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(liturgical music)
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So let us offer under God,
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our unison prayer of confession, let us pray.
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Eternal God thou unseen source of power.
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We confess our unfaithfulness to Jesus Christ.
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We who like ancient Jerusalem have welcomed Him
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with professions of loyalty,
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have crucified Him before the week ended.
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Amid the way weirdness of a violent world.
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We have denied His faith and forsaken His way.
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We have not walked kindly with one another,
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nor humbly with thee, nor honorably with ourselves.
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We ask thy forgiveness and restoration
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through this same Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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here are the gracious words of our Lord Jesus Christ
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unto all who truly repent and turn to Him,
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"Come on to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
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and I will give you rest.
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Him that cometh onto me, I will in no wise cast out."
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May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.
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And now as our savior Christ has taught us,
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let us pray together saying our Father who art in heaven,
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hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
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Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
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Give us this day our daily bread
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and forgive us our trespasses,
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as we forgive those who trespass against us
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and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
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For Thine is the kingdom,
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the power and the glory forever. Amen.
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(liturgical music)
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The scripture lesson is found in the 21st chapter
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of the gospel, according to St. Matthew.
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"And when they drew near to Jerusalem
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and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives,
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then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them,
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'Go into the village, opposite you.
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And immediately you will find an ass tied
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and a colt with her.
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Untie them and bring them to me.
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If anyone says anything to you,
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you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them.'
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And he will send them immediately.'
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This took place to fulfill
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what was spoken by the prophet saying,
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'Tell the daughter of Zion,
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behold, your king is coming to you,
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humble and mounted on an ass
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and on a colt, the foal of an ass.'
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The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
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They brought the ass and the coat,
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and put their garments on them and he sat there on.
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Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road
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and others cut branches from the trees
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and spread them on the road.
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And the crowds that went before Him
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and that followed Him shouted, 'Hosanna to the son of David,
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blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord.
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Hosanna in the highest.'
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And when He entered Jerusalem,
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all the city was stirred saying, 'Who is this?'
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And the crowd said,
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'This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.'"
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Here the lesson ends.
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(liturgical music)
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The Lord be with you.
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And with your spirit.
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Let us pray.
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Oh God who are glorious and holiness,
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full of love and compassion, abundant in grace and truth.
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All thy works praise Thee and all the earth.
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By glory is revealed in Jesus Christ Thy son.
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Therefore we praise Thee
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Father, son, and holy spirit, one God.
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Blessed be Thy name above all names forever.
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All mighty God our Father, who has so loved the world
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as to send Thy son to seek
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and save our rebellious creatures.
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We give thanks for the grace by which he came among us
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as a servant, meek, and lowly.
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The friend of sinners and the companion of the poor.
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We remember with joy that the common people heard Him gladly
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and the multitude welcomed Him with Palm branches
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and songs of praise.
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Grant us grace, oh God,
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to join with all our hearts
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in the spiritual triumph of the prince of peace
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through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Almighty God, who has taught us to pray for others,
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hear our prayers of intercession.
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Hear us as we pray
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for those who have been unfortunate in life
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and bruised in spirit.
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For those who have toiled without success.
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For those who are lonely and hurt.
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For those who have endured with no outside encouragement.
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For all these, our Father,
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we pray that sure knowledge of Thy boundless compassion
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made known to us in Thy lonely bruise and suffering son.
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Oh God who has called our nation to a place of trust
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and responsibility throughout the world.
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We only humbly Thee for all the ways
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in which thou has blessed and guided us unto this day.
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We confess before Thee, with shame,
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all that has been evil in our history
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and all that now makes us, an unworthy nation before Thee.
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Take from this nation, pride, greed, and injustice.
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And temper it with a spirit of unselfish service
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Here I say as we pray for this university,
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may knowledge be increased among us
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and may scholarship flourish.
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We pray for all who teach here and all who learn,
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that in humility of heart, they may ever look unto Thee,
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the fountain of all wisdom.
