Gospel: Mark 11.1-11
From the locum
Our Gospel reading today finds Jesus in the bustling capital city. He is no longer in the villages and open country of his home. The celebratory parade is also a protest march. The disciples should have known what was happening. Jesus had already laid it out for them. But they still did not comprehend what he had said. At this moment, the crowd (small though it might have been) sees him as a king, as one who will get them out of where they are. So this is a parade that befits a king. “Hosanna”, “the Coming One”, the one who restores Jerusalem. He enters. This is the moment. He goes toward the temple. This is it. And then he turns and goes to Bethany. The parade fizzles and the people turn back to their lives. What they didn’t recognise is that Jesus brought them something that they had never had before—peace, truth, justice, and love. What they didn’t recognise is that Jesus had indeed come to restore them not to what was but to what should’ve been all along.
With every blessing, Fr Michael