The 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2020
This weekend is Saturday the 4 and Sunday the 5 July, beginning the Fourteenth Week of Ordinary Time.
Checko Ankrah, Ethel Oppon and Nicky Lathbridge sing, ‘Most Holy’. As you listen, prepare for prayer today by echoing the words of this song in your own heart as an offering to God.
Today we hear a reading from the Prophet Zechariah, that speaks of the hopes that the Jewish people had for the day when the one to be sent by God finally arrived.
Zechariah 9:9-10
The Lord says this:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the warhorse from Jerusalem;
and the battle-bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
Zechariah speaks of a time of universal peace, a time presided over by the King God has appointed, a time of widespread rejoicing. What is your first reaction when you hear these promises?
The King who is coming is both triumphant and humble, a forceful leader and yet one who remains close to his people. Could you imagine yourself following a leader of that kind? What would that be like?
The people of Jerusalem are instructed to “rejoice greatly” when all this come to pass. What would God have to do to lead you to rejoice greatly in this way?
Later Christian tradition applies these words to the entry into Jerusalem that Jesus made on Palm Sunday, at the start of his Passion. As you listen again, see if this context changes the way in which you hear these words, how they feel or what they mean to you.
As this time of prayer draws to a close, take a moment to ask God for whatever you need to meet the challenge of being a disciple.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.