Monday, March 18, AD 2024 9:28pm

Triumph of the Cross

In Hoc Signo Vinces

 

(This is my regular post for Palm Sunday which I repost each year.  Have a happy and blessed Palm Sunday and Holy Week.)

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, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 10 And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the end of the earth.

 

Thus did the prophet Zechariah, writing half a millennium before, predict the entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  How many such glorious entrances into cities have there been over the ages?  Every civilization I am aware of has such ceremonies, either parades in peace time or entrances of conquest or liberation in war time.  The Romans turned this into an art form with their triumphs, with the reminder of the slave to the imperator of  fleeting human mortality: “Respice post te, hominem memento te”.

Few such triumphs have turned into utter disaster as quickly as that of Jesus:  Jerusalem at His feet on Sunday, and Christ dead on a Roman Cross before the sun had set on Friday.  Small wonder that no contemporary historian or chronicler at the time took note.  However some sort of official report probably was filed after the crucifixion.  Writing circa 116 AD, and relying heavily on official records for his history, in regard to the great fire at Rome under Emperor Nero Tacitus states:

“15.44.2. But, despite kindly influence, despite the leader’s generous handouts, despite appeasing the gods, the scandal did not subside, rather the blaze came to be believed to be an official act. So, in order to quash the rumour, Nero blamed it on, and applied the cruelest punishments to, those sinners, whom ordinary people call Christians, hating them for their shameful behaviour. 15.44.3. The originator of this name, Christ, was sentenced to torture by Procurator Pontius Pilate, during the reign of Tiberius, but although checked for a moment, the deadly cult erupted again, not just in Judaea, the source of its evil, but even in Rome, where all the sins and scandals of the world gather and are glorified.”

Tacitus, clearly hostile to the Christians, points his finger at one of the great mysteries of history.  In human terms the Jesus movement was nipped in the bud at its inception.  Yet in less than three centuries the Roman emperor bowed before the cross.  The triumph of Palm Sunday led only to disaster, and the humiliation and death of the cross led to triumph in eternity and here on Earth.

For we Catholics, and for all other Christians, no explanation of this paradoxical outcome is needed.  However there is much here to ponder for non-believers and non-Christians.  In purely human terms the followers of Christ had no chance to accomplish anything:  no powerful supporters, no homeland embracing their faith, cultures, both Jewish and Gentile, which were hostile to the preaching of the Gospels, other religions which were well-established, the list of disadvantages could go on at considerable length.  We take the victory of Christianity for granted because it happened.  We forget how very improbable such a victory was. Even more improbable is that what began on Palm Sunday, the triumph of Jesus, has continued till today in spite of all challenges that two thousand years of human folly could cast up.  How very peculiar in mortal terms!

Let us give the last word to the patron saint of paradox G. K. Chesterton:

         “The men of the East may spell the stars,

          And times and triumphs mark,

          But the men signed of the cross of Christ

          Go gaily in the dark.

          “The men of the East may search the scrolls

          For sure fates and fame,

          But the men that drink the blood of God

          Go singing to their shame.

          “The wise men know what wicked things

          Are written on the sky,

          They trim sad lamps, they touch sad strings,

          Hearing the heavy purple wings,

          Where the forgotten seraph kings

          Still plot how God shall die.

          “The wise men know all evil things

          Under the twisted trees,

          Where the perverse in pleasure pine

          And men are weary of green wine

          And sick of crimson seas.

          “But you and all the kind of Christ

          Are ignorant and brave,

          And you have wars you hardly win

     And souls you hardly save.

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Don Lond
Don Lond
Sunday, March 29, AD 2015 6:32am

” We forget how very improbable such a victory was…”

Perhaps because the truth is far too uncomfortable to those who seek to be their own gods?

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Sunday, March 29, AD 2015 10:11pm

In the dark still- ignorant still- and brave
I hope…. Signed by His Cross and beneficiaries of His Victory

Philip
Philip
Monday, March 30, AD 2015 7:08am

Q: Is there any land any tribe or peoples that have not been privileged to the living Word?

If not, then may He find His servants, His friends, toiling in His vineyard in loving unity with the Holy Spirit. May His Kingdom come and perfectly His will be done. His Triumph finally realized and complete in All of the hearts He has chosen.

Pinky
Pinky
Monday, March 30, AD 2015 9:27am

“We forget how very improbable such a victory was…” because we fit it into a schema. The post-Enlightenment era has been trained to think of secularization as one of those great historical waves. Everyone believed in multiple gods, then everyone believed in one god, and now everyone believes in no god. Progress, right? Sure, we’re not at the point of complete non-belief yet, but we’re headed that way, because history moves inexorably in one direction.

In truth, the great sweeps of history are steered by the individual as much as the individual is steered by the great sweeps of history. History isn’t a materialist machine; it’s animated by individual souls. All empires are toppled by one man. Of course, the rise of Christianity was due to that Power which the human soul is only an image of.

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