Day 29 – The strange procession of the king

John 12:1-19

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, the one Jesus raised from the dead. So they made a dinner for him there. Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who reclined at the table with him. Then Mary took a pint of perfume, pure nard, very precious, and anointed Jesus’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Then Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, one of his disciples, who was about to betray him, said, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money – a year’s wages - given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief; he had the money box, and used to take what was put into it.

But Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so she can keep this for the day of my burial. For you will always have poor people among you, but you won’t always have me.”

A large crowd of the Jews learned that he was there; and they came, not just because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests conspired to kill Lazarus as well; because of him, many were leaving the Jewish leaders and believing in Jesus.

The next day, a large crowd that had come for the Passover festival and heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!”

Jesus had found a young donkey and he sat on it, as it is written, “Don’t be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on the colt of a donkey.” His disciples didn’t understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and done to him. The crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept telling people about what they had seen. This made the crowd go out to meet him, because they heard that he had performed this miraculous sign. So the Pharisees said among themselves, “You see how your efforts are getting nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.”

For reflection

How surprising would it be to see a royal procession with the King on a little donkey? What do you think this means about Jesus?