SHS: Matthew 21-23; Mark 11; Luke 19-20; John 12

Luke 19:
1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.

2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchæus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.

6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

"The" sycamore tree in Jericho.

 A second sycamore tree is within the compound of the Zacchaeus Greek Orthodox Church in Jericho.

 Enshrined here is the base of the "original" tree climbed by Zacchaeus.

I grew up with my mom singing the first two lines of this song about Zacchaeus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxe9jO0scgA

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
And a wee little man was he.
He climbed up in a sycamore tree
For the Lord he wanted to see.


And as the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree and he said,
'Zacchaeus you come down, For I'm going to your house today!'
For I'm going to your house today!


Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
But a happy man was he,
For he had seen the Lord that day
And a happy man was he;
And a very happy man was he.”



 The sycamore tree church.

 Love the cobalt blue blown glass balls from Hebron.

Ruins from the New Testament era city of Jericho which is south of the Old Testament site and the current city of Jericho.

For many more images and commentary associated with this week's New Testament readings please see these blog posts:

http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2013/03/holy-week-palm-sunday.html

http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2010/03/palm-sunday.html

http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2013/03/holy-week-monday.html

http://beitemmett.blogspot.com/2013/03/holy-week-monday.html

 here are a few highlights:

John 11:

12 ¶ On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

 Palm Sunday procession 2010

 In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Matthew 23:
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Thursday morning bar mitzvahs at the Western Wall. Phylacteries include the box and bands on the forehead and the box and wrapped bands on the arm. To learn how to put on phylacteries/tefillin watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uezimCF8JDg

 Bar mitzvah boy with Torah scroll he will read from.

 Prayer shawls with various sizes of border stripes.

Matthew 23:
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.


 Whitened sepulchers on the Mount of Olives.

 Preparing a sepulcher for internment.