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Grant that all who served this university in any capacity
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may labor as unto Thee.
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Oh God, we pray for Thy church.
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Baptize her afresh
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with a life-giving spirit of Jesus Christ.
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Bestore up on her a more imperative response to duty.
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A swifter compassion with suffering
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and utter loyalty to Thy will.
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Help her to proclaim boldly the coming of Thy kingdom.
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Fill her with the prophet scorn of tyranny
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and with Christ light tenderness
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for the heavy Laden and the downtrodden.
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Bid her seize from seeking her own life, lest she lose it.
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Make her value to give up her life to the world.
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That like her crucified Lord,
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she may come into Thy kingdom by the path of the cross.
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All this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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Now our Father hear us as we pray for ourselves,
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make us perfect in Jesus Christ.
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Out of His fullness,
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may we all receive and rest in Him forever more.
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May His passion be our deliverance, His wounds our healing.
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His cross, our redemption and His death, our life.
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Suffering with Him here, may we reign with Him hereafter.
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And bearing now His cross,
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may we hear after wear His crown.
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Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Oh thou in whom we live and move and have our being,
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at this time we offer and present onto Thee ourselves,
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our spirits and bodies, our thoughts and desires,
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our words and deeds to be a reasonable,
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holy and living sacrifice under Thee,
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through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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(liturgical music)
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Almighty God, from whose bounty we have all received,
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accept this offering of Thy people.
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And so follow it with Thy blessing
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that it may promote peace and Goodwill among man,
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and advanced Thy kingdom
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through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
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(liturgical music)
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Let us pray.
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Grace be unto you and peace from God the father,
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and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
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In Matthew's gospel the lesson for the day we read,
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"And the multitude that went before Him
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and that followed cried saying,
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'Hosanna to the son of David,
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blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,
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Hosanna in the highest.'"
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As in the season of lent,
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Christians retrace the toilsome steps
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of their Lord to the Mount of Calvary.
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They do not forget that in some mysterious way,
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Palm Sunday is a glad day in the long,
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long memory of the Christian Church.
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From the first it was such a day.
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It was a day of rejoicing for the Pilgrim throng
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that accompany Jesus to Jerusalem.
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Coming up for the celebration of the Passover,
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the Pilgrims from Galilee and beyond Jordan
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swelled the company of Jesus' followers.
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As they recognize the prophets of Galilee
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with His disciples,
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they broke into noisier claim hailing Jesus
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in words of historic messianic import.
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That recalled the words of the Old Testament prophets.
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Somehow the ancient phrase
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is formed on the lips of one or two
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were passed along to become a chorus.
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Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,
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Hosanna to the son of David, Hosanna in the highest.
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Evidently the contrast between the kingly role,
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they ascribed to the prophet of Nazareth,
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and His lowly mount quite escaped Him.
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Seemingly they took no notice that he rolled upon a donkey,
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a humble beast of burden.
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And a memorial symbol of patient service
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and uncomplaining endurance.
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It did not occur to them that Jesus,
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after the fashion of the older prophets,
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might be enacting the meaning of His message and mission.
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And that the words of Zachariah might be the clue.
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"Rejoice greatly, oh daughter of Zion.
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Shout oh doctor of Jerusalem,
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behold thy king cometh onto thee is just
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and having salvation.
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Lowly and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt,
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the foal of an ass."
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The throng was excited. Now it didn't festival mood.
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It moved it no question of Jesus' real identity
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or hidden meaning that might attach to His kingship,
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crowds do not reflect, they react.
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It was enough to be carried on the upwelling
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tired of their own spontaneous enthusiasm.
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They rejoiced in the reputation
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of the celebrated prophet of Nazareth in Galilee.
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He was their own countrymen.
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And with Him for a moment and with high expectations,
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they were glad to be identified.
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But we know that the two molt and the shouting died
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and that the exalted gladness
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of the first Palm Sunday was soon to pass.
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The fidelity of a crowd is as substantial
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as the measure of its understanding
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and of understanding this crowd had not enough.
