The traditional Christian church calendar is comprised of seasons. Today we begin the most essential week of the Christian calendar. This week tells the story of one man who dedicated his life to teaching and caring for others no matter their race, beliefs, or station in life. In a short time, he is proclaimed rescuer by an enslaved population, betrayed by a friend, condemned by the religious community, and executed.
Matthew 21:1-11 Procession with Palms
1. When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
2. Saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me.
3. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately. “
4. This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
5. “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
6. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them;
7. they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
8. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
9. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10. When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?”
11. The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Processional Hymn
All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Brief Order For Confession and Forgiveness
Music to accompany this worship is on Spotify at:
Entrance Hymn
The Royal Banners Forward Go
Kyrie
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
Sovereign God, you have established your rule in the human heart through the servanthood of Jesus Christ. By your Spirit, keep us in the joyful procession of those who with their tongues confess Jesus as Lord and with their lives praise him as Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The First Lesson
Isaiah 50:4-9a
4. The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens– wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
5. The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.
6. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
7. The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8. he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
9a. It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
Psalm
Psalm 31:9-16 (5)
5. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
9. Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
10. For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
11. I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
12. I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13. For I hear the whispering of many– terror all around!– as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
14. But 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 persecutors.
16. Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
The Second Lesson
This Mind Reggae
Philippians 2:5-11
5. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6. who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
7. but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form,
8. he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross.
9. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
10. so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11. and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Gospel Acclamation
Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death | on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above | ev’ry name. (Phil. 2:8-9)
The Gospel
Crucifixion
Matthew 27:1-66
1. When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus in order to bring about his death.
2. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
3. When Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.
4. He said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
5. Throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and he went and hanged himself.
6. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money.”
7. After conferring together, they used them to buy the potter’s field as a place to bury foreigners.
8. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
9. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set, on whom some of the people of Israel had set a price,
10. and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
11. Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”
12. But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he did not answer.
13. Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many accusations they make against you?”
14. But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
15. Now at the festival the governor was accustomed to release a prisoner for the crowd, anyone whom they wanted.
16. At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Jesus Barabbas.
17. So after they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
18. For he realized that it was out of jealousy that they had handed him over.
19. While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for today I have suffered a great deal because of a dream about him.”
20. Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.
21. The governor again said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”
22. Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” All of them said, “Let him be crucified!”
23. Then he asked, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
24. So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.”
25. Then the people as a whole answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
26.So he released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
27. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole cohort around him.
28. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29. and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on his head. They put a reed in his right hand and knelt before him and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30. They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.
31. After mocking him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
32. As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man to carry his cross.
33. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),
34. they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
35. And when they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves by casting lots;
36. then they sat down there and kept watch over him.
37. Over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
38. Then two bandits were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
39. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads
40. and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41. In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying,
42.”He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
43. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to; for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.'”
44. The bandits who were crucified with him also taunted him in the same way.
45. From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
46. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
47. When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”
48. At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink.
49. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”
50. Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.
51. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split.
52. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
53. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.
54. Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”
55. Many women were also there, looking on from a distance; they had followed Jesus from Galilee and had provided for him.
56. Among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
57. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.
58. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.
59. So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth
60. and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away.
61. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62.The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63. and said, “Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
64. Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,’ and the last deception would be worse than the first.”
65.Pilate said to them, “You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.”
66. So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
The Sermon
Such a short time from King to condemnation and death
The Hymn of the Day
A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth
The Creed
The Peace
The Prayers
The Offering
Communion
The Lord’s Prayer
Communion Hymns
O Sacred Head Now Wounded
Where Charity and Love Prevail
Communal Blessing
Dismissal
The Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version. I wish to thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA, and its predecessor bodies for all their teaching throughout the years. I’ve used the Lectionary published on the ELCA website at elca.org in preparation of this worship.