19 - Palm Sunday

Readings and Gospel

Lectionary for this day - This has all the readings and Gospel

Mark 11:1-10 - At the Procession with Palms (The Entry into Jerusalem)

• More information

• or John 12:12-16

Isaiah 50:4-7 - Salvation Through the Lord’s Servant

Philippians 2:6-11 - Plea for Unity and Humility

• More information

Mark 14:1—15:47 - story from the betrayal by Judas up to the story of the guard at the tomb

• Read the footnotes (Chapters 14 and 15) for a deeper explanation.

Who / What / Where is...?

Mark

• He was the travel companion and interpreter of Peter. He was one of the 12 apostles of Jesus.

  • • 12 Apostles - the first 12 people that Jesus called to follow Him.

Bethphage

• A village that can no longer be certainly identified. Mark mentions it before Bethany (Mark 11:1), which suggests that it lay to the east of the latter. 

• Somewhere between Jerusalem and Bethany.

Mount of Olives

• Also called Mount Olivet

• The hill east of Jerusalem that is spoken of in Zechariah 14:4 as the place where the Lord will come to rescue Jerusalem from the enemy nations.

• A mountain ridge east of and adjacent to the old city of Jerusalem.

Zion

• Jerusalem

• Sometimes pertains to the land of Israel

Hosanna

• The Hebrew means “(O Lord) grant salvation”; see Psalm 118:25, but that invocation had become an acclamation of jubilation and welcome. 

 In the highest

• Probably only an intensification of the acclamation, although Hosanna in the highest could be taken as a prayer, “May God save (him).”

David

• Son of Jesse, from the tribe of Judah.

• 2nd King of the Israelites

• Father of Solomon (3rd king of the Israelites)

• He defeated Goliath, a Philistine, who challenged the Israelites in one of their battles.

• The Messiah would come from the house and line of David.

Isaiah

• His name means "God is Salvation".

• Isaiah is one of the prophets in the Old Testament -- around 742 BC to 701 BC, and it may have continued even longer, until 687 BC. He appeared at a critical moment in Israel’s history. 

• More information here.

Paul

• A Jew and a pharisee. He was educated by Gamaliel, a notable teacher of Jewish law.

• A Roman citizen.

• He first persecuted Christians. After Jesus appeared to him, he became a Christian and was responsible for the conversion of many Gentiles. More information.

Philippians

• People of Philippi, which is in today's Greece

Passover

• The Passover commemorated the redemption from slavery and the departure of the Israelites from Egypt by night. It began at sundown after the Passover lamb was sacrificed in the temple in the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan. With the Passover supper on the same evening was associated the eating of unleavened bread. 

Feast of Unleavened Bread 

• The Feast of Unleavened Bread was continued through Nisan 21, a reminder of the affliction of the Israelites and of the haste surrounding their departure. Praise and thanks to God for his goodness in the past were combined at this dual festival with the hope of future salvation.

Spikenard

• a class of aromatic amber-colored essential oil

Son of Man

• This is a term that Jesus called Himself, meaning that He is the Messiah.

Judas Iscariot

• One of the 12 apostles

• He betrayed Jesus.

Rabbi

• A teacher of scriptures

Gethsemane

• The Hebrew name means “oil press”.

• Designates an olive orchard on the western slope of the Mount of Olives.

Two sons of Zebedee

• James and John, apostles of Jesus

Caiaphas

• High priest from A.D. 18 to 36

Sanhedrin

• The word is a Hebraized form of a Greek word meaning a “council,” and refers to the elders, chief priests, and scribes who met under the high priest’s leadership to decide religious and legal questions that did not pertain to Rome’s interests. Jewish sources are not clear on the competence of the Sanhedrin to sentence and to execute during this period. (Source: USCCB)

Blasphemed

• the punishment for blasphemy was death by stoning (see Leviticus 24:10–16). According to the Mishnah, to be guilty of blasphemy one had to pronounce “the Name itself,” that is, Yahweh.

Pilate

• Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea

More

Dig deeper into this Sunday's Readings and Gospel with teachings from Brant Pitre.

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