Homily for Palm Sunday, Year B

“The Master Has Need Of It”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for Palm Sunday, Year B

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Palm Sunday is the beginning of the holiest week of the year. The Passion Narrative which we just read, has so many theological and spiritual themes that we cannot possibly exhaust in a Sunday homily. So, my homily will be on the Gospel passage we read just before the procession with palms. The most outstanding line in that Gospel is “The Master has need of it.” What does it mean? It means that my whole life does not belong to me. That’s what Baptism is about. It is a character sacrament; it is a branding sacrament. By it, we take up the character of God. We are no longer a bunch of people who happened to gather together, rather we are the people of God. That’s what baptism makes us. I once picked up a dog when I was in Memphis. I almost ran over the beautiful dog. As soon as I parked my car, I called on the dog to come, and he fearfully and suspiciously approached me. I robbed his head and when he started wagging his tail, I picked him up and headed to an animal shelter. Upon getting there, the young lady I met scanned the dog and then said, “Oh, I can see the name and address of the owner.” Utterly surprised, I asked her, “How do you know?” She said, “The dog is branded. It has a chip with the name and address of the owner.” In ancient times, when a young man entered the Roman army, he was branded on the upper arm. The brand marked him as a member of the Roman army, just as the brand marked the dog as belonging to the owner. When each one of us is baptized, we also receive a brand, a character that says, “I belong to Christ.” “The Master has need of me.” “My whole life now is about him.” 

We’ve been told time after time that God does not need anything. And that’s really true. God is perfect and complete in himself. However, God is always inviting us to share in his life and in his creative activity. The line, “The Master has need of it” does not mean that God is lacking something and wants that something from me. Strictly speaking, God does not need anything. God is the Lord of the whole universe. God is the Creator of all things. God doesn’t need anything. God doesn’t need our existence. God doesn’t need our work. God can accomplish on his own whatever he wants. But then Christianity offers us a great privilege to share in God’s life and God’s creative activity. God delights in allowing us to participate and cooperate with his providence. The great French Mathematician-philosopher, Blaise Pascal coined the mysterious and wonderful phrase, “the dignity of causality,” which means that God, in his love, decided to bring about his purposes in the world through us. He grants us the dignity of causality in his kingdom. But long before Blaise Pascal, the great St. Thomas Aquinas said that we can act as instruments or secondary causes for God’s purposes. So, in a strict sense, God does not need us but he needs us in the sense he wants to draw us into his world. Once we understand this principle, everything changes in our life. Customarily we think that our time, talent and treasure belong to us. The moment I realize I have certain talents and endowments, all I am thinking about is how I am going to use them to achieve my personal goal in life: I am going to use them to make my life better and more accomplished. I am going to use them for whatever I want. But in the line of “The Master has need of it,” we should turn it all around on its head. The gifts we have (by the way, it is not by accident that they are called gifts, and not things I deserve or own) are for the sake of Christ so that Christ can use them for his own salvific purpose. 

Let’s now make it concrete. If you are a smart person, you have academic degrees, you are an articulate person, have you ever asked yourself the question, “How come I am this smart?” Is it just to show off, and to accomplish something just for yourself? Yes, you can accomplish something for yourself and for the nation, but then, have you given that sharp mind to Christ so that he might use it? Think of St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the masterminds of the western civilization, ranking with Plato, Immanuel Kant. It is awesome that Aquinas gave his mind to Christ, and used it to serve Christ’s purposes. If you are really good with people, you are the sociable type, people are fond of you and you are popular with the people, you can use your popularity and likability in a superficial way to serve your own purpose, or you acknowledge that what you have is a gift from God and then allow God to use you to accomplish something greater than showing off. You can give it back to the Lord. You can use that gift to be an evangelist. You can use that gift to serve the needs of others. If you are good at organizing events, making phone calls, making delicious meals, speaking effortlessly and being able to convince people, give it to Christ. Allow him to use your gifts to further his kingdom. If you have the gift of courage, don’t just use it to defend yourself. In fact, it is properly a gift when it is used to serve the other, the little ones of Christ. Christ gave you that gift so that you can use it for his purposes. 

Happy Holy Week!