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Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\nJohn 19:12-19
\nMatthew 26:1-27:66<\/p>\n
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier.<\/p>\n
The Passover is quickly approaching and Jerusalem is beginning to swell with people, making it even more crowded than normal. People are visiting the marketplace, buying the items necessary for the Passover meal and for their sacrifices at the temple. Everyone is in Jerusalem, that is, everyone except for Jesus and the disciples.<\/p>\n
For three years, everything has been leading up to this. Jesus had set His face towards Jerusalem, and there was nothing that anyone could do to set His face towards anything else. Jesus and His disciples make their way into Jerusalem, and the people have heard all about it. They have heard how this man named Jesus, a miracle worker, a prophet, a teacher, the son of a carpenter, maybe even the long-awaited Messiah, has set His eyes on Jerusalem and the people flood the streets in anticipation of Jesus\u2019 arrival. With palm branch in hand, they cry out, \u201cHosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!\u201d <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Do the crowds even know what they just said? They cried out \u201cHosanna!,\u201d literally, \u201chelp\u201d or \u201csave, I pray.\u201d Do they need help? Do they need saved? Do they even know what it is that just came from their mouths? This is their plea for divine help or deliverance. This is found frequently in Psalm 113-118, the psalms for morning prayer. Is this a crying out to God or do they know something more about Jesus than what meets the eye?<\/p>\n When Jesus decides to act, things happen. In this case, it is the beginning of the end. John records for us, “And\u00a0Jesus\u00a0found\u00a0a\u00a0young\u00a0donkey\u00a0and\u00a0sat\u00a0on\u00a0it, just\u00a0as\u00a0it\u00a0is\u00a0written, \u201cFear\u00a0not,\u00a0daughter\u00a0of\u00a0Zion; behold,\u00a0your\u00a0king\u00a0is\u00a0coming, sitting\u00a0on\u00a0a\u00a0donkey’s\u00a0colt!\u201d<\/em><\/span> Prophecy has been fulfilled. The King is coming, or rather, the King is here and He\u2019s been here for the last 33 years or so; it was just that the people didn\u2019t recognize Him as the King He was or that they didn\u2019t want to recognize Him as King. Whether or not you believe is irrelevant \u2013 the King is here and He\u2019s got some work He needs to do.<\/p>\n As the days go by, things begin to escalate. Turning to Matthew\u2019s Gospel for today, it is recorded, \u201cWhen Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples, \u201cYou know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.\u201d Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and plotted together in order to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. But they said, \u201cNot during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.\u201d\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Things are beginning to fall into place for the chief priests and the elders. Jesus will be brought to justice for His heresy. Once He\u2019s out of the picture, there won\u2019t be anyone to contest their authority and everything will go back the way it was before Jesus showed up on the scene three years earlier. At least, that\u2019s how the chief priests and the elders see things working out.<\/p>\n Everything that happens from this point on is according to plan, Jesus\u2019 plan, that is. The religious leaders are merely spectators at this point, for it is Jesus who is calling all the shots. In fact, it\u2019s been Jesus who has been calling all the shots from the very beginning.<\/p>\n As Jesus enters into the events of Holy Week, there is no shortness of busyness. He is anointed by the woman at the house of Simon the leper. Judas makes plans to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, the equivalent of the price of a slave. He celebrates the Passover with the disciples, institutes His Holy Supper and is betrayed by Judas, one of His own disciples. Peter claims to never fall away from Jesus, as does all the disciples, despite Jesus\u2019 words: \u201cYou will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, \u2018I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/span> All of that happens within a span of a few days, and we\u2019re not even to Friday yet!<\/p>\n When Friday rolls around, Jesus stands trial at the hands of Pontius Pilate, He is charged and found guilty. He is beaten and scourged and hung on the cross, only to be mocked and cursed by the people whom He came to save. And then, as the day progresses, Jesus dies and is buried.<\/p>\n That is what Jesus is all about. That\u2019s what the cross is all about. In service to you, the Savior suffers far more than physical torment and death. He suffers His Father\u2019s judgment for your sins and for the sins of the world. He suffers hell there for you. \u201cGreater love has no man than this, than to lay down His life for His friends,\u201d<\/em><\/span> He once told His disciples, and there is no greater love or service than His cross in your place. Do not miss, by the way, that the Father is serving you at the cross, too: for rather than judge you for your sin, He gives His Son in your place, for you.<\/p>\n That is your Savior\u2014the Son of God who makes Himself of no reputation and becomes obedient to death on the cross for you. By His death, you have life. By His grace, you are now set free to serve others\u2014you are set free from sin to serve as God created you to.<\/p>\n Through the life of Christ and His Passion, we have received life \u2013 life that came at an expense \u2013 the death of Christ. The King of the Jews, who \u201chumbled himself and became obedient to death \u2013 even death on a cross,\u201d<\/em> <\/span>died so that all of creation would be reborn in Him, purged from death and made \u201cgood\u201d in the eyes of God. This was the way that creation was meant to be and what took place at our Lord\u2019s Passion was necessary for creation to be restored. Today is not a time to focus on the brutality of Christ\u2019s death or death itself, but to focus on what that death brought about \u2013 the dying of death and a restored creation. In Jesus\u2019 name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John 19:12-19 Matthew 26:1-27:66 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon is the Gospel, which was read earlier. The Passover is quickly approaching and Jerusalem is beginning to swell with people, making it even more crowded than normal. 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