The Gospel Readings of the Passion Stories in Holy Week
In Holy Week, the Passion story is read twice. Once on Palm Sunday, the other on Good Friday. This year (2020), the Palm Sunday reading is from the Gospel of Matthew (26:14-27:66), the Good Friday reading is always from the Gospel of John (18:1-19:42).
What is meant by the term "Passion Story"? The stories in the four Gospels that narrate the suffering and death of Jesus are known as the passion narratives. The English word "passion" is from a Latin verb meaning "to suffer." One might assume from this meaning of the word
"passion" that this is only a story about the intense suffering of Jesus. It is in part. However, the term "
passion" is also related to the word
passive. Thus in the passion stories of the Gospels, Jesus is not active but passive; he does not act but is acted upon. He does not "die" but is killed.
"Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" (An African American Spiritual) As we listen to Matthew's Passion on Palm Sunday and the Passion according to the Gospel of John on Good Friday, we should consider who we might be in the narrative. With which character in the story would I most identify? Could I have been like Jesus, accepting the cross as a part of my life pilgrimage? Could I have been among the crowds mocking Jesus? Could I have been like the women weeping as Jesus passed by? Could I have been among the disciples who fled from danger, abandoning Jesus at his final hour? Could I have been like Peter and deny knowing Jesus? Admittedly in my own life, there are moments when I deny Jesus. Could I have been like Judas, betraying Jesus? Could I be like Simon of Cyrene, carrying the cross of Jesus? Or maybe even could I have acted like Pontius Pilate as portrayed in John's Gospel, trying to avoid making a decision between good and evil, or even washing my hands of the whole affair, as Pilate does in Matthew's Gospel? Could I be sheepish about my commitment to Jesus as a disciple, like Nicodemus, who only claimed he knew Jesus under cover of night? Could I have been like Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and the Beloved Disciple at the foot of the cross consummately faithful to the bitter end? These questions remind us that the passion stories in the Gospels have as their purpose not only to reveal the meaning of Jesus' death but also our reaction(s) to it.