On the Way to Wonder

Tomorrow we will celebrate Palm Sunday and the psalm reading is Psalm 31:9-16.   The psalm seems to fit in with the readings we have done this week in the gospel of Mark.  After Jesus  the experienced the triumphal entry we will celebrate tomorrow with people welcoming him as the coming Messiah, the mood changes.  The religious leaders are threatened by Jesus cleansing the Temple and by his teachings that seemed to be saying that the religious leaders had not been good tenants in God’s vineyard.  Different religious representatives come to Jesus with questions aimed at catching him in a contradiction.  Jesus finally turns the table on them and does some teaching, but the tension is growing.  We will travel with him this week as these events unfold.  Thursday we call Maundy Thursday because a new mandate, a new commandment, was given at the end of the Last Supper.  Friday is called Good Friday even though it is the day of crucifixion.  For those who go to the various services offered, we will experience the roots of our faith.  Psalm 31 below focuses on the struggles of life and the choice to trust God in the midst of the struggles.  A good entry to Holy Week.  

Psalm: Psalm 31:9-16

Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. (Ps. 31:5)

 ⁹Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;

  my eye is consumed with sorrow, and also my throat and my belly.

 ¹⁰For my life is wasted with grief, and my years with sighing;

  my strength fails me because of affliction, and my bones are consumed.

 ¹¹I am the scorn of all my enemies, a disgrace to my neighbors, a dismay to my acquaintances;

  when they see me in the street they avoid me.

 ¹²Like the dead I am forgotten, out of mind;

  I am as useless as a broken pot. 

 ¹³For 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.

 ¹⁴But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord.

  I have said, “You are my God.

 ¹⁵My times are in your hand;

  rescue me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

 ¹⁶Let your face shine upon your servant;

  save me in your steadfast love.” 

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 23rd, 2024 at 6:36 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.