SUNDAY

The time of the Jewish Passover was near when he had said this. He went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

The next day the great crowd of people who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. Now it happened that when they were near Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage and Bethany; close by the Mount of Olives as it is called, Jesus sent two of the disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village facing you, and as you enter it you will at once find a tethered colt that no one has ever yet ridden. Untie it and bring it to me. If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” you are to say this, “The Master needs it and will send it back here at once.”” This was to fulfill what the prophet spoke: ''Rejoice heart and soul, daughter of Zion! Shout for joy, daughter of Jerusalem! Look, your king is approaching, he is vindicated and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will banish chariots from Ephraim and horses from Jerusalem; the bow of war will be banished. He will proclaim peace to the nations; his empire will stretch from sea to sea, from the River to the limits of the earth.'' [Zechariah 9:9-10] Therefore, the disciples went off, did as Jesus had told them, and found everything just as he had told them. They found a colt tethered near a door in the open street. As they were untying the colt, its owners said, “Why are you doing, untying that colt?” They gave the answer Jesus had told them, they answered, “The Master needs it and will send it back at once.” and the men let them go. Therefore, they took the colt to Jesus and, throwing their cloaks on its back, he took his seat on it. As he moved off, great crowds of people spread their cloaks on the road, while others, cutting branches from the trees, which they had cut in the fields, spread them in his path. Now, as he was approaching the downward slope of the Mount of Olives, the crowds who went in front of him, those who followed, and the whole group of disciples joyfully began to praise God at the top of their voices for all the miracles they had seen. They were all shouting: Hosanna! Hosanna to the son of David! ''We beg you, Yahweh, save us; we beg you, Yahweh, give us victory! Blessed in the name of Yahweh is he who is coming'', as king of Israel! We bless you from the house of Yahweh. (Psalm 118:25-26) Blessed is the coming kingdom of David our father! (2 Samuel 7:16) Hosanna in the highest heavens! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heavens!" Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Master, reprove your disciples,” but he answered, “I tell you, if these keep silence, the stones will cry out.” As he drew near and came in sight of the city, he shed tears over it and said, “If you too had only recognized on this day the way to peace! However, in fact it is hidden from your eyes! Yes, a time is coming when your enemies will raise fortifications all around you, when they will encircle you and hem you in on every side; they will dash you and the children inside your walls to the ground; they will leave not one stone standing on another within you, because you did not recognize the moment of your visitation.” When he entered Jerusalem and went into the Temple, the whole city was in turmoil as people asked, “Who is this?” and the crowds answered, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see, you are making no progress; look, the whole world has gone after him!” At first, his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him. The crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept bearing witness to it; this was another reason why the crowd came out to receive him: they had heard that he had given this sign. Jesus then went into the Temple and drove out all those who were selling and buying cattle there. Making a whip out of cord, he upset tables of the moneychangers and the seats of the dove sellers. He would not allow anyone to carry anything throughout the Temple. He drove them all out, sheep and cattle as well, scattered the moneychangers’ coins, knocked their tables over and said to the dove sellers, “Take all this out of here and stop using my Father's house as a market.” Then his disciples remembered the words of scripture: for I am eaten up with zeal for your house, and insults directed against you fall on me. (Psalm 69:9) He taught them and said, “According to scripture, my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples; (Isaiah 56:7)  but you are turning it into  a den of bandits.” (Jeremiah 7:11) The Jews intervened and said, “What sign can you show us that you should act like this?” Jesus answered, “Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews replied, “It has taken forty six years to build this Temple: are you going to raise it up again in three days?” However, he was speaking of the Temple that was his body, and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what he had said. There were blind and lame people who came to him in the Temple, and he cured them. At the sight of the wonderful things, he did and the children shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David” in the Temple, the chief priests and the scribes were indignant and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus answered, “Yes. Have you never read this: even through the mouths of children, or babes in arms, (Psalm 8:2; Wisdom 10:21)  you have made sure of praise?” This came to the ears of the chief priests and the scribes, and they tried to find some way of doing away with him; they were afraid of him because his teaching carried the people away. When Jesus had surveyed it all, as it was late by now, he left them and went out of the city to Bethany with the Twelve, where he spent the night. Return