CALL TO WORSHIP
OPENING PRAYER
OPENING COMMENTS
- Today is the sixth Sunday of Lent (Easter Preparation), also known as Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion.
- It marks the beginning of Holy Week. It’s a celebration of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem where crowds waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna!”
- Our theme for this week is the passion of our Lord, and the readings for today highlight different challenges Jesus faced during Holy Week after a rousing welcome by the crowd.
- The selected readings are …
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- Psalm 31:9-16, which talks about the psalmist being in trouble, foreshadowing the events of Jesus’ betrayal;
- Isaiah 50:4-9a, which also speaks of the insults and violence that were to come during Holy Week;
- Mark 14:1-15:47, which recounts the plotting of the chief priests and scribes against Jesus as well as the beautiful story of the woman who anointed him with costly perfume and her tears;
- and the sermon text, Philippians 2:5-11, which expands our understanding of what makes Jesus’ sacrifice holy.
FIRST READING
My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!
10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
11 I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors,
and am repulsive to my acquaintances;
Those who see me outside flee from me.
12 I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the slander of many;
Fear is on every side, while they take counsel together against me.
They scheme to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
15 My times are in Your hand;
Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16 Make Your face shine upon Your servant;
Save me for Your mercies’ sake.
That is not a pretty psalm … but it’s one that seems appropriate for the time – the situation Jesus would be experiencing, during this week many years ago.
OPENING SONGS
SECOND READING
4 “The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned.
5 The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.
6 I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting.
7 “For the Lord God will help Me; Therefore I will not be disgraced; Therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
8 He is near who justifies Me; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand together. Who is My adversary? Let him come near Me.
9 Surely the Lord God will help Me; Who is he who will condemn Me?
Indeed they will all grow old like a garment; The moth will eat them up.
SERMONETTE
- A special video re: Palm Sunday …
From the PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT …
In the midst of the changing seasons, when the world comes alive with the promise of renewal, we gather together to commemorate Palm Sunday. Today, the first day of Holy Week, we turn our hearts and minds to Philippians 2:5-11, unveiling the Passion of our Lord and His boundless compassion for the world.
In Philippians 2:5-11, Paul writes:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In the midst of the jubilation, we stand on the precipice of a profound week — a week that would test the very fiber of Jesus’ being. Challenges awaited him, yet he faced them with unwavering resolve, for it was compassion that fueled his every step.
From the intimate communion of the Last Supper to the anguished cries in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the weight of judgment in the halls of power, Jesus bore the weight of our humanity. Each step, each trial, marked by his unyielding love for us all.
As the cross loomed, a symbol of sacrifice, it was not duty or obligation that led Jesus forward, but an all-encompassing love for humanity. He took upon himself the weight of our transgressions, surrendering himself for our sake.
As we navigate Holy Week, let us reflect on the overwhelming compassion our Lord has extended to us. He relinquished the glory of heaven to embrace the humility of the earth. Whether you are basking in spring’s embrace or facing the chill of autumn, you are never alone. He is with us, and his compassion is a guiding light, leading us through the darkest hours.
This Palm Sunday, let us reflect on the humility and compassion of Christ. Let us release our burdens at the feet of the One who bore the world’s burdens on his shoulders.
As we continue our journey towards the cross, let us remember that the Passion of our Lord signifies his limitless compassion for the world, transcending every boundary and division. In a world longing for hope and healing, may we become vessels of his boundless compassion. Let us be the hands that reach out, the hearts that love, and the feet that follow in his footsteps.
- OFFERTORY
- OFFERING COLLECTION
- OFFERTORY PRAYER
4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those who stood there said to them, “What are you doing, loosing the colt?”
6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. 8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:
“Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.
It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell.
The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;
His erring child He reconciled And pardoned from his sin.
It shall forevermore endure — The saints’ and angels’ song.
When men who here refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call;
God’s love, so sure, shall still endure, All measureless and strong;
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race — The saints’ and angels’ song.
Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.
A. Today … the sixth Sunday of Lent (Easter Preparation), also known as Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion. It marks the beginning of Holy Week. It’s a celebration of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem where crowds waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna!”
B. Traditionally, the sermon focuses on the crowd’s adulation of Jesus and his fulfillment of prophecy, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey’s colt … is based on a passage that speaks about Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey … and the implications of that.
C. Today, however, I want us to consider the mindset of Jesus as He was entering Jerusalem.
D. What was Jesus doing?
- To understand what I believe He was trying to do, it might help to take note of
- something that happened BEFORE His entry AND
- something that happened AFTER His entry.
SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED BEFORE HIS ENTRY
- Mark 10:46-52 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
- 48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
- 49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, “Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you.” 50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
- 51 So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
- The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”
- 52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
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- POINT: Jesus NOT only healed Bartimeaus, BUT He also allowed him to hail him as “Son of David” (effectively, identifying Jesus as the Messiah)
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SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED AFTER HIS ENTRY
- Mark 11:15-18 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
- 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
- Notice John 2:17-19
- What Jesus did was akin to claiming He was the Messiah … which is why the Jews asked Him to show them a sign.
LET’S GO BACK TO THE CURRENT SITUATION …
- Mark 11:7-11
- What does Hosanna mean?
- People were asking Him to save them because they were seeing Him as the Messiah … and He was allowing it
- He was identifying with the Messiah … and making sure people knew it (His true identity).
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- In modern parlance, He was “coming out of the closet” — letting people know who He really was … NOT for the same reason(s) modern people do, BUT for people to hear and believe
- One message for us, I believe, is that we have to be prepared to come out of the closet (if that applies to us)
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