It's that time once again, Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. The power of this week and what it means never fails to both awe and inspire me.
Each year I read The Final Days of Jesus, one of my all-time favorite books. The authors have broken the week down day-by-day, starting with the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem by Jesus just as predicted in Zechariah 9:9.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass."
(Big surprise, I am partial to the KJV.)
I enjoy this book so greatly because it discusses discrepancies that we see in the four books of the Gospel, and explains why these might exist. The book is also full of maps and diagrams that I find helpful.
Most importantly though, the authors use the four books of the Gospel to look at the day-to-day movements of Jesus and the disciples as they prepared for what was to come - or, as Jesus prepared. His disciples were all a little slow on the up-take despite Him repeatedly tell them what was going to happen. And I suppose we should be grateful for that - if those screw-ups could walk with Jesus and be called His most beloved, there is so much hope for the rest of us.
Hosanna!
Happy Holy Week! I am no longer a believer but I was steeped in all of this as a child. Whether or not Jesus was a real historical person, as well as God, I do still carry many of his teachings in my heart and try to put them into practice as I live day to day.
ReplyDeleteI try and fail a lot, but I am human and He expects those failings to happen - though with me He probably wishes they were a little less frequent.
DeleteLol, I love that, "if those screw-ups could walk with Jesus and be called His most beloved, there is so much hope for the rest of us". :)
ReplyDeleteWe're a fairly secular household but we do have our own celebrations of Easter etc. That said, my son attends a Church of England school so there's been a huge focus on the religious aspects of Easter over the past few weeks and I've enjoyed hearing his interpretations of everything and chatting to him about it. I was oddly emotional when he brought home a dried palm leave folded into a cross as it took me back to my childhood. They'd be everywhere in my house from Palm Sunday... My grandad was a staunch Catholic and we were all raised that way even if it didn't stick with most of us. It was so strange to be sent catapulting back in time from something so little... Anyway, happy Easter to you, Sarah!
Happy belated Easter to you, Nicci! Isn't it lovely how something so seemingly small has such a big impact?
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