God willing...it's a blessing!

For some today is Opening Day and nothing else....for some people the days ahead are about bunnies and candy. For some the excitement is all wrapped up in new dresses, hats and white gloves.

For those of us who truly delve into the faith of Easter it is time to engage our hearts and mourn. It's time to begin the painful journey of the cross. Our Lord and Savior is going to die to save us. The greatest gift of love.

It's time! It's time to truly confess our sins. It's time to egage our scriptures and know our story. It's time to be Christian.

Lord, forgive us for those times we have not loved you by loving others. Forgive us for not loving ourselves as you love us. Forgive us, o Lord, for those moments we deny our faith and live as if it doesn't matter...as if you don't matter. Open us, come into our hearts, brush awway our sins and claim us as your own. Amen.

Mark 14:1-31

The Plot to Kill Jesus

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him;for they said, ‘Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.’

The Anointing at Bethany

While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.But some were there who said to one another in anger, ‘Why was the ointment wasted in this way?For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.’ And they scolded her.But Jesus said, ‘Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me.For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me.She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial.Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.’

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

The Passover with the Disciples

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him,and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, “The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.’So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.
When it was evening, he came with the twelve.And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.’They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, ‘Surely, not I?’He said to them, ‘It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me.For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’

The Institution of the Lord’s Supper

While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body.’Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it.He said to them, ‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.’

Peter’s Denial Foretold

When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.And Jesus said to them, ‘You will all become deserters; for it is written,
“I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.”
But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.’Peter said to him, ‘Even though all become deserters, I will not.’Jesus said to him, ‘Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’But he said vehemently, ‘Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.’ And all of them said the same.