Words that Echo Still

            The week we call Holy begins.  According to the Gospel of Mark it begins with the shouts of a crowd.  They spread cloaks and leafy branches on the road before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem. He rides a humble beast of burden rather than the mighty steed of a conquering war-rior. On Friday the week comes to an end with a solitary, anguished cry of abandonment.  In be-tween the Palm Sunday shout of “Hosanna,” (which means “Save Us we beseech you”) and the loud cry before Jesus took his last breath many words are spoken.  Reading Mark 11-15 allows us to hear them all in context.  We are invited to follow Jesus from Bethany into Jerusalem and back and forth to teach in the Temple. We watch and listen as he shares the Passover with his disciples. We are there as he prays in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest. We stand in the shadows as Peter warms himself by a fire outside the high priest’s house. We witness Jesus on trial before religious and civil authorities. Finally we follow to Golgotha.  Some of the words spoken along the way stand out to pause over and ponder:  Why was this One who came in the name of the Lord called “blessed?”  What do the words he uttered during that last week of teaching and controversy have to say to us today?  I end with Jesus uttering the haunting quote from Psalm 22 in Mark 15. 34.  If you take the time to read Psalm 22 in its entirety sometime this week, you will discover it points to the discover that awaits in Mark 16. All the quotes below are from the Gospel of Mark in the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

“Hosanna!”

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“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.”

“Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone;

so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

“Have you not read this in scripture:

‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord’s doing, it is amazing in our eyes’?”

“Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,

and to God the things that are God’s.”

“He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”

“The first is,

‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one;

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this,

‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Beware that no one leads you astray.

Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.

“When they bring you to trial and hand you over,

do not worry beforehand about what you are to say;

but say whatever is given you at the time,

for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.”

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

“And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

“Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me…”

“Surely, not I?”

“Take; this is my body…This is the blood of the covenant,

which is poured out for many.”

“You will all become deserters; for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.’

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.”

“Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me;

yet, not what I want, but what you want.”

“Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial;

the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

“Are you the Messiah the Son of the Blessed One?”

“I am;’ and

‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power,’ and

‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”