Our Sabbath Scripture Stories – Palm Sunday – Cycle C

Read or listen to this Sunday’s Mass readings here.

  • Isaiah 50:4-7
  • Philippians 2:6-11
  • Luke 22:14 – 23:56

“What’s going on?” Hillary, the first one to the dining room, asked.  “We can’t eat paper for breakfast!”

The others, close behind her, also noticed that there were sticky notes stuck all over their plates.

“This morning, we are going to play Adopt-A-Character,” Mom announced.  “Each of your papers has a name on it.  As you hear about that person in today’s Gospel, you can stick the paper with the person’s name on it to the cross.”

Dad began reading, “ ‘ I tell you, Peter, before the cock crows this day, you will deny three times that you know me.’ “ (Luke 22:34)  At the same time, Mom lifted little Ben to stick his note with “Peter” written on it to the big cross on the dining room wall.

Dad read on about the disciples sleeping as Jesus prayed in the garden, and Mary Clare stuck her “disciples” note to the cross.  Vincent solemnly stuck “Judas” to the cross as Dad read about him betraying Jesus with a kiss.  On it went through Pilate, Herod, the chief priests, scribes and soldiers, Barabbas, Simon of Cyrene, and the women of Jerusalem, the criminals, the centurion, and Joseph of Arimathea until the reading was over and the cross was covered with papers. 

The whole family was silent as they thought about the awful experience that Jesus had gone through.

Finally, Lucy asked, “Why were most of these people so bad?  They got to see Jesus and hear Him teach, but only a few were still good friends when He died.”

“Yes,” Mary Clare agreed, “I sometimes think that if I could meet Jesus face-to-face, I would never want to sin again.”

“We have even more than just a meeting,” Mom said gently.  “Remember, this reading started with the gift of the first Eucharist.”

“And we have the other sacraments, and the Bible, and the help of the Holy Spirit,” Dad added.  “Even so, we all have things in common with the people mentioned in this reading.”

“Sometimes, I’m a wimp about standing up for Jesus, just like Peter was,” Vincent said.  “But I want to be brave like Joseph of Arimathea.”

“And I try to help Jesus like Simon of Cyrene did … when I think about it.  I guess I’m like the disciples who fell asleep in the garden,” Lucy said sadly.

“We all have times when we please Jesus and times when we fail,” said Dad.  “The great thing about the cross is that all of the sins of these people were nailed to it, and all of our sins were nailed to it, and everyone’s sins were nailed to it.  Then Jesus paid for ALL of them with His perfect sacrifice.  All we have to do is accept the gift that He is always offering to us: forgiveness and the grace to do better next time.”

“I guess there is a happy ending to this story after all,” said Lucy, with a smile.

With that, they each wrote their own name on a paper and stuck it to the cross with all of the other names of sinners that were there.

Who in today’s Gospel reading are you like?

Whom do you want to be more like?

Think about some of your sinful ways that you would like to have nailed to the cross.

Ask God to show you the areas of your life that need to be redeemed.

Would you prefer a print a copy of this story?

Palm Sunday – CDownload

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