Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Also Read: Mass Readings for 13 April 2025 Sunday Reflection by Maryanne – 13 April 2025
Jesus is Both Goats
In this set of readings this weekend, we get the famous triumphant entry into Jerusalem by Jesus, where he is cheered as the Davidic Messiah. This is contracted soon later by the rejection of Jesus at his trial, whereupon he is given his Cross and chased out of that very same Jerusalem in order to be executed on Golgotha. In another ironic twist, Jesus, the true son of the Father, is rejected for a man called Bar-abbas, which translates to “son of the father,” who was the actual rebel to the political power at the time.
Later, St. Paul will describe in Hebrews how Jesus is continually presenting himself to God the Father as an offering, where he has been from the foundation of the world. Despite being driven away from the presence of God, which the Israelites would have recognized as in the Temple of Jerusalem, Jesus would also be recognized as always in God’s presence because of his relationship as God the Son.
Old Testament Origins
This simultaneous presence and rejection in the face of the Holy parallels interestingly a practice by the Jewish people going at least all the way back to Leviticus, though one can see even earlier beginnings in the life of Abraham. Leviticus 16 describes the ritual of the scapegoat on the day of Atonement, where the Jewish priest would place the sins of the people over the shoulders of a chosen goat, who would be driven out of the community (they were not in Jerusalem yet) and into the desert to die.
This symbolized the driving off of sin from the community. This would contrast the sacrificial lamb, who would be offered up to God on the altar of the tabernacle (and later the Temple). There is a contrast between that which is accepted and that which is rejected, but both goats played an essential role in the liturgical life of the Israelites.
Passover Lamb and Scapegoat
Jesus, as we see, is the Passover Lamb as recognized by John the Baptist in John 1:29 and is paralleled multiple times later in John’s Gospel at his trial. Interestingly, he also parallels the scapegoat in his taking up of the Cross and execution outside of Jerusalem. Jesus’s representation of both goats is important for Christians as we are called to seek out lost sheep. Jesus enters into the experience of sin without having sinned himself. He identifies with those the community rejected, and even those who rejected God, so that he can reconcile them. We need to see Jesus not only as the Passover Lamb but also as the Scapegoat.
