Lessons for April 9, 2006 – Palm Sunday

The first lesson

Isaiah 50:4-9a
 
The Sovereign Lord has given me his words of wisdom, so that I know what to say to all these weary ones. Morning by morning he wakens me and opens my understanding to his will. 5The Sovereign Lord has spoken to me, and I have listened. I do not rebel or turn away. 6I give my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pull out my beard. I do not hide from shame, for they mock me and spit in my face.  7Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be dismayed. Therefore, I have set my face like a stone, determined to do his will. And I know that I will triumph. 8He who gives me justice is near. Who will dare to oppose me now? Where are my enemies? Let them appear! 9See, the Sovereign Lord is on my side! Who will declare me guilty?  (NLT)

Psalm 31:9-16
 
L.  Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. My sight is blurred because of my tears.
C.  My body and soul are withering away. 
L.  I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness.
C.  Misery has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within. 
L.  I am scorned by all my enemies and despised by my neighbors—
C.  even my friends are afraid to come near me.
L.  When they see me on the street, they turn the other way. 
C.  I have been ignored as if I were dead, as if I were a broken pot. 
L.  I have heard the many rumors about me, and I am surrounded by terror.
C.  My enemies conspire against me, plotting to take my life.
L.  But I am trusting you, O Lord, saying, "You are my God!" 
C.  My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly. 
L.  Let your favor shine on your servant. In your unfailing love, save me.   (NLT)

The second lesson

Philippians 2:5-11
 
Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. 6Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. 7He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. 8And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross. 9Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
(NLT) 