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And shortly in retrospect Jesus' disciples,
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had to view the acclaim of their master on Palm Sunday.
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It was only a passing interval
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of welcome relief in Jesus fateful
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and relentless march to Jerusalem and to Golgotha.
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From the north country,
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the Mount of transfiguration you will remember,
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Jesus had steadfastly set His face like Flint,
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to go to Jerusalem.
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Here was the seat of theocratic authority and power.
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Here was the Citadel Lavon bending and hostile resistance
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to His mission, His message, and His person.
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Here was Mount Zion and the temple that crowned the hill
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that enthroned established cultic law and practice.
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Here in Jerusalem,
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Jesus was set upon making His final appeal
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for the obedience of Israel,
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to the imperatives of God's kingdom.
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Here He was to confront decisively and climatically
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the of reaction.
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And here also was to be settled for all time to come.
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The question of His own identity
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and the real meaning of His kingship.
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And now the moment of arrival was at hand.
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And the long way is behind Him.
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And before Him beyond the brow of the Mount of Olives
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lies the wall city of Jerusalem.
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Honduras gates, glistening temple,
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and around Jesus and His followers is the throng of pilgrims
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converging on the holy city, they all gust city of David.
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We do not know what sparked the recognition
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of the prophet of Nazareth by the festival throng.
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As he rode astride, a lonely beast of burden
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accompanied by His disciples band,
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He was recognized and hailed in language
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that surely recall the long awaited
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Messiah of Israel's ancient hope.
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Hear the words again,
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Hosanna to the son of David,
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blessed is He that cometh is in the name of the Lord.
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Now knew better than the one acclaimed the hidden mockery.
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00:34:08.000 --> 00:34:12.830
Yet it was all so spontaneous and with all soul right,
263
00:34:12.830 --> 00:34:15.193
even if for the wrong reason.
264
00:34:17.291 --> 00:34:18.124
But when the Pharisees
265
00:34:18.124 --> 00:34:21.530
enjoined Jesus to rebuke His disciples
266
00:34:21.530 --> 00:34:25.020
for their scandalously exorbitant praise,
267
00:34:25.020 --> 00:34:27.627
Jesus justly replied,
268
00:34:27.627 --> 00:34:31.550
"I tell you that if thee shall hold their peace,
269
00:34:31.550 --> 00:34:33.657
the stones will cry out."
270
00:34:35.400 --> 00:34:37.740
Our Lord fully understood
271
00:34:37.740 --> 00:34:40.800
that the joyous acclaim of the throng,
272
00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:45.800
was based upon some misunderstanding and miss identification
273
00:34:46.810 --> 00:34:49.023
of His role and purpose.
274
00:34:50.020 --> 00:34:53.850
Yet that he found in it a right instinct,
275
00:34:53.850 --> 00:34:58.850
is attested by His adroit and perfectly calculated reply
276
00:34:59.450 --> 00:35:02.033
to the complaining priests and scribes.
277
00:35:02.927 --> 00:35:05.193
"Did he never read?" He asked.
278
00:35:06.250 --> 00:35:09.510
Out of the miles of babes and sucklings
279
00:35:09.510 --> 00:35:11.423
thou has perfected praise.
280
00:35:13.090 --> 00:35:17.640
Jesus irony is crystal clear in all of this episode.
281
00:35:17.640 --> 00:35:20.550
And yet he knew that the untutored
282
00:35:20.550 --> 00:35:25.400
and half childish recognition of His mission and message
283
00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:29.240
by the Pilgrim throng was nevertheless
284
00:35:29.240 --> 00:35:31.083
a partial comprehensive.
285
00:35:32.420 --> 00:35:34.820
It was plainly to be honored
286
00:35:34.820 --> 00:35:39.750
for such truth as it comprehended and embraced.
287
00:35:39.750 --> 00:35:43.932
And it was much to be preferred to the poor blind
288
00:35:43.932 --> 00:35:47.200
obstinate and craft the obliquity
289
00:35:47.200 --> 00:35:50.720
of rulers, Priests, and scribes.
