The Triumphal Entry imagines the boy Jabez and his mother (whom we first met in That Lunch) in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As a typical boy, Jabez can only foresee that this will be the time when Jesus is acknowledged publicly. Surely, as they both agree, the Temple is "a wonderful place to worship God, a place where God is never forgotten, where God's Word is always loved and obeyed." But the Mother is aware of the potential dangers, and as Jesus cleanses the Temple, this must also have become evident to Jabez too.
| Reader: | Matthew 21.1-11. |
| MOTHER: | Well, this is Jerusalem, Jabez! |
| JABEZ: | Wow! What a place, Mum! And we're staying for Passover this year! |
| MOTHER: | And this year Jesus is here too! |
| JABEZ: | Hosanna to the Son of David! |
| MOTHER: | Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord! |
| JABEZ: | I put some of those palm branches on the road. Hosanna! |
| MOTHER: | I see some hoof prints on your coat too! But don't worry, Jabez! I'm sure they'll wash out! |
| JABEZ: | I don't know if I want you to wash them out, Mum. They will remind me - and tell the world - that I was here to welcome him! |
| MOTHER: | But you're still a boy. By next year this won't fit you any more! |
| JABEZ: | Now that he's here, I wonder where Jesus will go first. |
| MOTHER: | The Temple, I expect. That's where all the visitors go - devout or not. |
| JABEZ: | The Temple - wow! All that gold work over the gateway! |
| MOTHER: | A wonderful place to worship God. |
| JABEZ: | A place where God is never forgotten... |
| MOTHER: | ... where God's Word is always loved and obeyed. |
| JABEZ: | I bet Jesus will have a big welcome there! |
| MOTHER: | I hope so. |
| JABEZ: | Of course he will! |
| MOTHER: | I hope so - you see, Jabez, not all Jesus has said has pleased the Pharisees. |
| JABEZ: | But wait till they see him in the Temple! |
| MOTHER: | That's where the crowd is moving now. Let's keep up with them. |
| JABEZ: | I'd like to be closer to the front - so I can see! |
| MOTHER: | Come through here then. |
| JABEZ: | Hosanna to the Son of David! |
| Reader: | Matthew 21.12-17.
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