or join the rest of the crowd and shout, “Crucify Him! “

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Romans 7:19-20

Nothing reveals the true nature of humanity like the liturgy of Palm Sunday. We are complex beings that vacillate between good and evil.

When Jesus walked into Jerusalem, the people rejoiced because they saw the goodness in Jesus. They saw the hope in Him and danced for joy. They saw in Him everything that they desired a King to be. He was the answer to their prayers. The enthusiasm was real. People loved Jesus because He was the symbol of goodness for them. Even today, almost everyone loves everything about Jesus, even atheists. Well, not just Jesus, they also love Buddha, Gandhi, Socrates, …..anyone that is a symbol of goodness and truth. As humans, we need these symbols. They inspire us. They appeal to the goodness that is within us. We desire to be good because instinctively we know our true nature lies in discovering everything that is good and beautiful in this world. Unfortunately, the liturgy of Palm Sunday doesn’t stop here. It leads us to the Passion where the same people who rejoiced in Jesus cast Him out of their lives. They wanted to extinguish the fire that He sparked in their hearts. It is not just Jesus but most of the symbols of goodness have suffered a similar fate.

When the crowds heard everyone shouting, “Crucify Him!”, they had a choice laid out before them. They could have chosen to follow the good that they desired to do or they could have just gone with the flow. We know how the story ends. The ending would be the same if it happened today. The people who yelled, “Crucify Him!”, are just like us. We are weak just like them. We share the same nature. They did the evil that they desired not to do. We do this today constantly. Palm Sunday is a living reality for all peoples. We are always choosing the wrong road.

St. Paul said that it is the “sin” that lives in us that detours us from doing the right thing. The Biblical word for “sin” means “missing the mark”. It is not about offenses that we commit. It exposes a lifestyle that convinces us that we are on the right path even when we actually living and doing things which cloud all things good and beautiful in this world. We embrace lifestyles today which cause us to detach ourselves from those who make our lives rich and wonderful. Our life choices make us suspicious of everyone. Our neighbors are no longer images of God but enemies who want to deprive us of our material gains. At the same time, we desire their fellowship and presence in our lives. We need friends and people to enrich our lives. We resort to drugs or medications or meaningless TV programs to dull the pain of loneliness. We watch movies that promote the beauty of friendship and love in an environment completely isolated from human companionship. Modern people spend so much time and energy in creating a future of contentment while rejecting the joys and wonders of the present life before them. The contradiction of Palm Sunday is not an isolated biblical event. It happens constantly.

If Jesus was here today, He would suffer a similar fate. However, it wasn’t the torture and rejection that made Jesus suffer. This was a small part of His suffering. His major pain came from knowing that the people would choose the worst possible option for their lives in order to go with the flow of the world. He knew that the majority of the people would to choose to ignore the Truth that they sensed in their hearts. They would opt for the lie instead. Jesus suffered because the people whom He loved would prefer death rather than Life. He still suffers today because we still choose death. It is because of sin which dwells in our hearts. It clouds our way of thinking. We are constantly making the wrong decisions. No one is free from this. There are no enlightened ones. We are not better than the rest because we are religious. Most of the people who yelled, “Crucify Him”, were religious. It did not stop them from making the wrong choice.

Thankfully, all is not lost.

No matter how hard the world tries, it cannot silence “goodness”! No matter how much sin tries to deviate us from the path of goodness, it will never have the final word. Goodness is much larger than us. It is more powerful than our will. We cannot domesticate goodness. Death cannot erase the memory of beauty and joy. We still commemorate Palm Sunday even though we know that it is followed by the torture and death of our Lord. It is because we know that torture and crucifixion cannot triumph over Goodness.

