Entry of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ into Jerusalem
John 11:1-18 - Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Laz'arus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; Martha served, and Laz'arus
was one of those at table with him. Mary took a pound of costly
ointment of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet
with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the
ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was to betray him), said, "Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii
and given to the poor?" This he said, not that he cared for the poor
but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take
what was put into it. Jesus said, "Let her alone, let her keep it for
the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not
always have me."
When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came, not only on account of Jesus but also to see Laz'arus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Laz'arus also to death, because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus
was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went
out to meet him, crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord, even the King of Israel!" And Jesus found a
young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, "Fear not, daughter of
Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass's colt!" His
disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was
glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and
had been done to him. The crowd that had been with him when he called Laz'arus
out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness. The reason
why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this
sign.
Hosanna! Save us Now! – Is this the crowd who would
applaud His crucifixion? How was their hatred earned from his grace?
Even the words of their commendation pointed to the power of redemption.
“Hosanna” in Hebrew signifies the redemption of the house of David.
They are calling upon the Son of David. They are celebrating the
inheritance of the eternal kingdom. They are proclaiming the blessing in
the name of the Lord. Soon their shouting of “Crucify Him!” would be
blasphemy. But at present, the deeds he was doing there were exhibiting
the form of the future. It is granted that the crowd was doing these
things with very confused emotions. The things that would follow would
be different. Nevertheless they were, inadvertently and without willing
it, pointing to heavenly things unfolding. In this way the whole city of
Jerusalem was stirred.
Scripture
- Vespers - Genesis 49:1-2,8-12, Zephaniah 3:14-19, Zechariah 9:9-15
- Matins - Mathew 21:1-11, 15-17
- Divine Liturgy - Phillipians 4:4-9 , John12:1-18
No comments:
Post a Comment