For the Palm Sunday Gospel, we return to the Gospel according to Mark. The account of the Passion takes up nearly one-third of Mark’s entire Gospel and, of all the evangelists, he is the one who presents the details most graphically. He depicts the humanity of Jesus most intensely, describing his sufferings thoroughly. Mark portrays Jesus as a complete fulfillment of the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah, the obedient, humble slave dying on a cross of whom Paul speaks in Philippians. But it is important to remember that we call this “Holy Week” and not “sad week” or “suffering week,” for each of the readings today, even the lamentations of the psalm, end in the promise of the strength and hope that is granted by God to those who faithfully give of themselves in love. As we enter into this week through these readings, we must reflect deeply on the sufferings of Jesus, but still be confident in the joy of risen, eternal life that awaits all of us who faithfully walk with him through these days.

Today’s first reading is an enormously important passage, not only in the history of the Jewish people, but also for us as disciples of Jesus, who see in it a foreshadowing of the Christian dispensation. The prophet announces that God has chosen to forgive the people, and that as a sign of divine forgiveness a new covenant will be established. Contrasting the new covenant with the one made with Moses on Mount Sinai, Jeremiah says that the new covenant will be written on the people’s hearts rather than on tablets of stone.

Today’s reading from the second book of Chronicles contains a sort of “mini-history” of Israel. It highlights God’s mercies in choosing Cyrus the Persian to be an instrument of deliverance when the people were in captivity in Babylon. Despite their sinfulness and the deserved punishment they were undergoing, God’s mercy was lavished on the people in the form of a miraculous act of liberation.

In previous weeks we have seen how the theme of covenant — as a preparation for the baptismal covenant celebrated at Easter — occupies an important place in our cycle of Lenten readings. The notion of covenant as a relationship between two parties carries with it an expectation of mutual accountability and fidelity to the terms of the covenant.

The first reading today continues the “history of salvation” narrative that we hear throughout Lent this year. Today’s story was among the best-loved in the Jewish tradition (surely Joseph told the story to young Jesus as he formed him in the ways of their faith); the early fathers of the Church were very fond of it as a means of explaining the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Lent is the time of year we devote to scrutinizing our lives in the light of our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus. Today’s readings are a nice shorthand catechism of what our baptized lives mean. As Noah passed through the waters of the flood to a covenant with God, so did we enter into a covenant, a promised relationship with God through our baptism.

Today’s readings present a contrast between “Jesus’ way” and the “old way.” An example of the old way is the law given to Moses and Aaron about leprosy: the leper was unclean and cast out of the community. Jesus’ way is the opposite: the leper is reached out to, touched, and finally cured.

Today’s readings begin with a few verses from the book of Job. First, Job complains that his nights drag on endlessly. Then, worse yet, “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; / they come to an end without hope” (Job 7:6). Not exactly encouraging, these lamentations, not when taken alone.

Most of us have been there, though, and the antidote is the “good news” that Paul found so compelling that “an obligation has been imposed on me, and woe to me if I do not preach it!” (1 Corinthians 9:16). Paul felt driven to announce the gospel to as many people as possible, “to save at least some” (9:22).

In Deuteronomy today we hear that God’s very words will fill the mouth of a true prophet, but a false prophet will, in a manner of speaking, put mere mortal words into God’s mouth. In Mark’s Gospel, we see Jesus teaching and healing as a true prophet, one filled with the authority of God’s own voice, the Holy One of God.

The whole history of our church is filled with both true and false prophets. But in today’s Gospel we learn that Jesus’ fame spread because he taught with authority; he wasn’t an authority because he was popular or famous. We also learn from him, in his desert temptation confrontations with Satan, that anyone can quote scripture, even against God’s purposes. And today we hear that his authority was not like that of the scribes, who held the official positions of religious authority in his day. Our work is to do our best to discern the true prophets in our midst, and to be true prophets as well. The psalmist tells us how to do this: by not hardening our hearts when God speaks. If we truly listen to God, it will be God’s very words filling our mouths.

Today we hear how Jonah, sent by God to warn the people, storms through the streets of Nineveh, scaring the citizens out of their wits. And it works! God has a change of heart, seeing “by their actions” how the people turn from evil (Jonah 3:10). A new day dawns.

Next we hear Paul telling the Corinthians, “The world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31). He calls for a change of heart. Stopping short of telling them to stop carrying out their everyday activities, he urges them—rather mysteriously—to live “as though” they aren’t doing the things they are doing. A new day has dawned.

In today’s first reading God keeps calling out in the night to a sleeping boy. Neither the boy, Samuel, nor his teacher, Eli, understands who is calling. But God’s persistence convinces them. Samuel is then ready—not ready yet to do anything, but ready to listen. “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10).

In the Gospel Jesus is out teaching. Various people notice him and begin to gather around. They soon become disciples and, like the young Samuel, are ready—not ready yet to do anything, but ready to listen. “Speak,” they say, “we are listening.”

When new sod is put in, it needs constant saturation with water. Landscapers say that this “knits” the sod to the soil. The same when a branch is grafted onto a tree: the poultice that joins them at the splice must be kept wet at all times. Water is the stuff that binds the very cells of our bodies together. No wonder religions throughout all times and cultures have used it so prominently. When Jesus stepped into the Jordan for baptism, he “knit” himself to what had come before him. By going to the Jordan, he made himself one with the people of Israel who had crossed it into their Promised Land. With John the Baptist, Christ wove himself into the prophetic tradition that heralded the coming reign of God. He had become fully human in the waters of Mary’s womb, and by partaking in the rite of the baptism of repentance, Jesus identified himself with our sinful, frail humanity. It is through the waters of baptism that Christ continues to graft new members onto his Body, the Church; through these waters we are cleansed from sin and filled with the promise of grace, given our destiny for eternal life. For us, as for Jesus, it is also the waters of baptism that inaugurate our mission to proclaim the Good News.

Isaiah reminds the people of God that the land shall be restored to their possession, they shall rejoice to see their people return from the bondage of exile, and they shall be a light to the nations. In other words, through the people of Israel, the Savior shall come to all people who seek God with a sincere heart. This brings joy and the radiance of God’s glory to all the world and to all people everywhere. Through the fidelity of the people of God, and through God’s fidelity to them, all people shall become God’s children and rejoice in the fulfillment of God’s promise to Israel.