Weekly Bible Notes

Palm Sunday of Lent - Year B

Liturgical Colour - Red

Introduction

Palm Sunday reminds us of how fickle we can all be as human beings. We see the crowd shouting Hosanna, suddenly calling for the death of Jesus. Pontius Pilate is governed by political expediency, Judas betrays Jesus for the prospect of a cash reward. Yet even the best disciples move away from Jesus at his time of need and leave him standing alone before the Jewish authorities. Jesus is abandoned. Time for us then so stand up and be counted, to be prepared to own our faith and acknowledge Jesus.

Yet there is another lesson for us all. Jesus forgives, he shows compassion and understanding for the weakness of those around him. Are we prepared to follow his example of compassion and forgiveness. Are we willing to keep the faith and also be understanding toward those who are weak and find the going difficult ?
 

View a Palm Sunday Service

Opening Verses of Scripture  Matthew 21:9

Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!
 

Collect Prayer for the Day — Before we read we pray

Almighty and everlasting God, who in your tender love towards the human race sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our flesh and to suffer death upon the cross: grant that we may follow the example of his patience and humility and also be made partakers of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your So our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

First Bible Reading  Isaiah 50:4-9a

The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back. 

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! It is the Sovereign LORD who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.

(This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)

Second Reading  Philippians 2:5-11

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

(This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)

Gospel Reading  Mark 11: 1-11 

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' " 

They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?" They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 

When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted. "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest!" 

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.

(This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God)

Post Communion Sentence

Lord Jesus Christ: you humbled yourself in taking the form of a servant, and in obedience died on the cross for our salvation; give us the mind to follow you and to proclaim you as Lord and King to the Glory of God the Father.  Amen
 

Commentary

Our Gospel reading this week recounts Christ’s entry into Jerusalem at the beginning of the last week of His earthly life. His whole ministry thus far had been one of teaching and healing as He had travelled the surrounding countryside. Over the past weeks we have seen how Jesus had been determined to go to Jerusalem and to be there in time for the feast of the Passover. From our recent readings from the gospels we realise that Jesus was fully aware of the fate that was to befall Him; He had explained this to His disciples many times, although it is doubtful if they fully understood. Why should they? Had not Peter declared that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and their understanding of such a person was that he would have had the power to overrule the machinations of evil-thinking people even if they were high priests.

This week’s reading from Isaiah highlights the dangers of being a prophet. Called by God to be a messenger, he does not shirk from proclaiming the message of repentance and a return to the ways of a God-fearing nation, even though this subjects him to personal abuse and physical attacks. There is an interesting comment in verse 6 of chapter 50, where the prophet states that ‘he gave his cheeks to those who pulled out the beard’. To pull hairs from a persons beard was considered to be a great insult in those days, (it was also quite painful too, I imagine). The whole passage shows that the prophet did not shirk from his duty but put all his trust in God to see him through.
 

Would this passage have been in Jesus’ mind as He made His way toward Jerusalem? By the end of the week Jesus had received plenty of verbal and physical abuse for His words and actions. Could we have faced such treatment? We may be laughed at occasionally for our beliefs but I doubt if we have ever had to face that sort of behaviour.
 

The story of ‘Palm Sunday’ or the ride into Jerusalem from Bethphage, is a very familiar one. The cheering from the large and noisy crowds, the quiet and gentle plodding of the donkey, the cloaks and branches thrown onto the stony path in an attempt to carpet the way to make it fit for a royal person. But what was really going through Jesus’ mind as He looked at the crowds on both sides of the road? Did He recognise any one in the sea of faces? Was there someone or something familiar to Him? All we are told, in Luke’s gospel, is that as Jesus ascended the slope into Jerusalem he wept.
When we survey the state of the world around us, both near and far, how does it make us feel? Do we weep for the state of the people around us or for our own inability to do anything about it?   Mr Alan Davis
 

Meditation

There is a well known sailing term called “being prepared to trim your sails” which I understand means being willing to adapt to conditions as you encounter them. This is clearly sensible if you are trying to survive a force ten gale! But in life, if you endlessly adapt who and what you are according to the people you meet, you are in danger of becoming a fragmented being, never being your true self for long. Do you have one face for people in church and another for the people in the office? Are you a Christian on Sundays and a pagan the rest of the week?

Hymns

1. All glory, laud and honour 9
2. Make way, make way 457 
3. Crown Him with many crowns 109 
4. O worship the King 528 
5. Ride on, ride on in Majesty 580

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian,

if it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die

Be with us, Lord, to defend us; within us to refresh us; around us to protect us; before us to guide us; behind us to encourage us and above us to bless us; for your own name's sake. Amen  Celtic, 10th century
 

Christ crucified draw you to himself, to find in him a sure ground for faith, a firm support for hope, and the assurance of sins forgiven; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those things which last for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

O God our dance, in whom we live and move and have our being: so direct our strength and inspire our weakness that we may enter with power into the movement of you whole creation, through our partner Jesus Christ. Amen

O God, you are my rock, my rescue, and my refuge, I leave it all quietly to you. Amen. George Appleton (1902-93)

Lord may I prefer the truth and right by which I might seem to lose, to the falsehood and wrong by which I might seem to gain. Amen.

Additional Material

Our age is obsessed by celebrity. You can see evidence of this obsession on the television, in magazines and newspapers – all are full of the habits, tastes and opinions of so called “stars”. These stars are not famous for moral worth, practical achievements or humanitarian efforts. Most of them are just famous for being famous. And yet this dubious achievement is what many people aspire to! 

But as many “stars” have found, being famous is a poisoned chalice. Celebrity draws unwanted attention and makes them the focus of envy, dislike and even violence. It seems almost much as people admire “stars” they enjoy seeing them being exposed as fallible and flawed, just like everyone else. 

So it was with Jesus. Those who had watched Him heal the sick and transform the lives of the people who understood His teachings, loved and revered Jesus. On Palm Sunday we see Jesus at the height of His popularity with the crowds in Jerusalem. He could have done anything with them: commanded them to storm the Temple or rebel against the Romans. But because Jesus was the Prince of Peace and wanted to bring about spiritual change, He did not set off a popular revolt. 

The reason many “stars” are so easily exposed as liars, fools or hugely flawed is because they wear one face in public, yet are very different in reality. Jesus was a perfectly integrated person, the same to everyone He encountered, the same in public or in private. But His honesty and the originality of His teachings brought Him into direct conflict with the powerful in Jerusalem. Even His former friend Judas was filled with envy and malice at Jesus’ ability to attract love. Jesus did not care whether He was loved by the mob. He did not court anyone’s approval, but lived and taught according to His Father’s will. 

WE must pray for the courage and the honesty to live out Christ’s Gospel, without being influenced by the approval or disapproval of anyone except God. The Reverend Dr Joan Crossley