Isaiah 50:4-7/ Philippians/ Matthew 26:14-27:66
Life is like a cycle of ups and downs.
And as it is always said, what goes up must come down, and what goes down must come up.
Hence, we can say that nothing stays up always, and nothing stays down always.
Today’s liturgy has two opposite and contrasting moods.
We began the liturgy with the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
The crowds spread their garments on the road and shouted: Hosanna in the highest! (Praise God and his Messiah, we are saved)
As we recalled that gospel scene, we too waved the palm branches in remembrance of that glorious moment when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem.
But as we move on into the liturgy, the mood begins to swing drastically.
From “Hosanna in the highest”, we hear of human drama in the darkest and lowest.
We hear of betrayal, desertion, abandonment and crucifixion.
Within a span of an hour, we hear of glory tumbling down into agony.
The scripture readings have compressed for us that week in the life of Jesus in which we see a cycle of a high plunging down to a low, an up plummeting straight down.
And in that cycle of glory and agony, we are invited to see our lives in that one week of the life of Jesus.
We too had our days of glory when we walk with sunshine confidence and everything seems to be going right and under control.
But within a week, or even a day, or even in a matter of hours, things start crumbling and tumbling down.
And this is where we are invited to share in that moment of glory-to-agony experience of Jesus.
The readings prepare us for what is to come on Good Friday.
At the same time, the readings also prepare us for our own Good Fridays when we feel the agony of a sudden serious illness, the death of a loved one, the loss of a friendship, failure and disappointment, heartaches and distress.
Yes, in a short time and maybe even overnight, we plunge from glory to agony, and fall into the darkness of the tomb.
The gospel also ended with Jesus buried in the tomb. But with Jesus we wait.
Because what goes down must come up.
Agony will be turned into glory. But we must wait.
With faith and hope in the power and love of God, we wait till the agony of darkness will give way to the glory of light.