Savoring the Word 14 - Luke 19:28-40 - Leaves
A few nights ago I was leaving the church to head home. It had been a stormy early evening and the storms had just passed through and the sun was starting to peek out. It was creating my favorite type of evening light - there's an incredible orange/yellow glow to everything. The grass looks vibrantly green and everything is just bathed in this beauty. I unfortunately did not have my camera with me at the time and so I got home as quickly as I could to try to get out to capture the light. While this shot does not capture the whole of the scene, it was the one that captured it the best for me - the color that painted the sky and one of the blooms on our tree in front of our house.
This week's Scripture focuses on the story of Palm Sunday, the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Depending on the Gospel you read, the people laid cloaks on the road before Jesus or they waved palm branches. But in all the tellings of this story the people are shouting and calling out to the King who was entering the city. So, hands, palm branches, voices, hearts, lives were being lifted up at that moment. In fact, even as the Pharisees called upon Jesus to tell his followers to quiet down, he speaks of how even the creation around (he specifically says the stones) would cry out.
That's what I saw in this picture - the incredible beauty of the light all around and the "leaves" of this flower lifted up and calling out before its Creator.
After Jesus had said this, he continued on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. Now when he approached Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ʻWhy are you untying it?ʼ just say, ʻThe Lord needs it.ʼ” So those who were sent ahead found it exactly as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying that colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” Then they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and had Jesus get on it. As he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. As he approached the road leading down from the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” But some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if they keep silent, the very stones will cry out!”