Reading I (Procession of the Palms): Luke 19:28-40
Reading I (At Mass): Isaiah 50:4-7
Reading II: Philippians 2:6-11
GOSPEL: Luke 22:14 – 23:56 or Luke 23:1-49
Suffering & Death Are Part of Life
On Palm Sunday, the Church remembers Jesus’ triumphant return to Jerusalem. But the one who some called the King of the Jews would spend his last week on earth there. The cheers soon turned to jeers, while Jesus was made to suffer and eventually died by crucifixion. In many ways, we all experience the same thing in smaller doses at different times in our lives. Suffering and death are more common than most people realize.
The Running Life
When I was in high school, I ran. Not from anything – I was a distance runner. Cross Country was my sport of choice, but the 1-mile and 2-mile in track were okay as well. I even ran Indoor Track one winter, but fifty-eight thousand laps around a gymnasium was more than I could bear. I wasn’t “world class” by any stretch of the imagination but, all toll, I had seven varsity awards by the time I graduated.
I wasn’t sure if I would be able to run in college, though it wasn’t out of the question. I definitely planned on running more road races, and I eventually hoped to compete in a triathlon and a marathon or two. Again, I wasn’t the fastest distance runner in the world but I absolutely loved to run.
During all of my daydreaming about what was to come, I never once even considered the possibility that running would not be an important part of my life in the future. After all, it was what I did. I ran.
The Suffering of De-feet
Generally speaking, I think God did a decent job when he created me. The only real issue I have with his handiwork is that he forgot to include the arches in my size 12 feet. Up until my senior year in high school, it was more of an oddity than an inconvenience – but that’s when everything changed.
During Cross Country season, my big old flat feet started to cause me problems. They would cramp up painfully if I ran too much, and slowly my ankles became sore. The strain from my feet rolling inward eventually started putting stress on my knees as well. But the most painful thing was the shin splints.
By the middle of Cross Country season, my shin splints had gotten so bad that the muscle was beginning to pull away from the bone. I could no longer wear racing spikes, and had to race in my training shoes equipped with custom-fitted hard plastic orthotics. And by the time our League Meet rolled around, I was wrapping my legs with Ace bandages from my ankles to my knees in order to hold the muscle to the bone and keep everything in place.
I had long since lost my spot on the Varsity squad and had to run that race – the final race of my career – with the JV team. Amazingly enough, I did not come in last, but it was all I could do to get across the finish line before I collapsed. My legs felt as if they were on fire, and my teammates had to carry me to the bus.
I didn’t know it at the time, but my life as a runner was over.
The Death of a Lifestyle
During the days and weeks that followed, I tried in vain to rebuild the strength in my legs. Walking was difficult, squatting down was painful, standing back up was excruciating, and running was absolutely out of the question. I rode the stationary bike to help strengthen the muscles in my legs, but the pain never quite left and I became more and more discouraged as spring – and Track season – quickly approached.
In the end, I gave up. I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. I finally came to the realization that a part of my life was dead. In a very small way, I had experienced the suffering and death that Jesus had faced. I had suffered for a long time, and then a very important part of my life was taken from me. The words “I run” were no longer true.
Don’t Get Stuck in Suffering
An extremely important lesson from the Palm Sunday Gospel reading is that suffering and death are not unusual. They are so common, in fact, that we experience them to varying degrees throughout our lives.
The key, however, is that we shouldn’t live our lives there. As we will see next week, on Easter Sunday, there is life after death. We aren’t meant to get stuck in suffering. And we shouldn’t dwell on that which has died. We must trust that God will provide. The Paschal Mystery is that suffering and death lead to resurrection. What that means for us is that the death of one thing will lead to new life in something else!
So what’s the end of my story? Well, it’s actually another whole story in itself. Let’s just say that if not for the death of my running career, I would not have had the time to do certain other things. And if not for those other things, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today.
And you wouldn’t be reading these words, because I never would have written them in the first place.
Life Applications:
When have you suffered?
What is something – a friendship, a relationship, a hobby or interest – that has “died” in your life?
What new life came from the death of something else?
Check out the REAL Word Podcast for Palm Sunday (Cycle C):
Original article by Brandon Jubar, 2003-2022.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.