Sunday Prayer

"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed..."John 17:1

Stained glass panel from St. Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh

Today is Palm Sunday, the day that we remember when Jesus entered Jerusalem as King. By the end of the week, only Pontius Pilate would recognize Jesus as King, writing “King of the Jews” on the board nailed to Jesus' cross.

We want to jump straight to Easter, but Easter means nothing without the cross. Carol put a quote from Ann Weems on my computer, and it applies so well to how we should approach this week:

“The only road to Easter morning is through the unrelenting shadows of that Friday. Only then will the alleluias be sung; only then will the dancing begin.”

I hope you will take time this week to accompany Jesus to the cross. Read the gospels, beginning from his entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1ff, Mark 11:1ff, Luke 19:29ff, John 12:12ff); and reflect on what he says, and on how people react to him. Try to put yourself alongside him, maybe as one of his disciples.

As it is my Sunday practice to share with you a prayer from those who have gone before us, I think it quite appropriate this week to include some of the prayers spoken by Jesus this week, primarily on Thursday and Friday of this week. 

Listen to the heart of the One who gave his life so that you and I might have abundant, everlasting life.

~~From John 17 (Selected Verses)~~

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do...

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world... I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours... I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one...

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth...

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory..."

From the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi
Santa Fe, New Mexico

~~Matthew 26:39, 43~~

“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

“My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

~~Luke 23:34~~

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

~~John 19:28~~

“I am thirsty.”

~~Matthew 27:46~~

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

~~Luke 23:46~~

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”