Sunday's coming!

Mark 11: 1-11 All four gospels contain an account of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. There are crowds who shout ‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who come in the name of the Lord. Hosanna to the son of David!’. There is the waving of branches – possibly palms – and in most accounts the use of cloaks to line the path, or cushion the animal Jesus is riding. And there is the donkey – or colt – or possibly even both – but definitely not a war horse -  which Jesus rides. It is Palm Sunday – and we might think we’ve heard the story too many times before for it to add to much to our celebrations of Holy Week. So let’s look at what Mark, in particular, tells us. Jesus enters the city from the East, from the Mount of Olives: the direction of the rising sun, and the direction from which the Messiah was expected to come. He rides a colt  - again an act of the promised Messiah – and this is a young animal that has never been ridden before, ...

We would like to see Jesus Jeremiah 31: 31-34; John 12: 20-33 ‘We would like to see Jesus.’ I would like to see Jesus – wouldn’t you? Out of curiosity, if nothing else -  wouldn’t it be fascinating to know exactly what Jesus looked like. Did he look particularly kind (I hope so) or wise (I expect so). Was there anything in the way he looked which gave a hint to his identity as the son of God? Yet all four gospels remain frustratingly silent on the subject of what Jesus looked like – because they’re far too busy wanting to give us the good news about who Jesus was, and what he did and said. So John’s story of the Greeks who say ‘We would like to see Jesus’ is so much more than just a story of idle curiosity: it cuts to the heart of who Jesus is and what he has come to do. These Greeks are in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, they have come to worship God. And presumably they have heard something of Jesus of Nazareth. So they come to Philip and a...