Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Sound & Season is a daily audio devotional designed to connect the routine moments of life to the rhythms of the Church seasons.
This is Sound and Season. It's Friday, 27th day of Lent. Our passage today comes from the gospel of Mark chapter 11 verses 1 through 19. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphagee and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent 2 of his disciples and said to them, go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
Jeffrey Heine:If anyone says to you, why are you doing this? Say, the Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.' And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, what are you doing untying the colt?' And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus, and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.
Jeffrey Heine:And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, 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. And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple, and when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the 12. On the following day, when they came from Bethany he was hungry, and seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
Jeffrey Heine:And his disciples heard it. And they came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple. And he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple and he was teaching them and saying to them, is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but you have made it a den of robbers. And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him. For they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching, and when evening came they went out of the city.
Jeffrey Heine:This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Jesus enters Jerusalem riding on a donkey as the crowd welcomes him with palm branches and shouts of Hosanna. It is a royal processional with illusions of a kingly arrival, but Jesus knows that he is entering the place of his suffering. He knows the crowds will soon be calling for his crucifixion.
Jeffrey Heine:Jesus is resolute. He has come to do the will of his father. No one will take his life. He will lay it down. No one will keep him from his mission.
Jeffrey Heine:He will be the passover lamb. The people shout hosanna, but they do not realize salvation is riding past them on a borrowed donkey or that their salvation will come through his very blood. Lord, hear our prayer, and let our cry come to you. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, blessed be the father of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jeffrey Heine:For according to your great mercy, you have caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for us. Guard us by your power. Grant us the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the will to respond to your grace and mercy today. O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Glory to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Jeffrey Heine:Amen.