Scripture for
today: John 12:12-16
When the great
crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, they
took palm branches and went out to meet him, and cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed
is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.” Jesus found an
ass and sat upon it, as is written: Fear
no more, O daughter Zion; see, your king comes, seated upon an ass’s colt. His
disciples did not understand this at first, but when Jesus had been glorified
they remembered that these things were written about him and that they had done
this for him.It is interesting to note, that nearly all the questions you put up to me, are questions I have asked myself while studying, doubting, and fighting off Catholic claims. One of them, taken from your first letter, is-
"If Jesus is the Messiah, as Christians claim him to be, do you think the Jews of his time would have rejected him?"
Yes, is the answer. The Jewish leaders of those days, and not the Jewish populace, were the cause. That was partly due to the desire for a monarchial personage, if any, to free Jewry from the tyranny of Caesar, rather than a humble, spiritual personage, an advocate of a kingdom that is not of this world. Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests, and the controlling members of the Sanhedrin, who were mainly Sadducees, the Pharisees (also enemies of Jesus) being in the minority, were the cause. These Sadducees were the Protestants of Jewry. The leading authoritative Jewish writings inform us, as you very likely know, that they opposed many of the primary Old Testament teachings that Jesus advocated. They denied belief in spiritual beings, the immortality of the human soul, a future life of rewards and punishments, and the resurrection of the body. They ignored the Messianic teachings of Moses and the prophets, and looked forward for freedom from Rome rather than emancipation from the affliction of original sin. The Sadducees were a wealthy class, who were hated by the Jewish populace. Jesus openly warned the people to "beware" of them (St. Matt. 16:6).The Talmud says that the benedictions in the Temple used to end with "blessed be the lord God of Israel unto eternity," but when the Sadducees corrupted the Jewish faith by denying the immortality of the soul, it was enacted that the benedictions should end with, "from eternity to eternity" (Berachotd, fol. 29, col, I). In Derech eretz Zuta, chapter 1, the Jews were cautioned to "Learn or inquire nothing of the Sadducees, lest they be drawn into hell." In these times, when one man in Germany, who is not a German, could plunge the world into a total war, the evil result of which cannot be estimated at present, it is easy to realize how the populace could be misled by the leaders of first century Judaism….The hope of Israel then, as it is among the Orthodox Jews of our day, was for a Messianic temporal ruler or emancipator. Jesus to such people was a disappointment. He was the opposite of their cherished worldly expectation, for
"He
came not in regal splendor dressed,
The
haughty diadem, the Tyrian vest; Not armed in flame all glorious from afar,
Of hosts the Captain, the Lord of war."
The power of Jesus aroused the envy of the rulers of
Israel, for the common people loved Him. They flocked around Jesus by the
thousands. The most dramatic occasion was on the Sunday before His crucifixion,
which we call Palm Sunday. The "common people" gathered with palms, which
they waved with joy at the coming of their Messianic King. They took off their
garments and laid them on the dusty road, for Jesus to ride over them in His
triumphal procession through Jerusalem on an ass. They hailed Him as their
Messiah, with words that have rung down through the Christian centuries, royal
words that will be heard until the end of the world -"Hosanna to the Son
of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the
highest."So great was the enthusiasm for Jesus that fear entered the
hearts of the leaders. The Pharisees pleaded with Jesus to check the populace,
to "rebuke" His disciples. Jesus replied -"I say to you that if
these (people) keep silence, the stones will cry out" (St. Luke 19:40). In other words, no power
on earth can smother the fact that I am the Messiah. If the enthusiasm for Me
is repressed, the very stones will make known that I am your King. The
Sadducees and Pharisees in power would have hailed Jesus on His triumphal
journey through Jerusalem, if He had come as a warrior seated on a horse,
instead of as the King of Peace, meekly on an ass. It is well to digress here
for a moment, to say that the ass, which in our country is known to be stupid
and stubborn, was known in the East for his patience, gentleness, submission,
and great power of endurance. The animal Jesus rode, on that historic occasion,
was the fulfillment of one of the incidental Messianic prophesies. The Midrash
(explanation of biblical tests) says that just as Abraham and Moses rode on
asses, so "the Son of David also shall ride" (Pirke de R. Eliezar,
Chap. 31).Abraham saddled his ass and rode with Isaac, carrying wood along
with them for the holocaust which God had commanded (Gen. 22:3). This
prefigured Jesus carrying His cross to the holocaust on Mount Calvary. Moses
took his wife and sons, set them on an ass, and drove back to Egypt, "for
they (his enemies) are dead who sought his life" (Exod. 4:19-20). Herod
also was dead, who sought the life of Jesus. Hence, Joseph could take Mary and
her Son Jesus, on an ass, back from Egypt to Nazareth. Thus it is plain that
the "common people," not the leaders of Jewry, saw in Jesus mounted
on the ass, in the City of Peace, the fulfillment of the prophesy of Zacharias (9:9)."Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold thy
King will come to thee, the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an
ass -." To come back directly once more to your question, please see that
the Jewish populace did not reject Jesus. You need but to recall Anthony's
famous oration over Caesar's body to realize how easily the honest sentiment of
the populace can be changed to the very opposite. It was the clever and
powerful influence of the rulers in Jewry that caused the Hosanna's to the Son
of David to be changed to "Crucify him. Crucify him," for "both
the Pharisees and Sadducees tried (with success) to weaken the influence of
Jesus with the populace," as the Jewish author, Prof. Solomon Grayzell,
tells us in Vallentine's Jewish Encyclopedia: If the minds of the Jews had not
been beclouded, and their hearts hardened, by spiritual darkness engendered by
the unworthy leaders of Israel, the principles, life and miracles of Jesus, as
well as what He said of Himself, would have convinced them that He is their
Messiah. (www.catholicapologetics.info).
Prayer to God:
Anima Christi - Saint Ignatius
Loyola - 16th century
Soul of Christ, sanctify me; body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ fill all my veins; water from Christ’s side, wash out my
stains. Passion of Christ, my comfort be; O good Jesus, listen to me. In Thy wounds
I wish to hide; never to part from Thy side. Guard me should the foe assail me;
call me when my live shall fail me. Bid me come to Thee above; with Thy saints
to sing Thy love. Amen.
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