Homily for Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion April 13, 2025

In 1901 the famous inventor, Thomas Edison, was searching for a reliable supply of nickel that he needed for building storage batteries. He staked out claims around the small Canadian town of Falconbridge, near Sudbury, Ontario. When the exploratory drilling hit quicksand, Edison turned to other sources, and the mining claims lay idle until the 1920s.

That’s when a man named Thayer Lindsley came along. As the founder of a company aptly named Ventures, Lindsley was so sure of finding ore that he bought the old Edison claims for a seemingly enormous sum of $2.5 million. It turned out to be a paltry investment compared to what became Falconbridge, one of the largest mining concerns in the world.

Now, if we turn our attention to the Passion account we have read, things look pretty dismal. If there was a company named Jesus Christ, Inc, it’s pretty safe to say that there would have been a massive selloff. Looking at Jesus, dead on the cross, his company looked dead.

But, as it turns out, the shareholders pulled out too soon, in a kind of mass panic. The story wasn’t over. Just as the proverbial phoenix rises out of the ashes, so Jesus Christ would rise from the tomb. And his fledgling flock would be back in business again.

Sometimes we react too quickly, especially when we are in panic mode. Many have walked away from the Church because it is all too human and all too sinful. Many have declared that democracy in this country is done for, that compassion is finished, that the poorest members of our society will be unprotected, and that the hard-fought fight for justice lies on the ash-heap of history.

But here’s the thing. Our God is known as a God of love, justice, compassion and a special love for the poor. God is not limited by our discouragement or by those who have called it quits. We are in God’s hands, and we know who will win in the end (even death cannot derail God’s plans).

So, stick around, pluck up your courage, join together, turn to God for healing and strength. The universe is made by love and, ultimately, is guided by love. Jesus Christ Inc. is alive and well, and this is no time to sell off our stock in panic. Love crushes death. Love will triumph over evil.