Palm Sunday, April 5, 2009
Mark 11: 1 - 10
Then, as they neared Bethphage and Bethany on the Mount of Olives, close to Jerusalem, he sent off two of his disciples with the instruction: "Go to the village straight ahead of you, and you will find tethered there a colt on which no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it back. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing that?' say, 'The Master needs it but he will send it back here at once." So they went off and finding a colt tethered out on the street near a gate, they untied it. Some of the bystanders said to them, "What do you mean by untying that colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the men let them take it. They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks across its back and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread reeds which they had cut in the fields. Those preceding him as well as those who followed cried out: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the reign of our father David to come! Hosanna in the highest!"
John 12: 12 - 16
The next day the great crowd that had come for the feast heard that Jesus was to enter Jerusalem. So they got palm branches and came out to meet him. They kept shouting: "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lrod! Blessed is the King of Israel!"
Jesus found a donkey and mounted it; in accord with Scripture: "Fear not, O daughter of Zion! Your King approaches you on a donkey's colt."
(At first, the disciples did not understand all this, but after Jeuss was glorified they recalled that the people had done to him precisely what had been written about him.)
Isaiah 50: 4 - 7
The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.
Psalms 22: 8 - 9, 17 - 20, 23 - 24
All who see me scoff at me; they mock me with parted lips, they wag their heads: "He relied on the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, if he loves him."
Indeed, many dogs surround me, a pack of evildoers closes in upon me; they have pierced my hands and my feet; I can count all my bones. They look on and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them, and for my vesture they cast lots. But you, O Lord, be not far from me; O my help, hasten to aid me.
I will proclaim your name to my bretheren; in the midst of the assembly I will praise you: "You who fear the Lord, praise him; all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him; revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
Mark 14: 1 through 15: 47
The feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread were to be observed in two days' time, and therefore the chief prisets and scribes began to look for a way to arrest him by some trick and kill him. Yet they pointed out, "Not during the festival, or the people may riot."
When Jesus was in Bethany reclining at table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman entered carrying an alabaster jar of perfume made from expensive aromatic nard. Breaking the jar, she began to pour the perfume on his head. Some were saying to themselves indignantly: "What is the point of this extravagant waste of perfume? It could have been sold for over three hundred silver pieces and the money given to the poor." They were infuriated at her. But Jesus said: "Let her alone. Why do you criticize her? She has done me a kindness. The poor you will always have with you and you can be gererous to them whenever you wish, but you wil not always have me. She has done what she could. By perfuming my body she is anticipating its preparation of burial. I assure you, wherever the good news is proclaimed throughout the world, what she has done will be told in her memory.
Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went off to the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them. Hearing what he had to say, they were jubilant and promised to give him money. He for his part kept looking for an opportune way to hand him over.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the paschal lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do ou wish us to go to prepare the Passover supper for you?" He sent two of his disciples with these instructions: "Go into the city and you will come upon a man carrying a water jar. Follow him. Whatever house he enters, say to the owner, 'The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?" Then he will show you an upstairs room, spacious, furnished, and all in order. That is the place you are to get ready for us." The disciples went off. When they reached the city they found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover supper.
As it grew dark he arrived with the Twelve. They reclined at table, and in the course of the meal Jesus said, "I give you my word, one of you is about to betray me, yes, one who is eating with me." They began to say to him sorrowfully, one by one, "Surely not I!" He said, "It is one of the Twelve - a man who dips into the dish with me. The Son of Man is going the way the Scripture tells of him. Still, accursed be that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It were better for him had he never been born."
During the meal he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. "Take this, " he said, "this is my body." He likewise took a cup, gave thanks and passed it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them: "This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured out on behalf of many. I solemnly assure you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the reign of God."
After singing songs of praise, they walked out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus then said to them: "Your faith in me shall be shaken, for Scripture has it, 'I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be dispersed.' But after I am raised up, I will go to Galilee ahead of you." Peter said to him, "Even though all are shaken in faith, it wil not be that way with me." Jesus answered, "I give you my assurance, this very night before the cork crows twice, you will deny me three times." But Peter kept reasserting vehemently, "Even if I have to die with you I will not deny you." They all said the same.
They went then to a place named Gethsemane. "Sit down here while I pray," he said to his disciples; at the same time he took along with him Peter, James, and John. Then he began to be filled with fear and distress. He said to them, "My heart is filled with sorrow to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake." He advanced a little and fell to the ground, praying that if it were possible this hour might pass him by. He kept saying, "Abba (O Father), you have the power to do all things. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you would have it, not as I." When he returned he found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Asleep, Simon? You cold not stay awake for even an hour? Be on guard and pray that you may not be put to the test. The Spirit is willing but the nature is weak." Going back again he began to pray in the same words. Once again he found them asleep on his return. They could not keep their eyes open, nor did they know what to say to him. He returned a third time and said to them, "Still sleeping? Still taking your ease? It will have to do. The hour is on us. You will see that the Son of Man is to be handed over to the clutches of evil men. Rouse yourselves and come along. See! My betrayer is near."
Even while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, made his appearance accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs; these people had been sent by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. The betrayer had arranged a signal for them, saying, "The man I shall embrace is the one; arrest him and lead him away, taking every precaution." He then went directly over to him and said, "Rabbi!" and embraced him. At this, they laid hands on him and arrested him. One of the bystanders drew his sword and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his ear. Addressing himself to them, Jesus said: "You have come out to arrest me armed with swords and clubs as if against a brigand. I was within your reach daily, teaching in the temple precincts, yet you never arrested me. But now, so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled..."
