Palm - Passion Sunday

The name of ‘Jesus’ is an English derivation of his true name. His Hebrew name was ‘Joshua’. In those days, son followed father in work and in disposition and we know that Joshua assisted Moses and succeeded Moses as leader of the tribes in the Promised Land. In some ancient sects, reincarnation was a firm belief as, on so many occasions, there are parallels over generations. 

Jesus came into his ministry when he was baptised by his cousin John in the Jordan River. John’s mother was Elizabeth, a close relative of Mary, the mother of Jesus. John’s father was the High Priest of the Jerusalem Temple of which there was no higher religious authority and his son, John was a wandering ascetic, living on what he could find in the desert to eat and drink and wearing a garment of goat skin. He was extremely popular and bathed people in the river water and told them that their sins were forgiven. John was a radical preacher without thought of his own safety. He criticised the Roman governor for marrying his brother’s wife, and for that he was imprisoned. Within time, he was beheaded. Jesus began his teaching and healing ministry when he was around the age of 30 years old. He collected around him 12 men to represent, and to re-unite the twelve tribes that united the northern and southern provinces that had been torn apart during the Assyrian conquest 700 years previously. As Elisha was to Elijah, so Jesus was to John. 

Jesus was of the tribe of Judah, the lands in which Jerusalem and its precious temple was situated. He was of the hereditary line of David, and an heir of the ‘everlasting throne’. 

Jesus was a powerful speaker and people gathered around him to listen to his teaching which was radically lenient and strongly opposed to the rigid, oppressive and hierarchical teaching of the Sanhedrin who dominated the Jewish state. Due to his popularity, he became a threat to the Temple priests. He had spent 40 days praying in the desert, had preached to the masses, the Sermon on the Mount, fed the five thousand with loaves and fishes, healed the blind, raised the dead, and was accepted as a Rabbinic teacher of great renown, perhaps even a reincarnation of John the Baptist. 

As the time of the Passover approached, all Jews travelled to a Jerusalem to celebrate this ancient festival. It was to honour the time when the Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses sent a plague on the first born of the Egyptians, but the Jews placed the blood of a newly slaughtered lamb on their doorposts, and the Angel Death passed over their homes. 

Passion Sunday is the 6th Sunday of Lent and is 7 days prior to the Passover festival and begins the holiest week in the Christian and the a Jewish calendar. Article by Wendy Stokes https://wendystokes.co.uk