Luke 22:14-23:56 Dear Partner in Preaching, Sometimes when you read a familiar passage, you wonder just what you’ll preach on this time, and sometimes – and oh, how nice it is when this happens! – sometimes something entirely new jumps out at you. That’s what happened to me this week at the prompting of one of the readers of this column. Earlier this week, one of you wrote to me and observed that in Luke’s version of the Passion, Peter denies Jesus three times and Pilate proclaims his innocence three times. The preacher writing asked if this was significant. And, to tell you the truth, I’d never noticed that before....

Mark 11:1-11 Mark 15:6-15 Philippians 2:1-11 Dear Partner in Preaching, I am struck by both the cry and confusion of the crowd who witnesses and participates in Jesus’ triumphal entry. “Hosanna,” they cry: “Save us.” Or, depending on how you interpret it, as a cry of anticipation or a cry of adoration, perhaps, “Savior.” In either case, this single word captures the hopes, pleas, dreams, needs, and expectations of a crowd of people who were worn out by occupation, by feeling like strangers in their own land, and who had little day-to-day hope of improving their life or lot. And so they turn to Jesus. I don’t know how many of...