Psalms 51:1-18(19-20) * 69:1-23; Jeremiah 12:1-16; Philippians 3:1-14; John 12:9-19We are given John's version of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem in today's Daily Office reading. There are crowds and crowds of people and the Pharisees say the prescient Look, the world has gone after him. That statement doesn't stop them from moving their plot along to kill Jesus, which we know doesn't stop Jesus' work. And there is glory in this.
But our Collect for today exhibits a part of our faith that many of us try not to face: Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified.....Many of us want to enter Easter now and not take this walk this week we all must if we are to truly understand the gift we are given.
All those crowds that chase after Jesus today, those folks who have left the Pharisees behind, disappear very soon and leave Jesus alone. Not only those crowds, but those closest to Jesus depart him and leave him alone. God, having taken human form, is alone, abandoned by these ferociously excited crowds and the ones who loved him and followed him from the start. Where is the glory in that?
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Copyright 2009, John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved.
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