Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord - B. "They all left him and fled."
It has taken years for me to sort out and appreciate the subtle differences among the three synoptic gospels--Matthew, Mark and Luke. This year we hear Mark's passion. It is marked by an austerity of compassion and a brutal awareness of human sin. The male disciples run away; only the unnamed woman with expensive spikenard and the women of Jerusalem remain faithful. Both revolutionaries, crucified to Jesus' right and left, verbally abuse him. Jesus hangs on the cross for six hours (not the usual three). There is no resurrection story. Yet the power of Mark's gospel is clear. In spite of all that happened to Jesus, the pagan centurion proclaimed, "Truly this man was the Son of God!" Can we say the same thing?
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