Tales from the New Testament

For centuries, northern countries from Russia to England have laid the catkins of the willow tree before Jesus as he enters Jerusalem.

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter Day and the start of Holy Week, has been celebrated with willow branches in colder climes, including England, for centuries.

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A man born blind is healed by Jesus, but finds himself a social outcast as a result.

Jesus has been avoiding Jerusalem, but now he has taken the fateful step. Immediately he engulfs himself in controversy by coming to the aid of a woman accused of adultery, and by appearing to claim to be God. When he heals a blind man on the Sabbath the Pharisees hope he has at last done something they can prosecute him for.

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Persian star-gazers hasten to Israel for the birth of a royal heir, but find that King Herod has had his fill of them.

According to Pliny the Elder (23-79), a Roman contemporary of St Paul, ‘magi’ were believed to be followers of Zoroaster, interpreters of dreams, worshippers of the stars and secret knowledge, not to mention conjurors and charlatans.

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