I remember when I was playing softball after college, we were down to our last out and down by two runs with men on second and third. I had not hit the ball worth a darn all day and the catcher was trying to remind me of that as I came up. The pitch was good and I caught the ball flush, next thing I know it is clearing the center field fence and I cross the plate with the walk off home run.

This moment of excitement and fulfillment is something I hope everyone has felt. It does not need to come from a sporting event, it can just as easily be from getting that new job because you had a great interview. It could also be because you have all A’s in school. While there are many ways to get this feeling of exultation we all should be able to relate to this feeling.

We hear about Jesus having this type of moment as he comes into town earlier today in the Gospel, when he is riding in on a donkey, yet the people are covering the road and waving palm branches as he walks by. He is being cheered as the Messiah coming into town. The one who we are all looking for, the person we want to emulate and have them respect us.

Then we have also all had those moments when nothing seemed to be going right, we strike out at the plate, we don’t close the sale we need and miss quota for the month. Through both of our ups and downs we have the ability to learn, it is easy to blame our failures on someone or something else that may have been out of our control. Did we ever consider that maybe we had done something wrong, and just accept the consequences of our actions?

Accepting these consequences is easy when it is a positive experience, but when we have to turn and face the negative consequences we have a much harder time. We hear today though that through it all God is our help, in both those moments of jubilation as well as in those moments of sorrow and all the moments in between. Do we look for him and thank him for having our back regardless of what the situation is?

Paul reminds us today that Jesus came to serve not to be served and he fulfilled that mission. Do we lead our own lives in the same way, wanting to be servants rather than masters? This is how we are asked to emulate Christ in giving to those who need it and in serving others, not waiting for them to serve us.

With our good times and our bad times we have the ability to call on God to thank him, or seek his counsel. We may not always like the answer but if like Jesus we empty ourselves and become obedient to him we will gain eternal life.

Just like our lives though, things changed pretty quickly for the Jews and Jesus. Shortly after he was lauded and cheered coming into town, he was vilified. This happened simply because he did not do as was expected, he did not simply call down the angels to kill the Romans and free the Jews. He continued to preach and act in a way that showed a servant attitude not that of a King. The people then turned away from him to the point of wanting a murderer freed rather than have Jesus freed. Do we turn our back on Jesus and God when life gets tough or what has been asked of us is harder than we want it to be?

When Jesus was crucified he was actually fulfilling the role of the King he was thought to be, just not in the way they expected. He was serving us by taking all of our sin upon himself and sacrificing himself so that we would be forgiven. He asks God “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

As we recall the story of the Passion we need to remind ourselves that though the road may be hard, we always have God by our side and he will assist us if we lead our lives as Jesus did, but if we turn our back on him he will let us suffer the consequences of our actions. So we have a choice when we are either really happy or really sad, we can forget about God and turn our back on him or we can welcome him into our hearts in order that we can share our happiness with the One who sacrificed his life for us.