Lk 19.28-40; Is 50.4-7; Ps 21 (22); Phil 2: 6-11; Lk 22.14-23.56

On Palm Sunday we will listen to the Passion according to Luke this year. Every evangelist suggests to us a particular view with which to approach the Golgotha scene. Luke invites us to do it with the eyes of the “good thief”, “perhaps the most singular figure in all of Lucan writings” (Fr Tremolada). To understand its depth, it should be remembered that only Luke quotes a verse from the fourth song of Isaiah’s suffering servant: “… this word of Scripture must be fulfilled in me: And he was numbered among the wicked” (Lk 22:37; cf. Is 53,12). Just before this, Isaiah had prophesied: “my just servant will justify many, he will take their iniquities”. Crucified between two criminals, Jesus is now truly numbered among the wicked: he takes upon himself the sin of all to give us his own justice. The first to receive it is a sinner, reached by salvation precisely because Jesus agrees not to save himself to save others. And salvation consists of a personal communion: “Today you will be with me”. Salvation lies in being with Jesus, but it is possible for us to do so because he has chosen to be with us, even in places of greater distance from God such as sin and death.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey