Friday, March 18, 2016
Commemoration
of Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem
Reading: Luke 19:28-40
Luke 19:37-38
"As he was approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole
multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully saying, 'Blessed is the
king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest heaven!'"
In their book The Last Week, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan portray day by
day the last week of Christ Jesus' earthly life. On what we call Palm Sunday,
they describe two contrasting processions entering Jerusalem: one from the
east, one from the west. From the west, the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate would
be travelling from his palace at Caesarea on the Mediterranean. It was the
prefect's responsibility to be in Jerusalem to keep order during the Jewish
pilgrimage holidays, and he brought with him military reinforcements - foot
soldiers and cavalry, chariots and war-steeds - to represent the empire and the
force of Caesar Tiberius, divine emperor, claiming the title Son of God. To the
east, descending the Mount of Olives on the Jericho road, Jesus rode on a colt
of a donkey, the sign of a ruler of peace and mercy (Zechariah 9:9-10). Power,
domination, and violence enter in procession from the west. Compassion, mercy
and peace enter in procession from the east. Before which procession, they ask,
do we lay down our cloaks?
O God of
compassion, lead us in the way you would have us go. Amen
- Eat no meat or oil today.
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