This week, we had heavy rain for the most part of the week. Since everything we do in the streets is out in the open, rainy days means that we cannot be with the children. We took this opportunity to visit with Filipe. Just to remind some readers, this is the young man who recently became a father and decided to change his lifestyle completely. He lived in the streets since he was nine. Now, he is working but barely makes enough to support his child and the children of his wife. We visited with him to find out how things going. The first thing he asked of us was if we could be the godparents of his newborn son. This, of course, made our day. However, this is not the main thrust of our conversation. We talked about his time in the streets. We asked about the period of time when he went through depression. He said that during these periods, he felt that there was no meaning in his life and drugs was the only way to numb this feeling of emptiness. He ran away to the streets looking for something better than what he encountered in his home. Unfortunately, he found himself walking down the road to self-destruction. He told us that there were several occasions when he cried out to God to help him find a better way. There was a time when he was so sick that he thought that he was going to die and he pleaded to God to allow him to find some meaning in life before he dies. Everything seemed hopeless and lost for Felipe and then, suddenly a tiny baby gave him a new meaning. He saw something real and concrete before him. He saw God’s goodness in the face of his tiny child. Now, he is the path of reconciliation. He learned to forgive the trauma he suffered in the hands of people who were supposed to protect him. He is listening to the voice of goodness that is present in his soul. Sin is still present but it is weak. It is losing its appeal because it has nothing to offer. However, he knows that he needs to listen to the voice of Goodness to continue in this path. He cannot do it alone. However, he knows that he is never alone.

The next day we went back to the streets. We saw our children and teens sniffing paint thinner so much that they were completely oblivious to our presence. It was a day we spent without anyone approaching us. They preferred self-destruction rather than relationship. Some seemed like they had regressed to a worse state. It seemed like a day that was completely gone and hopeless, like nothing would ever change. Like the day when the sky grew dark and a small group of women stood before a bruised man hanging on Cross. They thought all was lost. However, nothing can overcome goodness.

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” (John 12:1-8)

There was really nothing to say. It was really a confession. He told us that he has turned his back on everyone that was precious and important to him. His family and his friends have been hurt and disappointed one time too many. He has made too many empty promises. They have moved and he is still here alone. He misses them dearly. He wished that they were still there for him. He has created a world of lies and illusion and now he feels trapped in it. Drugs and alcohol keep him from seeking help. They numb him into accepting his state of perdition. He always believed that God was with him. However, now he feels that God is silent too. He think that God has given up on him. “I don’t feel like God is with me anymore.” His eyes filled with tears as he shared this. He found it to be unbearable. His tears were for the God who is silent.

We did not want to say anything that would sound like a religious cliché. The moment was too sacred for pat answers. His cry comes from his soul. He needs an answer that can only come from God Himself. We lacked the words that could satisfy his soul. We sat and listened. Maybe it was a time for us to be just there with him and suffer with him in silence, although we cannot imagine his suffering. He feels trapped in a world that he doesn’t understand. He has not found anything that would give the strength he needs to overcome the obstacles before him. Drugs and alcohol are symptoms of a tormented soul looking for meaning in this world. He always believed that he would find what he is looking for one day. He believed that God will reveal it to him. Now, he thinks that even God has given up on him. We were tempted to say, “God would never give up on you.” However, for him, these are just words. He needs something more concrete.

He has been to several drug rehab centers over the years. Every time he believed that he would overcome the addiction. He eventually stopped saying this to himself. This was how we met him the first time. He is a familiar face among the homeless adults. He is young but he is different from the young adults in our ministry. They grew up in the streets. He became homeless in his early twenties. He asked us to help with the bus fare to go to the rehab center. He did not want money. He was honest enough to say that cash in his hands would be converted to drugs or alcohol immediately. He has been always honest. He spent a week in the center and then gave up. To be honest, we knew that he wasn’t going to last in the program. He needs more than a program. He needs a meaning for his existence. Until he finds it, life is going to be unbearable for him.

