THE BIBLE - TODAY’S TREASURE HUNT
COMMENT FOR PASSION/PALM SUNDAY – 09-05-06
Mark 11: 1-11
Jesus and his twelve friends join groups of pilgrims on the final ascent to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. In a carefully planned event this Jesus from Nazareth fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 where a victorious king comes humbly riding a donkey. The crowd understands it all and welcomes the Servant King in terms of Psalm 118, and goes wild with excitement.
Mark 14 ;1-9
This beautiful little story shows a Jesus preoccupied with the unfolding drama of the final conflict. A woman offers a tribute of highly expensive perfume as the men sat at the table. Of course she was scolded, but Jesus honours her gift – something beautiful amid the coming brutalities of his dying and burial.
Remember our Easter question? “In a world where members of the Australian Armed Services and Police Forces face the reality of hate, violence and death on a daily basis; but for the rest of us this reality is lost in kid’s games and adults only viewing which makes it all for entertainment; we ask what is the significance of the suffering and death of this Jesus from Nazareth?”
A first response.
Son of God or Son of Man? It depends on what we think of this man from Nazareth. He called himself Son of Man (Mark 10:45) Remember the Genesis story (G.1:27) and “God created humankind in His image”? So this Jesus is the embodiment of all that is truly human with all its divine possibilities.
But people also called him Son of God, having heard the voice at his baptism, having heard his words, and having seen him live a life of intelligent, god-like love. No person in the human race is beyond the reach of this love. So for each of us how does he stand in our history?
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