There is a dramatic change between Jesus’ popularity on Palm Sunday and His stark loneliness on the cross; and a change too between the declared loyalty of His disciples and their cowardly desertion of Him. Perhaps the greatest change is in the people. The cries of “Hosanna†have gone and they now clamor for His death.
The Calvary scene is more than a distant event. It is a mirror that reflects human nature as it is today. The people involved then were not especially wicked. They were a mixture of good and bad qualities, the same as we can notice around us and in us. They were like a crowd anywhere.
Calvary is not just the story of a good man dying bravely on a cross. It is the mystery of God’s involvement in human life and God’s victory over sin. St. Paul wrote: “God in Christ was reconciling the world to Himselfâ€, not holding our faults against us. The blood Jesus shed was a symbol and proof of divine love willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for others. It is faith in the self-giving love of Jesus for us that makes the power of the cross effective in our lives.