A Pause In Lent.

Categories: god-related-stuff, a-pause-in-lent

Date: 17 April 2011 10:35:04

This is our final "Pause In Lent". If you want to read what other people hae been writing about during this time you can go over to Floss at Troc,Broc et Recup' to be directed to the other bloggers who have been taking time out to reflect upon what Lent has meant to them this year. I hope you will indulge me a little this week. I'm not moaning or agonising over my faith. I'm sharing with you a story about Palm Sunday. I hope you like it.

THE KING WHO WASN'T

Leah was a little girl, who lived in a village just outside Jerusalem, with her dad, who was a blacksmith, her mum, and her little brother Benjamin. One day, Leah’s dad asked her if she wanted to go into Jerusalem with him. “I have to go and do some jobs there”, he said, “and then I will go to Bethany to visit your Aunt Rachel. Would you like to come?” “Yes, please”, said Leah, who wanted to see Aunt Rachel, who was Leah’s favourite aunt.

So, the next day, dad and Leah set out to walk to Jerusalem. It was a hot day, and the sky was blue and cloudless. Leah enjoyed watching the swallows swoop past as they snatched insects out of the air, and she loved listening for the rasping of the grasshoppers at the side of the road. She held tightly to her father’s hand as she skipped along beside him.

They soon reached Jerusalem, and Leah’s dad took her to the market square, just outside the Temple. He lifted her up, and sat her on a wall. “Now, Leah,” he said seriously, looking at her. “I am going to trust you. I must go and see a man about some metal work, and it will be very boring for you, so I am going to leave you here. Promise me that you will sit here, and watch the people, but not go away. Can you do that?” “Of course, daddy,” Leah replied, and kissed him on the end of his nose. Dad waved and set off. Leah sat happily, watching the people, choosing which of the sweet donkeys she would buy, and admiring the black-and-grey goats, penned up together, next to the donkeys

Suddenly she heard someone shout “He’s here! The King is here!” The King? thought Leah. I didn’t know a king was coming today. I wonder what he will look like? And she imagined the King that was coming ~ he would wear a golden crown, and a rich robe of purple velvet. Perhaps he would carry a whip, or a silver sceptre. What would he be riding? Would it be a jet-black horse, stepping delicately over the cobbles, or perhaps a camel, huge, towering above everyone, and peering down its long nose. What would the King look like? She wondered. Would he be stern, and fierce, or would he be proud and sneering? All the time that Leah was wondering about the King, and imagining what he would look like people had been hurrying past her, reaching up to tear branches from the palm trees, or taking off their overcoats and waving them above their heads.

The noise of shouting and laughing which had been growing began to get closer and louder, until it seemed that everyone about her was raising their voices to cry aloud “Hosanna! Save us! The King of the Jews has arrived!” Leah scrambled to her feet, and balanced on the wall where her father had placed her. She had a fine view over the heads of the crowds, and she stood on tiptoe to see this proud, strong King, riding on a fine mount. She waved her arms and shouted too, but her voice died away in disappointment when she finally saw who it was that people were praising. It was a gentle looking man, dressed in simple white robes; he smiled and looked about him, reaching out and clasping the hands of those people who stretched out towards him. Most disappointing of all was that he rode no camel, no prancing horse, but a soft, silly donkey, with long brown ears and huge brown eyes. The donkey looked scared by the noise, but every now and then the man would reach out, and gently stroke its neck as if to comfort him.

This was no King, she thought crossly. People were getting excited over nothing; it was only a man on a donkey. And she folded her arms and scowled. As the man gazed about him at the crowds, he looked across at Leah, and their eyes met. He waved at her, and smiled, but she wasn’t having any of it.She scowled at him, harder than ever, and then, ruder than she’d ever been before to a grown up, she stuck her tongue out at him! He looked surprised, and then just raised his hand to her and grinned. He got off the donkey, there in front of the Temple, and went up the steps. A few minutes later there was some sort of uproar inside, but Leah took no notice, for by then her dad had arrived back and had lifted her down from the wall. As they walked towards Bethany and Aunt Rachel’s house, Leah told her dad all about the King-who-wasn’t, and how people had shouted and called to him, and waved their palm branches. She said how he wasn’t a King at all, and how she had been very disappointed ~ but she didn’t tell him how rude she’d been!

When they reached Aunt Rachel’s house she was very pleased to see them. “I’m glad you’re here,” she smiled. “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. His name is Jesus.” “Where is he, Aunt Rachel?” asked Leah. “Ah, he’s staying with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, in the village. He is related to them. Come along.” Aunt Rachel led them through the narrow twisting streets, until they reached the little home, where Mary, Martha and Lazarus lived. And there, sitting outside in the evening sunshine sat the King-who-wasn’t! “It’s that man!” Leah cried out. “It’s that girl!” he replied, grinning. “The one who ~”

Then he saw Leah’s agonised face, and realised that she didn’t want her dad to know what she had done. “The one who didn’t look pleased to see me!” he finished. “Why was that?” “Well, sir,” said Leah politely, “They said you were a King, and I expected someone in rich clothes, and riding on a horse. And you were poor, and riding on a donkey and it wasn’t fair, because I’d never seen a King before!” Leah’s father took hold of her shoulder, and was about to tell her off for being rude. “No, don’t,” said Jesus, “It’s alright.” He crouched down and looked deep into Leah’s eyes. She gazed back into his kind, brown eyes, with laugh-lines and dark rings about them. “He looks tired and a little bit afraid”, she thought, “But he is so nice too.” “I think other people expected what you expected, Leah,” he eventually sighed. “They don’t quite understand yet. They want a ruler who will bring war and power, but I am not like that. I am not a King to bring hatred and fighting; I am a King who wants to bring peace to people’s hearts and minds. D’you see?” And suddenly she did. Leah understood that Jesus was a King, a very special King, who rode on donkeys and wore simple clothes and who carried no swords. “I’m sorry I was so rude,” she said as she hugged him, “You can be my King any day,” “That’s just what I’d like” Jesus replied, as he hugged her back.