The Gospel Lesson

Mark 14:1-15:47 
It was now two days before the Passover celebration and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and put him to death. 2"But not during the Passover," they agreed, "or there will be a riot."  3Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had leprosy. During supper, a woman came in with a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. She broke the seal and poured the perfume over his head. 4Some of those at the table were indignant. "Why was this expensive perfume wasted?" they asked. 5"She could have sold it for a small fortune and given the money to the poor!" And they scolded her harshly.  6But Jesus replied, "Leave her alone. Why berate her for doing such a good thing to me? 7You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be here with you much longer. 8She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. 9I assure you, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be talked about in her memory." 10Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. 11The leading priests were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised him a reward. So he began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus. 12On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the day the Passover lambs were sacrificed), Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go to prepare the Passover supper?"  13So Jesus sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements. "As you go into the city," he told them, "a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. 14At the house he enters, say to the owner, 'The Teacher asks, Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?' 15He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is the place; go ahead and prepare our supper there." 16So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover supper there.  17In the evening Jesus arrived with the twelve disciples. 18As they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, "The truth is, one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me." 
19Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, "I'm not the one, am I?"  20He replied, "It is one of you twelve, one who is eating with me now. 21For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!"  22As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it, for this is my body."  23And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24And he said to them, "This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and his people. 25I solemnly declare that I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink it new in the Kingdom of God." 26Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
27"All of you will desert me," Jesus told them. "For the Scriptures say,
'God will strike the Shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.'
28But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there."  29Peter said to him, "Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will."  30"Peter," Jesus replied, "the truth is, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times."  31"No!" Peter insisted. "Not even if I have to die with you! I will never deny you!" And all the others vowed the same. 32And they came to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, "Sit here while I go and pray." 33He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be filled with horror and deep distress. 34He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."  35He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36"Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."  37Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. "Simon!" he said to Peter. "Are you asleep? Couldn't you stay awake and watch with me even one hour? 38Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak."  39Then Jesus left them again and prayed, repeating his pleadings. 40Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they just couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say.   41When he returned to them the third time, he said, "Still sleeping? Still resting? Enough! The time has come. I, the Son of Man, am betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42Up, let's be going. See, my betrayer is here!" 43And immediately, as he said this, Judas, one of the twelve disciples, arrived with a mob that was armed with swords and clubs. They had been sent out by the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the other leaders. 44Judas had given them a prearranged signal: "You will know which one to arrest when I go over and give him the kiss of greeting. Then you can take him away under guard."  45As soon as they arrived, Judas walked up to Jesus. "Teacher!" he exclaimed, and gave him the kiss. 46Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him. 47But someone pulled out a sword and slashed off an ear of the high priest's servant.  48Jesus asked them, "Am I some dangerous criminal, that you come armed with swords and clubs to arrest me? 49Why didn't you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill what the Scriptures say about me."  50Meanwhile, all his disciples deserted him and ran away. 51There was a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt. When the mob tried to grab him, 52they tore off his clothes, but he escaped and ran away naked. 53Jesus was led to the high priest's home where the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of religious law had gathered. 54Meanwhile, Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the high priest's courtyard. For a while he sat with the guards, warming himself by the fire.  55Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would testify against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But their efforts were in vain. 56Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. 57Finally, some men stood up to testify against him with this lie: 58"We heard him say, 'I will destroy this Temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another, made without human hands.' " 59But even then they didn't get their stories straight!  60Then the high priest stood up before the others and asked Jesus, "Well, aren't you going to answer these charges? What do you have to say for yourself?" 61Jesus made no reply. Then the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the blessed God?"  62Jesus said, "I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God's right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven."  63Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, "Why do we need other witnesses? 64You have all heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?" And they all condemned him to death.  65Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and hit his face with their fists. "Who hit you that time, you prophet?" they jeered. And even the guards were hitting him as they led him away. 66Meanwhile, Peter was below in the courtyard. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest 67noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and then said, "You were one of those with Jesus, the Nazarene."  68Peter denied it. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.  69The servant girl saw him standing there and began telling the others, "That man is definitely one of them!" 70Peter denied it again. A little later some other bystanders began saying to Peter, "You must be one of them because you are from Galilee." 
71Peter said, "I swear by God, I don't know this man you're talking about." 72And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly, Jesus' words flashed through Peter's mind: "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and cried.
15:1Very early in the morning the leading priests, other leaders, and teachers of religious law—the entire high council—met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.  2Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus replied, "Yes, it is as you say." 
3Then the leading priests accused him of many crimes, 4and Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to say something? What about all these charges against you?" 5But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate's surprise. 
6Now it was the governor's custom to release one prisoner each year at Passover time—anyone the people requested. 7One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, convicted along with others for murder during an insurrection. 8The mob began to crowd in toward Pilate, asking him to release a prisoner as usual. 9"Should I give you the King of the Jews?" Pilate asked. 10(For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.) 11But at this point the leading priests stirred up the mob to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. 12"But if I release Barabbas," Pilate asked them, "what should I do with this man you call the King of the Jews?"  13They shouted back, "Crucify him!"  14"Why?" Pilate demanded. "What crime has he committed?" But the crowd only roared the louder, "Crucify him!"  15So Pilate, anxious to please the crowd, released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to crucify him. 16The soldiers took him into their headquarters and called out the entire battalion. 17They dressed him in a purple robe and made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head. 18Then they saluted, yelling, "Hail! King of the Jews!" 19And they beat him on the head with a stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship. 20When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. 21A man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the country just then, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross. (Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus.) 22And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means Skull Hill). 23They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it. 24Then they nailed him to the cross. They gambled for his clothes, throwing dice to decide who would get them.  25It was nine o'clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place. 26A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus' head, announcing the charge against him. It read: "The King of the Jews." 27Two criminals were crucified with him, their crosses on either side of his. 28   29And the people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. "Ha! Look at you now!" they yelled at him. "You can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days, can you? 30Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!"  31The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. "He saved others," they scoffed, "but he can't save himself! 32Let this Messiah, this king of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!" Even the two criminals who were being crucified with Jesus ridiculed him. 33At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. 34Then, at that time Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"  35Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah. 36One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a stick so he could drink. "Leave him alone. Let's see whether Elijah will come and take him down!" he said.  37Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last. 38And the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"  40Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. 41They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Then they and many other women had come with him to Jerusalem. 42This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached, 43an honored member of the high council, Joseph from Arimathea (who was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come), gathered his courage and went to Pilate to ask for Jesus' body. 44Pilate couldn't believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman military officer in charge and asked him. 45The officer confirmed the fact, and Pilate told Joseph he could have the body. 46Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth, and taking Jesus' body down from the cross, he wrapped it in the cloth and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus' body was laid.
(NLT)