290
00:35:50.720 --> 00:35:54.210
Whose minds were fast closed,
291
00:35:54.210 --> 00:35:56.803
indeed impervious to neutral.
292
00:35:59.140 --> 00:36:04.140
Yes. Out of the miles of babes and sucklings
293
00:36:04.290 --> 00:36:06.073
thou has perfected praise.
294
00:36:07.690 --> 00:36:09.850
Except you become as a little child,
295
00:36:09.850 --> 00:36:13.143
you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
296
00:36:14.860 --> 00:36:17.790
If there had to be a choice,
297
00:36:17.790 --> 00:36:20.940
then Jesus had always made it clear
298
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:25.980
that over sophistication, not simplicity,
299
00:36:25.980 --> 00:36:27.653
is the great deceiver.
300
00:36:29.890 --> 00:36:32.070
And so we may confidently believe
301
00:36:32.070 --> 00:36:36.290
there was for Jesus on the first Palm Sunday,
302
00:36:36.290 --> 00:36:39.610
a measure of satisfaction and joy
303
00:36:39.610 --> 00:36:42.393
in the glad recognition of the crowd.
304
00:36:43.700 --> 00:36:46.600
And for Jesus' disciples,
305
00:36:46.600 --> 00:36:50.160
it doubtless was a triumphal entry.
306
00:36:50.160 --> 00:36:51.053
However trench,
307
00:36:52.380 --> 00:36:57.270
for them it was at least a momentary fulfillment of hopes
308
00:36:57.270 --> 00:36:58.820
they had half abandoned
309
00:36:59.780 --> 00:37:02.110
or no longer there to entertain
310
00:37:02.110 --> 00:37:05.320
in view of Jesus repeated warnings
311
00:37:05.320 --> 00:37:07.963
of His own eventual betrayal and death.
312
00:37:09.570 --> 00:37:14.300
Never quite to be forgotten where the shouted Hosanna's,
313
00:37:14.300 --> 00:37:19.300
the waving palms, and the crowds tumultuous to claim.
314
00:37:20.759 --> 00:37:24.670
But in accordance with their worst misgivings
315
00:37:25.970 --> 00:37:30.273
and against their irrepressible but deepest hopes,
316
00:37:31.690 --> 00:37:33.570
the disciples were to learn
317
00:37:33.570 --> 00:37:36.500
that the exaltation of the crowds,
318
00:37:36.500 --> 00:37:41.500
was only a brilliant and fleeting interlude.
319
00:37:43.130 --> 00:37:47.450
It was like a shaft of glorious sunlight
320
00:37:47.450 --> 00:37:51.400
that momentarily illuminates a darkening landscape
321
00:37:51.400 --> 00:37:53.863
in the face of an advancing storm.
322
00:37:55.160 --> 00:37:57.013
As we know, the storm broke.
323
00:37:58.260 --> 00:37:59.350
And we move quickly
324
00:37:59.350 --> 00:38:02.960
out of the joy and gladness of Palm Sunday,
325
00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.140
into the deepening gloom and menacing shadows
326
00:38:06.140 --> 00:38:09.433
of the final days of Jesus' earthly ministry.
327
00:38:10.890 --> 00:38:14.720
So rapid is the descent into the darkness
328
00:38:14.720 --> 00:38:16.070
of Gethsemane and Golgotha,
329
00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:21.270
that it is easier for us as it was for the disciples
330
00:38:22.270 --> 00:38:27.270
to account the Hosanna's of Palm Sunday as hollow mockery,
331
00:38:27.430 --> 00:38:29.003
than was on Hosanna's praise.
332
00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:31.750
And with pier in vain,
333
00:38:31.750 --> 00:38:35.563
among the throngs that followed Jesus to His crucifixion.
334
00:38:37.566 --> 00:38:41.880
For the remnants of that Pilgrim ban that on Sunday,
335
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:46.083
had hailed His entry with words of messianic acclaim.
