'Listen like a disciple'
Palm Sunday Mark 14:1-15:47 29 March 2015 Is. 50:4-7; Ps. 22; Phil. 2:6-11; Mark 14:1-15:47 Throughout his Gospel, Mark forewarns of Jesus’ ultimate fate - opposition and misunderstanding accompany his public ministry. We have been propelled, almost relentlessly, with Jesus towards Jerusalem and the cross. This Sunday, we have arrived. In the text for the Procession, we hear of Jesus’ dramatic entry into the city of Jerusalem. We can only assume that among the enthusiastic crowd are some who will soon shout for Jesus to be crucified and mock him as he dies. Mark’s Gospel is concerned with Jesus’ identity and with discipleship. The opening verse tells us Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God. But what this means – both for Jesus and for us as his disciples – can be known only at the cross. Without seeing the centrality of suffering to his mission, and correspondingly to ours as his followers, we cannot understand Jesus or be true disciples. Watching Jesus suffer and die, one of his k...