THROUGH UNTRUE

The song "Isang Linggong Pagibig" portrays how, within a brief span, love between friends and lovers can deteriorate into resentment and alienation. Today's Gospel reading illustrates that this can also happen in our relationship with God (Mark 14:1-15:47).

On Palm Sunday, Jesus made a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Many greeted Him with jubilation, shouting "Hosanna!" and strewing palm leaves, twigs, and cloth on His path. They saw His arrival as the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies of a long-awaited Messiah. Jesus, with His miracles, healings, and messages of hope, compassion, and forgiveness, appeared to fit the bill perfectly.

However, a few days after Palm Sunday, the same crowd that had exultantly welcomed Him now clamored for His death. His unconventional interpretation of Jewish Law, refusal to conform to societal norms, and assertion of being the Son of God quickly eroded whatever love they had for Him. They were so disillusioned that their love turned into hatred and contempt.

Little has changed since then. Even today, our ardent love for God can swiftly turn into frustration and anger, particularly when God seems silent and absent when we suffer from diseases, accidents, calamities, injustice, or the loss of loved ones. With our unmet expectations, we perceive God as indifferent, uncaring, and distant. As Harold Kushner aptly notes, "A God who exists but does not make a difference in our life might as well not exist.”

It is tempting to suppress or dismiss such resentment towards God, yet doing so only perpetuates our disillusionment. Acknowledging that such animosity and anger exist can help us re-examine what we know about God.  When we think we know God too well, we resemble the Jews who downsized Jesus  and limited what He can do according to their expectations. We want God to act like the deity taunted by Jose F. Lacaba's poem:

Poon naming hindi naman kinakalaban
Mga mukhang tuyo ay ito ang dasal—
Pansinin n’yo naman kami paminsan-minsan
Gusto naming Diyos ‘yong may pakinabang.

Many of us want God to be user-friendly, one who responds to our every whim, alleviates guilt, absolves sins, gives bread to the hungry, heals the sick, and relieves those in sorrow. Such a convenient god whom we can manipulate for our personal benefit may be the god we want, but it is certainly not the real God. The authentic God encourages us to embrace the inherent complexity and unpredictability of life because our faith in Him can be deepened by the very challenges that threaten to extinguish it.

Moreover, Jesus would not allow us to suffer what He Himself had not endured. We read in the Second Reading of today's Mass: "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—although He did not sin" (Hebrews 4:15).

This conviction led St. Paul to write that the imprisonment, beating, shipwreck, sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, and other afflictions that he suffered were insignificant compared to what Christ had endured (2Corinthians11:23-28). He declared, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of His body, that is, the Church."

St. Paul is not suggesting that Jesus did not suffer enough for our redemption. Rather, within the framework of his God-given mission to spread the Gospel among the Gentiles, Paul's own suffering testified to the truth of his preaching and imposed a moral obligation on his listeners to accept the salvation achieved by Christ once and for all.