336
00:38:48.110 --> 00:38:50.820
If there were remnants present,
337
00:38:50.820 --> 00:38:53.713
they were silent and then conspicuous now.
338
00:38:54.890 --> 00:38:59.890
Had they been mistaken about Jesus' real identity?
339
00:39:02.850 --> 00:39:05.733
The answer is plainly, yes.
340
00:39:07.630 --> 00:39:11.730
They had expected and overpowering deliver
341
00:39:12.700 --> 00:39:15.163
are not a prisoner or under sentence of debt.
342
00:39:16.560 --> 00:39:20.210
But the prevailing witness of the gospels is that
343
00:39:20.210 --> 00:39:25.210
not only were these mistaken about Jesus real identity
344
00:39:25.210 --> 00:39:26.823
so was everyone else.
345
00:39:28.300 --> 00:39:31.090
Not the fouls of Jesus only,
346
00:39:31.090 --> 00:39:34.433
but even His intimate disciples were mistaken.
347
00:39:35.490 --> 00:39:40.050
Consider the disciples, consider their fear,
348
00:39:40.050 --> 00:39:43.470
their uncertainty, their indecision,
349
00:39:43.470 --> 00:39:47.383
and their desertion of Jesus in the hour of crisis.
350
00:39:49.640 --> 00:39:50.990
And Peter's denial
351
00:39:50.990 --> 00:39:55.700
following upon His vehement protestations of loyalty,
352
00:39:55.700 --> 00:39:59.380
all of this points to imperfect understanding
353
00:39:59.380 --> 00:40:02.913
of Jesus' mission and consequently of His identity.
354
00:40:03.930 --> 00:40:05.223
And not only Peter,
355
00:40:06.110 --> 00:40:10.343
but such other prominent disciples as James and John.
356
00:40:11.240 --> 00:40:13.630
At a late hour in Jesus' ministry,
357
00:40:13.630 --> 00:40:18.510
these to reveal a painful misunderstanding
358
00:40:18.510 --> 00:40:20.693
of Jesus' intention and work.
359
00:40:22.040 --> 00:40:26.380
Almost at the last they secretly asked
360
00:40:26.380 --> 00:40:31.380
for places of preeminence in the messianic age to come.
361
00:40:32.550 --> 00:40:35.630
It was then that Jesus disclosed
362
00:40:35.630 --> 00:40:39.000
with rare and on the custom directness,
363
00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:40.603
the nature of His ministry.
364
00:40:42.050 --> 00:40:45.660
It is a ministry of uttermost service,
365
00:40:45.660 --> 00:40:50.660
not a rulership of earthly prerogative and supremacy.
366
00:40:51.467 --> 00:40:54.087
"The son of man." He said,
367
00:40:54.087 --> 00:40:58.440
"Came not to be served, but to serve.
368
00:40:58.440 --> 00:41:03.440
Not to make claims, but to give His life a ransom for many."
369
00:41:06.620 --> 00:41:09.300
Doubtless to the disciples,
370
00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:12.650
these words were veiled in mystery,
371
00:41:12.650 --> 00:41:16.403
a mystery that was sharply to be embodied in the cross.
372
00:41:17.550 --> 00:41:22.263
But even in the cross, the embodied mystery remained.
373
00:41:23.390 --> 00:41:28.390
It remains for us to this day when we enter into it
374
00:41:29.130 --> 00:41:31.000
and take in the magnitude
375
00:41:31.000 --> 00:41:34.523
of the spiritual achievement it in shrine.
376
00:41:35.510 --> 00:41:40.510
When we do, we know, and in reverence confess,
377
00:41:41.090 --> 00:41:43.920
that we stand shamed and overpowered
378
00:41:43.920 --> 00:41:48.453
by the supreme moral event in the history of our race.
379
00:41:49.510 --> 00:41:53.860
In its spiritual vision and majesty,
380
00:41:53.860 --> 00:41:58.860
it remains in comparably and unapproachably the highest.
381
00:42:00.330 --> 00:42:05.330
It is the sign of the cross incomparable
382
00:42:05.670 --> 00:42:09.780
and hung somehow mysteriously between heaven and earth
383
00:42:09.780 --> 00:42:12.243
and somehow as a bridge between them.
384
00:42:13.430 --> 00:42:15.100
In the cross,
385
00:42:15.100 --> 00:42:19.767
somehow we do know that God becomes identified with man
386
00:42:19.767 --> 00:42:21.500
and man with God.
387
00:42:21.500 --> 00:42:23.890
And then this coalescence,
388
00:42:23.890 --> 00:42:28.603
the identity of the prophet, Jesus of Nazareth is revealed.
389
00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:35.140
Who does not feel this is not to be blamed,
390
00:42:35.140 --> 00:42:36.063
but to be pitied.
391
00:42:37.240 --> 00:42:41.540
For he has lost the capacity of deeper moral sensibility
392
00:42:42.380 --> 00:42:46.000
and often not through grossness of life,
393
00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.403
but through atrophy of His powers.
394
00:42:50.874 --> 00:42:53.340
The truth is none could know
395
00:42:53.340 --> 00:42:57.339
the identity of Jesus before Calvary.
396
00:42:57.339 --> 00:43:00.730
It could not be seen in prospect.
397
00:43:00.730 --> 00:43:04.160
The simple pilgrims did divine,
398
00:43:04.160 --> 00:43:08.120
a charismatic greatness in the prophet of Nazareth,
399
00:43:08.120 --> 00:43:12.423
attested to them by His word and work in Galilee,
400
00:43:13.530 --> 00:43:17.810
within the slender limits of their vision they might exalt
401
00:43:17.810 --> 00:43:19.753
on His entry into Jerusalem.
402
00:43:20.680 --> 00:43:22.870
But neither they nor the disciples,
403
00:43:22.870 --> 00:43:26.760
much less the secular eyes Sadducees
404
00:43:26.760 --> 00:43:29.450
or the fanatical Pharisees,
405
00:43:29.450 --> 00:43:31.340
could probe the dimensions
406
00:43:31.340 --> 00:43:35.023
of Jesus' vision of His vocation under God.
407
00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:38.960
It was appropriate that all Jerusalem
408
00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:42.437
should be stirred saying, "Who is this?"
409
00:43:43.510 --> 00:43:45.663
None could expect an answer.
410
00:43:46.890 --> 00:43:49.493
The fact is the answer was not available.
411
00:43:50.380 --> 00:43:53.120
It had not yet been given.
412
00:43:53.120 --> 00:43:55.610
It could not be given.
413
00:43:55.610 --> 00:44:00.610
Saved by Jesus Himself as the outcome of an inward struggle.
414
00:44:01.110 --> 00:44:04.150
The issue of which was still pending
415
00:44:04.150 --> 00:44:07.610
and was to be settled only by a deed of final victory
416
00:44:07.610 --> 00:44:10.613
over all temptation, pay a small.
417
00:44:12.280 --> 00:44:17.280
It was to be a deed of absolute and in detectable commitment
418
00:44:18.300 --> 00:44:21.963
to God on behalf of deviant and wayward man.
419
00:44:24.105 --> 00:44:26.033
And therefore on Palm Sunday,
420
00:44:27.043 --> 00:44:30.847
Jerusalem asks saying, "Who is this?"
421
00:44:31.730 --> 00:44:33.273
The answer is not available.
422
00:44:34.300 --> 00:44:35.623
It is only in the making.
423
00:44:36.620 --> 00:44:39.550
Yet it was already in the making
424
00:44:39.550 --> 00:44:42.353
long before the entry into Jerusalem.
425
00:44:43.858 --> 00:44:48.478
If therefore we look at the events of Palm Sunday,
426
00:44:48.478 --> 00:44:52.853
now in the light of the deed of Good Friday,
427
00:44:53.750 --> 00:44:58.740
we may find a clue to the meaning of the triumphal entry
428
00:44:58.740 --> 00:45:02.263
and because our Lord purposefully put it there.
429
00:45:04.290 --> 00:45:07.693
Why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey?
430
00:45:09.160 --> 00:45:13.800
There is no evidence that Jesus ever transported Himself
431
00:45:13.800 --> 00:45:15.823
by land sail on foot.
432
00:45:17.340 --> 00:45:19.690
Now on His entrance into Jerusalem,
433
00:45:19.690 --> 00:45:22.410
He forsakes His custom deliberately
434
00:45:23.250 --> 00:45:25.970
and takes not to horseback
435
00:45:25.970 --> 00:45:30.633
the manner of princes and warriors, but to donkey back.
436
00:45:34.088 --> 00:45:37.550
Do you not see the irony, even the whimsy in it?
437
00:45:39.250 --> 00:45:44.250
The preventing conception of Messiah was that of king.
438
00:45:45.840 --> 00:45:50.840
Can you imagine a king making entrance to His Royal city,
439
00:45:50.990 --> 00:45:55.653
not on a donkey Marilee, but on a donkey's colt?
440
00:45:59.070 --> 00:46:02.040
For those who might have eyes to see
441
00:46:02.040 --> 00:46:06.700
the irony, the whimsy and with all the purpose,
442
00:46:06.700 --> 00:46:11.113
if ness of Jesus' action, this becomes plain.
443
00:46:12.380 --> 00:46:16.890
To all who can perceive Jesus is saying what He says,
444
00:46:16.890 --> 00:46:19.993
to pilot in the hour of His trial.
445
00:46:20.967 --> 00:46:24.373
"My kingdom is not of this world.
446
00:46:25.520 --> 00:46:28.623
That is, it is not your world.
447
00:46:30.230 --> 00:46:33.530
Your world of claims and counter claims,
448
00:46:33.530 --> 00:46:36.980
of status seeking, of prerogative,
449
00:46:36.980 --> 00:46:40.203
and inforce supremacy over men's will.
450
00:46:41.500 --> 00:46:46.500
The kingdom I represent is God's not man, nor even mine."
451
00:46:50.823 --> 00:46:53.033
But the point was missed by the disciples
452
00:46:54.310 --> 00:46:55.853
and the Pilgrim throngs,
453
00:46:57.250 --> 00:46:59.263
sensing that they were in the presence
454
00:46:59.263 --> 00:47:01.560
of prophetic greatness,
455
00:47:01.560 --> 00:47:05.623
it was enough for them that Jesus rode and did not walk.
456
00:47:07.050 --> 00:47:09.240
It was only in retrospect
457
00:47:09.240 --> 00:47:11.630
in the after days of the early church,
458
00:47:11.630 --> 00:47:13.960
that Jesus meaning was recovered
459
00:47:13.960 --> 00:47:16.880
from the writings of the prophet Zacharia
460
00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:21.270
and recorded in the Mathean Version of the triumphal entry,
461
00:47:21.270 --> 00:47:26.270
only then, was it seen to be a triumph, but of humility?
462
00:47:29.077 --> 00:47:32.160
"Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
463
00:47:32.160 --> 00:47:35.860
behold thy king cometh unto thee,
464
00:47:35.860 --> 00:47:40.860
meek and riding upon an ass and upon a colt,
465
00:47:41.770 --> 00:47:43.140
the foal of an ass."
466
00:47:44.620 --> 00:47:49.620
But now the early church was divining the identity of Jesus.
467
00:47:50.780 --> 00:47:53.380
Now they knew in the light of the cross
468
00:47:53.380 --> 00:47:56.920
that He came as He said,
469
00:47:56.920 --> 00:48:01.920
not to be ministered onto, not to claim prerogatives,
470
00:48:02.050 --> 00:48:04.920
equal and commensurate with His station,
471
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:07.913
but to minister and to serve.
472
00:48:08.940 --> 00:48:12.500
In truth His kingdom was not of this world,
473
00:48:12.500 --> 00:48:17.500
but He was revealed as the king in the realm of the spirit.
474
00:48:19.550 --> 00:48:24.173
There He was king of Kings and Lord of Lords,
475
00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:29.270
that is in perfect obedience onto God.
476
00:48:29.270 --> 00:48:34.270
And in entire service to man. He was Bartholomeus king, yes.
477
00:48:36.860 --> 00:48:41.470
But He was the miking came, Bartholomeus pray offs.
478
00:48:41.470 --> 00:48:44.910
For Jesus Himself had taught in work,
479
00:48:44.910 --> 00:48:48.560
He had enacted in life, He had embodied in death,
480
00:48:48.560 --> 00:48:51.420
and He had received in the resurrection.
481
00:48:51.420 --> 00:48:53.660
The truth of the beatitudes,
482
00:48:53.660 --> 00:48:58.343
blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
483
00:49:01.290 --> 00:49:03.283
On the first Palm Sunday,
484
00:49:04.580 --> 00:49:08.577
all Jerusalem was stirred say, "Who is this?"
485
00:49:10.560 --> 00:49:13.360
The answer was not fully available.
486
00:49:13.360 --> 00:49:17.398
Jesus was in process of making the answer.
487
00:49:17.398 --> 00:49:22.398
We know Him or may know Him as the ironical.
488
00:49:23.760 --> 00:49:28.360
Yes, the whimsical, the mysterious one,
489
00:49:28.360 --> 00:49:31.623
not simply the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
490
00:49:32.840 --> 00:49:34.470
For in the cross,
491
00:49:34.470 --> 00:49:37.730
He ever lastingly identifies Himself
492
00:49:37.730 --> 00:49:42.620
for those who will stop to see, to gaze,
493
00:49:42.620 --> 00:49:45.253
to ponder, and to learn.
494
00:49:46.690 --> 00:49:51.550
In the cross of His entire self offering He is,
495
00:49:51.550 --> 00:49:54.160
in the centurion's words,
496
00:49:54.160 --> 00:49:59.160
words of dawning realization, truly the son of God.
497
00:50:02.680 --> 00:50:07.023
So likewise, if we come to see,
498
00:50:07.870 --> 00:50:10.750
and with the centurion at the foot of the cross,
499
00:50:10.750 --> 00:50:15.750
enter somewhat into the mystery that is embodied there.
500
00:50:16.620 --> 00:50:18.370
We will be better abled
501
00:50:18.370 --> 00:50:22.670
than the Pilgrims on the first Palm Sunday,
502
00:50:22.670 --> 00:50:25.373
to declare with confidence,
503
00:50:26.460 --> 00:50:31.460
blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
504
00:50:33.383 --> 00:50:36.693
Amen. Let us pray.
505
00:50:44.200 --> 00:50:47.143
Oh king of man, master of human life,
506
00:50:48.570 --> 00:50:52.040
lettered into the glory by way of the cross
507
00:50:52.040 --> 00:50:54.620
and to whom all authority is given
508
00:50:54.620 --> 00:50:56.363
both in heaven and on earth,
509
00:50:57.540 --> 00:51:01.763
enter now into our lives and make Thy kingdom there,
510
00:51:02.840 --> 00:51:05.670
and subdue the world in us,
511
00:51:05.670 --> 00:51:10.670
by the might of Thy love through Jesus Christ our Lord.
512
00:51:13.400 --> 00:51:16.740
And now may the blessing of God almighty,
513
00:51:16.740 --> 00:51:19.820
Father, son, and holy spirit
514
00:51:19.820 --> 00:51:24.563
be among you and abide with you now and evermore. Amen.
515
00:51:27.245 --> 00:51:30.162
(liturgical music)
516
00:52:57.745 --> 00:53:00.162
(bell dings)
517
00:53:13.586 --> 00:53:16.503
(liturgical music)