Moving
On With Jesus....Christ's Church, Mandurah
Open-ended, Life-centred
Explorations of Matthean Gospels..Lent-Easter Year A
MT 21: 1-13...Palm Sunday (A)
NOTES:
(1) Today we put the clock back from
where we'd reached in the Matthean accounts of Jesus' Passion. (2) 'Hosanna' (PS 118:25) literally
means 'Save now', but coupled with 'blessed' as here it can mean
'Praise!'
PRAYER:
For strength to move on with Jesus through good times & bad,
celebrations & repercussions.
WARM UP:
(for Groups): Have we ever ridden a donkey, or seen one ridden?
MOVING
ON:
1. Do we have any
particular emotion when some
momentous goal comes in sight (as
when Jesus comes in sight of Jerusalem here)? Do we
actually have any goals? Are
any personal goals we have compatible with Jesus' goals & what
moving on with Him would mean in our case?
2. When we come up against some maybe unreasonable task we're
given to do (like borrowing someone's donkey!) how do we approach it?
In our congregation, do we try to get out of it / get someone else to
do it / work
around it / confront it head-on ? Are we ever surprised at the
kinds of
responses we get when we approach others to do
something we're delegated to ask them to do in our work-place /
community / home / church?
3. How might we account for Palm
Sunday becoming one of the most 'popular' Christian festivals?
Is worship on Palm
Sunday maybe becoming an acceptable alternative to Good Friday, &
even
Easter? Is not to move on through the liturgical drama of Holy Week to
stop short of moving on with Jesus to
His death & resurrection, & only go so far as it suits us?
Could we build on the positives of Palm Sunday without detracting from
the rest of
Holy Week?
4.
What do we get excited about in our following of Jesus today? Or don't
we? Do we
still take a 'hands on' approach (like the procession on the
first Palm Sunday) in our attitude to Jesus? Or have we lost that sort
of spontaneity in most of what we do as church? What symbolism can we
see in ceremonial processions, or have they passed their 'use-by' date?
Do they / could they still have a worthwhile 'moving on'
symbolism where they are celebrated well & creatively?
5. Can we see the strong
'moving-on' thrust of the liturgy when, in the Great Thanksgiving'
of the eucharist, we use the "Benedictus' ('Blessed is He....) just
before Jesus' words of 'institution' ('Jesus took bread.....the cup')?
Do these signs (sacraments) of His death & resurrection
have any impact on us - in church & outside?
6.
What message does the story send with its procession
ending with Jesus 'cleansing' the Temple' (no
doubt the last straw so far as the religion of the day was
concerned)? Won't any genuine moving on with Jesus involve conflict
with authority figures as well as waving palm branches & cheering
Jesus on in good times?
[For Groups: Closing prayers,
'housekeeping' arrangements, arrangements during Holy Week.... etc.]
