Memorize & Ponder for Palm Sunday April 13, 2014
Confusions about the Public Ministry
John 12:12-13 (NRSV)
The next day the great crowd that came to the festival
heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
So they took branches of palm trees
and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes
in the name of the Lord –
the King of Israel.
Throughout 2014, the Christian community at Brentwood Presbyterian Church is getting to know Jesus, the Christ, in a refreshing and transformative way. We invite you to listen for what the Spirit is saying in the text, then question how those insights might change the ways you see things and act in the world. Share your thoughts during the week on the meaning the Spirit creates for you in this text by posting a comment here.
A Provocative Ponder
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us provoke one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together … (Hebrews 10:23-25a)
A lot of people are confused about Jesus today, just as a lot of people were confused about him in his own day.
Just who is this figure, this presence, this miracle-working sage? That’s what we’ve been exploring this year in our series on Getting to Know Jesus, the Christ.
A ‘generous orthodoxy’ (a phrase used by theologian Brian McLaren) affirms that Jesus is God taking human flesh in order to reconcile and reform. There is a lot of confusion about just how that happens. All of our human categories for understanding it are inadequate. We do have to let God be God. But there is much we can understand if we focus our attention on just how God was human in Jesus and what that God’s power to flourish looks like in human form.
That would be a provocative and energizing focus for pondering over this Lenten and Easter season – just what kind of flourishing is God enabling us to enjoy through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit?