Gospel for 02 March, 2007

Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. Then the chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus. The next day the great crowd of people who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took branches of palm and went out to receive him, shouting: ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord, the king of Israel.' Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it—as scripture says: Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; look, your king is approaching, riding on the foal of a donkey. At first his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him. The crowd who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept bearing witness to it; this was another reason why the crowd came out to receive him: they had heard that he had given this sign. Then the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see, you are making no progress; look, the whole world has gone after him!' (John 12:9-19 NJB)

The last verse of the Gospel for today sums up the reality of the last week of Jesus' life. The Pharisees are talking amongst themselves and their only concern is that the people have chosen to follow Jesus and they are losing their influence. They must, therefore, not only oppose Jesus, they must ramp up the opposition and turn it more militantly against Him. Their determination to put an end to this Jesus problem is set. There can be no turning back now.