He went on a little farther and fell to the ground.
He prayed that, if it were possible,
the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by.
“Abba, Father,” he cried out,
“everything is possible for you.
Please take this cup of suffering away from me.
Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Heaven and earth will disappear,
but my words will never disappear.
However, no one knows the day or hour
when these things will happen,
not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.
Only the Father knows.
And since you don’t know when that time will come,
be on guard! Stay alert!
…Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.
—
“…you will see a young donkey tied there
that no one has ever ridden.
Untie it and bring it here.”
Then they brought the colt to Jesus
and threw their garments over it,
and he sat on it.
Jesus was in the center of the procession,
and the people all around him were shouting,
“Praise God!
Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD!
Blessings on the coming Kingdom of our ancestor David!
Praise God in highest heaven!”
Zechariah 9:9, Mark 11:2, 7, 9-10
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Jesus asked.
“My rabbi,” the blind man said, “I want to see!”
And Jesus said to him,
“Go, for your faith has healed you.”
Instantly the man could see,
and he followed Jesus down the road.
…Jesus once more began to describe everything
that was about to happen to him.
“Listen,” he said, we’re going up to Jerusalem,
where the son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests
and the teachers of religious law.
they will sentence him to die and hand him over to the Romans.
They will mock him, spit on him, flog him with a whip,
and kill him,
but after three days he will rise again.”
One day some parents brought their children to Jesus
so he could touch and bless them.
But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.
When Jesus saw what was happening,
he was angry with his disciples.
He said to them,
“Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them!
For the Kingdom of God belongs to those
who are like these children.
I tell you the truth,
anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child
will never enter it.”
…He said to them,
“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed
into the hands of his enemies.
He will be killed,
but three days later he will rise from the dead.”
They didn’t understand what he was saying, however,
and they were afraid to ask him what he meant.
“…Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.”
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked.
“Anything is possible if a person believes.”
The father instantly cried out,
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Jesus and his disciples left Galilee
and went up to the villages near Caesarea Philippi.
As they were walking along, he asked them,
“Who do people say I am?”
“Well,” they replied, some say John the Baptist,
some say Elijah,
and others say you are one of the other prophets.”
Then he asked them,
“But who do you say I am?”…
