Glory And Suffering

Si igitur, ut dicere coeperam, hodierna processio simul et passio considerentur, ibi plane videtur Jesus sublimis et gloriosus, hic humilis et aerumnosus. In processione namque cogitatur in honore regis; in passione spectatur in poena latronis. Ibi circumdant eum gloria et honor; hic non est ei species neque decor. Ibi gaudium hominum et gloria plebis; hic opprobrium hominum et abjectio plebis. Ibi acclamatur ei: Hosanna filio David benedictus qui venit rex Israel; hic inclamatur reus mortis; subsannaturque quod e fecerit regem Israel,Ibi cum ramis palmarum ei occurritur; hic alapis palmarum in faciem caeditur, et arundine percutitur caput. Ibi praeconiis sublimatur; hic saturatur opprobriis. Ibi certatim ei via sternitur vestimentis alienis; hic exuitur propriis.Ibi tanquam rex justus et salvator suscipitur in Jerusalem; hic tanquam reus et seductor damnatus ejicitur de Jerusalem. Ibi in asino stipatus obsequiis; hic pendet in ligno crucis caesus flagellis, confossus plagis, et desertus a suis. Ecce plus quam Job hic, cui tam repente, tam vehementer omnia semel in contrarium Deus vertit. Sufferentiam Job audistis, finem Domini vidistis, ait Jacobus apostolus. Ac si diceret: Sufferentia Job fuit usque a reditum substantiae; sufferentia Domini usque ad exitum vitae. Job quidem patienter damna sustinuit, sed mox in terra sua duplicia suscepit; Christus ut erat repletus miseriis, et inebriatus amaritudinibus, e mundo migravit. Itaque plus quam Job hic, qui de summa, ut putabatur, repente semelque dejectus felicitate, in extrema atque gavissima finem sortitus est calamitate. Et haec, inquit, passus sum absque iniqutiate manus meae, cum habarem mundas ad Deum preces, etiam pro crucifixoribus, ut eis ignosceret. Guerricus Ignaciensis, In Dominica Palmarum, Sermo III, De Duplici specie qua Christus proponitur spectandus Source: Migne PL 185.135a-d

If, then, as I had begun to say, today's procession and the Passion should be considered together, it seems that first Jesus is sublime and glorious and then humble and wretched. For in the procession He is reckoned to have the honour of a king, in the Passion is seen the punishment of a criminal. First He is surrounded by glory and honour, then He has no beauty or allure. First is the joy of men and the glory of the people, then the disgrace of men and shame of the people. First they acclaim him with, 'Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he who comes, the king of Israel,' then the guilt of death cries forth and He is mocked that He would make Himself the king of Israel. First He was met with palm branches, then with palms He is struck in the face and cut with reeds. First He is proclaimed by heralds, then He is showered with insults. First others cover the way with vestments Him, then His garments are stripped from Him. First He is received into Jerusalem as a righteous king and saviour, then He is condemned as a criminal and a corruptor and cast out of Jerusalem. First He is set on a donkey by servants, then He hangs on a wooden cross, scourged with the whip, bruised with blows, forsaken by His own. Behold, there is more here than Job, who God so suddenly and so forcibly overthrew God. You have heard of the suffering of Job, you seen the end of the Lord, as James says. 1 As if someone were to say, 'Job suffered until his substance was restored, and the suffering of the Lord was even to the loss of life. Job patiently endured his losses, but soon on the earth received twofold, Christ was filled with misery, and wracked with bitterness, and departed the world.' Thus there is more than Job here, who from the heights, as was thought, was suddenly cast down from happiness and set in ruin until the final and burdensome end. 'And these things,' Job says, 'I have suffered without wickedness on my hands, when I have offered pure prayers to God,' 2 indeed for those who tormented him, so that he might forgive them. Guerric of Igny, from the Second Sermon on Palm Sunday, On The Two Appearances by which Christ is set forth to be seen 1 James 5.11 2 Job 16.18