Scriptures for Palm/Passion Sunday

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this post and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.


April 9, 2006
Palm/Passion Sunday, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Liturgy of the Palms -- Mark 11:1-11
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany,
near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said
to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as
you enter it, you will find tied there a colt that has never been
ridden; untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, 'Why are
you doing this?' just say this, 'The Lord needs it and will send
it back here immediately.'" They went away and found a colt tied
near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it, some
of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the
colt?" They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them
to take it. Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their
cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks
on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut
in the fields. Then those who went ahead and those who followed
were shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name
of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!" Then he entered Jerusalem and
went into the temple; and when he had looked around at
everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with
the twelve.
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When have you experienced the flourish of great enthusiasm dissolve quickly into something else?
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Passion Sunday
Isaiah 50:4-9a
Psalm 31:9-16
Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 15:1-39

Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may
know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he
wakens-- wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The
Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not
turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my
cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have
not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and
I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is
near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are
my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who
helps me; who will declare me guilty?
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When have you had to stand up in the face of some adversary or challenge?
What was it like? Did you feel God's presence, God's support?
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Psalm 31:9-16
9 Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; *
my eye is consumed with sorrow,
and also my throat and my belly.
10 For my life is wasted with grief,
and my years with sighing; *
my strength fails me because of affliction,
and my bones are consumed.
11 I have become a reproach to all my enemies and
even to my neighbors,
a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
when they see me in the street they avoid me.
12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
I am as useless as a broken pot.
13 For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
fear is all around; *
they put their heads together against me;
they plot to take my life.
14 But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord. *
I have said, "You are my God.
15 My times are in your hand; *
rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
and from those who persecute me.
16 Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
and in your loving-kindness save me."
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When have you met the limits of your strength and resources?
When have you had nothing but God to trust in?
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Philippians 2:5-11
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though
he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as
something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form
of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in
human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point
of death-- even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly
exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and
on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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What does it mean to you that God's glory and power is manifested in a servant?
What does it mean to you that God's glory and power is manifested in one who was executed as Jesus was?
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Mark 15:1-39
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation
with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound
Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked
him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say
so." Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate
asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they
bring against you." But Jesus made no further reply, so that
Pilate was amazed.
Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them,
anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in
prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the
insurrection. So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for
them according to his custom. Then he answered them, "Do you
want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" For he realized
that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him
over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release
Barabbas for them instead. Pilate spoke to them again, "Then what
do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?"
They shouted back, "Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Why, what
evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!"
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them;
and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace
(that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the
whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after
twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they
began saluting him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They struck his head
with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.
After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put
his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the
country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of
Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called
Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him
wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified
him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide
what each should take.
It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the
Jews." And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right
and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking
their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from
the cross!" In the same way the chief priests, along with the
scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying,
"He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the
King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may
see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted
him.
When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon. At three o'clock Jesus cried out with
a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means,
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" When some of
the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for
Elijah." And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it
on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us
see whether Elijah will come to take him down." Then Jesus gave a
loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was
torn in two, from top to bottom. Now when the centurion, who
stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he
said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"
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Let the story speak for itself.
What catches your attention?
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