He didn't win

When I was a boy, I always wondered about Palm Sunday. On that day, the Jews gathered in great crowds, and shouted, and cheered: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They waved palms, and stretched out their garments in front of the donkey that carried him into Jerusalem!

Yet the same crowd, the same Jews, stood in the courtyard of Pilate on Good Friday, five days later, and shouted: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! We have no king but Caesar! Give us Barabbas!”

In my early youth, reading the Scriptures, I thought: “this is the fickle crowd!” On Sunday they are cheering for you. On the next Friday they are screaming for your death! I thought that the message of the Gospel was: the fickle crowd will cheer for you today, and scream for your death tomorrow!”

But when I entered the Society of Jesus and was given time to study history, I discovered that the Jews were absolutely consistent with themselves! They were exactly like us! Their minds did not change — not one little bit!

The Jews were expecting a temporal Messiah! Understand what that meant. Look at their history. Their first great liberator was Moses! He came from God, when they were in slavery to the Egyptians! He sent all kinds of plagues among the Egyptians, and finally slew the first born son in every Egyptian home. When the Egyptian Army followed the Israelites, they were drowned in the Red Sea! All the king’s horsemen, and all the King’s men!

Forty years later, when they came to the Promised Land, Joshua fought the battle of Jericho! With the odds against him, hopelessly, he broke the power of all the enemy! The walls came tumbling down! Then came David, the chosen one of God, when the Jews were under the power of the Philistines. David slew the giant, Goliath. He broke the power of the Philistines! He restored the rule of Israel!

So the Jews were waiting for a temporal Messiah, like Moses, like Joshua, like David. They were under the power of Rome. The Jews were bowing to the Roman guards on every street corner. They were waiting for the Messiah, the chosen one of God, who would break the power of Rome, and restore the rule to Israel!

When Christ appeared, and multiplied the loaves and fishes, they said among themselves: “Is this not the Messiah?” “And when they would come, and take Him by force, and make Him king, He fled into the mountains, Himself alone.”

When the mother of James and John came to Him, and said: “May my two sons sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left, when you come into your kingdom” — she was not talking of the Kingdom of Heaven! What she meant was: “When you are Mayor of Jerusalem, may my son James be the Chief of Police, and may my son John be the Head of the City Council?”

The Jews were expecting a temporal leader, to break the power of Rome! So, when they saw Him on Good Friday, in the power of the Romans, crowned with thorns, His hands tied behind His back, covered with spittle, they thought: “This man is not the Messiah! He is a fake! Crucify Him! Give us Barabbas! We have no King but Caesar!”

They wanted Barabbas because he was a rebel. And in his rebellion, he killed a Roman! At least he was doing something! So they shouted: “Give us Barabbas! We have no King but Caesar! His blood be upon us, and upon our children!

You have to be careful about what you say. God has big ears. They got Caesar. When those who were standing in the courtyard of Pilate were old, Caesar came to Jerusalem. He had enough of the Jews. Their stiff-necked, constant rebellion. He did not want to waste a Roman on the Jews, so he surrounded the city, standing off, starving them out.

It was the most terrible siege in the history of the world. Our Lord said: “Woe to those who are with child in those days!” There is a story in the Annals of Josephics, which is history, of that siege. Two women appeared before a judge. One woman said. “We were both with child. We agreed that, when our babies were born, we would eat them. My baby was born, and I gave him, and we ate him. Then her baby was born. And she would not give her baby! Make her give her baby!”

When the Jews were too weak to fight, the Romans came in. They crucified the Jews around the walls of Jerusalem. They ran out of wood for the crosses. So they began to spit the Jews on a single stake. The Jews said: “We have no King but Caesar. And they really got Caesar.”

Christ our Lord said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world.” He went out to the streets of Jerusalem, carrying His cross. He fell three times. He reached calvary, and was crucified, between two thieves. He died there, on the hill. He did not win.

Our history follows the footsteps of Christ, without our planning it.

• Rajah Soliman died in the water at Bangkusay, fighting the whole Spanish Empire with bolos and spears. He did not win.

• Lorenzo Ruiz died over a sulfur pit, on a hill in Nagasaki. He did not win.

• Jose Rizal was shot in the back, as a traitor, in the Luneta. But he fell with his face to the sky. He did not win.

• Gregorio del Pilar died above the clouds, at Tirad Pass, at the age of 24. He held up the whole American Army, for a full day. He did not win.

Our heroes have walked in the footsteps of Christ Our Lord. Without planning it. They were poor, as Christ was poor. They fought against impossible odds, as Christ set Himself against the Jews, and against the whole Roman Empire. They died in the water. They died over the sulfur pit. They died in the Luneta. They died above the clouds.

Their kingdom was not of this world. Their kingdom was the world of the spirit! Their kingdom was love, and life! Their values were the values of God!

Pope Benedict XVI on satellite TV

At 4:30 to 6 p.m. Philippine time, Pope Benedict XVI will say his Easter Sunday Mass and Easter Blessing, in the Vatican, and will be seen and heard, on a delayed telecast, in the Philippines.

The Mass and Blessing will be televised but slightly delayed at:

- IBC Channel 13 — from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

ANC, the News Channel of ABS CBN — from 9:30 pm to 11:00 pm.

Both GMA Channel 7 and RPN Channel 9 will record the Mass and Blessing and play it on a delayed telecast at 12 midnight on Monday, April 13.