What a week this has been for the disciples as we just heard in those two Gospel readings. The week began on Sunday with such joy as Jesus triumphantly entered into Jerusalem on a donkey, with a crowd cheering him on, waving their palm branches and shouting out, “Hosannah, hosannah, hosannah!” And then, in the course of just a few short days, everything changed, everything shifted as Jesus now exited Jerusalem carrying his cross. And that crowd was now jeering him and shouting out, “Crucify him!”
Psalm 85: Loyalty Reaches Up
Psalm 40: I Waited
Psalm 33: Love us, love us, Lord!
Why Do Bad Things Happen?
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth
WHEW! What a week this has been. It seems like each day brought news that overwhelmed or overturned everything that we had understood the day before. It seemed that a decision that we made one day was overturned by the news coming out the next day. To the point that if felt like at the end of the week that the decision we were agonizing over on Monday seemed quaint or unimportant by the time Friday rolled around.
Faith Like Nicodemus
Nicodemus first shows up in John’s Gospel in the reading that we just heard. He is a religious leader, he is a man of great respect and great influence in the community, he is a well-learned man, and he has seen what Jesus has been doing. He is intrigued, he is drawn to it, but he’s not quite sure what to make of it. He knows that God is at work in this.