With that, all deserted him and fled. There was a young man following him who was covered by nothing but a linen cloth. As they seized him he left the cloth behind and ran off naked.
Then they led Jesus off to the high priest, and all the scribes came together. Peter followed him at a distance right into the high priest's courtyard, where he found a seat with the temple guard and began to warm himself at the fire. The chief priests with the whole Sanhedrin were busy soliciting testimony against Jesus that would lead to his death, but they could not find any. Many spoke against him falsely under oath but their testimony did not agree. Some, for instance, on taking the stand, testified falsely by alleging, "We heard him declare, 'I will destroy this temple made by human hands,' and "In three days I will construct another not made by human hands.' Even so, their testimony did not agree.
The high priest rose to his feet before the court and began to interrogate Jesus: "Have you no answer to what these men testify against you?" But Jesus remained silent; He made no reply. Once again the high priest interrogated him: "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" Then Jesus answered: "I am; and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven." At that the high priest tore his robes and said: "What further need do we have of witnesses? You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?" They all concurred in the verdict "guilty," with its sentence of death. Some of them began to spit on him. They blindfolded him and hit him, saying "Play the prophet!" while the officers manhandled him.
While Peter was down in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came along. When she noticed Peter warming himself, she looked at him more closely and said, "You too were with Jesus of Nazareth." But he denied it: "I do not know what you are talking about! What are you getting at?" Then he went out in to the gateway. [At that moment a cork crowed.] The servant girl, keeping an eye on him, started again to tell the bystanders "This man is one of them." Once again he denied it. A little later the bystanders said to Peter once ore, "You are certainly one of them! You are a Galilean, are you not?" He began to curse, and to swear, "I do not even know the man you are talking about!" Just then a second cork crow was heard and Peter recalled the prediction Jesus had made to him, "Before the cork crows twice you will deny me three times." He broke down and began to cry.
As soon as it was daybreak the chief priests, with the elders and scribes (that is, the whole Sanhedrin), reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate interrupted him: "Are you the king of the Jews?" "You are the one who is saying it," Jesus replied. The chief priests, meanwhile, brought many accusations against him. Pilate interrogated him again: "Surely you have some answer? See how many accusations they are leveling against you." But greatly to Pilate's surprise, Jesus made no further response.
Now on the occasion of a festival he would release for them one prisoner - any man they asked for. There was a prisoner named Barabbas jailed along with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising. When the crowd came up to press their demand that he honor the custom, Pilate rejoined, "Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?" He was aware, of course, that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. Meanwhile, the chief priests incited the crowd to have him release Barabbas instead. Pilate again asked them. "What am I to do with the man you call the king of the Jews?" They shouted back, "Crucify him!" Pilate protested, "Why? What crime has he committed?" They only shouted the louder, "Crucify him!" So Pilate, who wished to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them; and after he had had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified.
The soldiers now led Jesus away into the hall known as the praetorium; at the same time they assembled the whole cohort. They dressed him in royal purple, then wove a crown of thorns and put it on him, and began to salute him, "All hail! King of the Jews!" Continually striking Jesus on the head with a reed and spitting at him. They genuflected before him and pretended to pay him homage. When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
A man named Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming in from the fields, and they pressed him in to service to carry the cross. When they brought Jesus to the site of Golgotha (which means "Skull Place") they tried to give him wine drugged with myrrh, but he would not take it. Then they crucified him and divided up his garments by rolling dice for them to see what each should take. It was about nine in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription proclaiming his offense read, "The King of The Jews."
With him they crucified two insurgents one at his right and one at his left. People going by kept insulting him, tossing their heads and saying, "Ha, ha! So your were going to destroy the temple and rebuild in in three days! Save yourself now by coming down from that cross!" The chief priests and the scribes also joined in and jeered: "He saved others but he cannot save himself! Let the 'Messiah,' the 'king of Israel,' come down from that cross here and now so that we can see it and believe in him!" The men who had been crucified with him likewise kept taunting him.
When noon came, darkness fell on the whole countryside and lasted until midafternoon. At that time Jesus cried in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" A few of the bystanders who heard it remarked, "Listen! He is calling on Alijah!" Somenone ran off, and soaking a sponge in sour wind, stuck it on a reed to try to make him drink. The man said, "Now let's see whether Elijah comes to take him down."
Then Jesus, uttering a loud cry, breathed his last. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurian who stood guard over him, on seeing the manner of his death, declared, "Clearly this man was the Son of God!" There were also women present looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome. These women had followed Jesus when he was in Galilee and attended to his needs. There were also many others who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
As it grew dark (it was Preparation Day, that is, the eve of the Sabbath), Joseph from Arimathea arrived - a distinguished member of the Sanhedrin. He was another who looked forward to the reign of God. He was bold enough to seek an audience with Pilate and urgently requested teh body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised that Jesus should have died so soon. He summoned the centurian and inquired whether Jesus was already dead. Learning from him that he was dead, Pilate released the corpse to Joseph. Then, having took him down, wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of rock. Finally he rolled a stone across the entrance of the tomb. Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother or Joses observed where he had been laid.