It is going to take more than a drug rehab program or some method to give anyone living in the streets a reason for living. We have done this ministry before in the mid 90s. We have tried programs and different approaches. They have all failed. Before we returned to this ministry in 2013, I used the above gospel passage as our preaching text. We went to many churches where I boldly proclaimed that Mary, Martha’s sister, was the model for our ministry. She anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume so much so that it’s fragrance filled the room. All eyes were focused on Jesus at this moment. Until then He was a mere guest. Albeit, He was the guest of honor but the attention was not on Him until this moment. Then, I imagined ourselves to be like Mary going to the streets of São Paulo and anointing Jesus’ feet so that all attention would be focused on Him. He is the only one who could give meaning to the lives of these young people and adults in the streets.

When we came back to the streets, we discovered that there were tons of people with the same idea. They were yelling Jesus’ name. They made promises in His name. They said that he could heal. He could restore families. He could perform miracles in the lives of anyone who comes to him. None of these are lies. Jesus could do all these things. They are all promises for someone who wants to look to the future. For those who are suffering, the present and the past are reality whereas the future is a mere dream. Our young man wanted to know the Jesus that was going to be with him in the here and now. He wanted Jesus to say something in his suffering but Jesus remains silent. This is the Jesus whose feet we wanted to anoint. People need to see that even though He is silent, it does not mean that He is absent.

Mary anointed the silent Jesus who contemplated His own pain and suffering. He was preparing Himself for a moment where all would seem as a complete loss and waste of time. He was preparing Himself to experience the sense of hopelessness that haunts those who are abandoned and trapped in a cycle of pain and misery. There are tons of people who want to bring attention to the victorious Jesus. We live in a world where everyone is looking for a formula for success. However, Mary anointed Jesus who was preparing His heart and mind to embrace what the world would consider a complete and utter failure.

Jesus was silently suffering when Mary anointed His feet. His pain was exacerbated with Judas’ false concern for the poor. “You will always have the poor with you”
This is not a license for us to say that it is useless to help the poor. This statement is a sad resignation to the state of the world. It served to add to his pain and suffering. No matter what happens, there will always be people in this world who suffer and are rejected. Even when a large portion of the world claims to be His disciples, there are always people who are constantly being rejected and despised. All these facts confronted Jesus and intensified His suffering. He was silent during the dinner that was held in His honor. He had nothing to say about His imminent death. He only opened His mouth to defend the one person who brought some comfort to His painful soul.

We have been here six years and Mary is still the perfect approach for this ministry. The streets are replete with preachers who proclaim Jesus, the key of successful life. Our down and out children of God are not sure if they can believe in this Jesus. They have heard many formulas of success in these world and the victorious Jesus just sounds like one of the many. They want a “Jesus” who understands the deep sense of hopelessness that they feel in their souls. They want to know the “Jesus” who knows the sense of being trapped in a world that is hostile to them. They want to know the “Jesus” who is vulnerable and suffers with them. They want a savior who knows how to walk with them through this valley of shadow of death.

Alcohol and drugs give a person an illusion of happiness and relief. Most of the homeless adults and children are silent when the effects of these chemicals wear off. Silence is the only way to endure pain and suffering. The young man mistook silence for abandonment. It is understandable. Everyone who speaks about God seems to be always shouting. They make promises that I am not sure God will keep. The only person who broke the silence in the gospel story above was Judas. Mary silently anointed the feet of the One who knows what it means to suffer and face hopelessness. She did not have the answer to the problems of poverty in the world. She knew that the money she spent on the expensive perfume would not resolve the problem of injustice in this world. Therefore, she did what was best for the moment.

We still follow her example. We see the pain and isolation of these young and old people in the streets. We don’t have any magical formulas to solve their problems. We do have one thing. We know that there is One who suffers with them. For many, this does not sound like something practical or concrete. Usually these are the ones who have not experienced desperation and suffering. Judas thought that Mary was wasting valuable resources. However, she was setting an example for the rest of us. We should use our limited resources to draw attention to silent and suffering Christ who is able to give hope to those who suffer in this world.