Preparing for Worship - March 24, 2024

This Sunday is the 6th Sunday in Lent and can be celebrated as Palm Sunday, remembering Jesus riding into Jerusalem, or as The Sunday of the Passion, remembering, in one long reading of two chapters, the Passion story of our Lord, with many of the events of Holy Week, including Jesus’ suffering and death. There is no way to comment on all of the Passion story here. I will mention all of the possible readings but focus just on the shorter ones.

The Old Testament lesson is from Zechariah 9:9-12. Verse 9 is quoted in Matthew 21:5 as a prophecy now fulfilled in the coming of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey on the Sunday before His death. Instead of an animal sacrifice, the blood of Jesus would be shed on the cross to bring in the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Jesus would thus set free those imprisoned by sin and give them hope and peace. This would be Good News for all nations, to the end of the earth, through Christ Jesus.

The Epistle, Philippians 2:5-11, gives a summary of this saving work of Jesus, who was the Son of God and yet was willing to give it all up to become a man. He humbled Himself and was willing even to die on a cross to serve us and pay the penalty for our sins. He was then raised from the dead and highly exalted and returned to His heavenly glory. He is our Lord, together with the Father (and the Holy Spirit). Believers bow before Him now, and on the last day, every person will have to recognize who He is.

In the Gospel lesson, John 12:20-43, we hear that some Greeks, non-Jews, were attracted to Jesus, but many of His own Jewish people would not believe in Him as the Savior. Some wanted to believe but wanted their place and honor among fellow Jews more than following God’s plan. See my sermon on this podcast site for Wed., March 13, 2024, for more detail on John 12:23-36, too - especially the call to believe in Jesus, who is the Light of the world. The alternative Gospel reading is Mark 14:1-15:47, to get a fuller picture of the story of Christ’s suffering and death.

There are two possible psalm readings, too. Psalm 118:19-29 fits best with the Palm Sunday story and expresses the joy of the coming of the Lord Jesus to Jerusalem, but also the sorrow of the rejection of Jesus. He would be rejected by many of His own people and yet would be the Cornerstone for the Christian faith through what he would do for us. Some people sang “Hosannah” on Palm Sunday, quoting v.25, “Save us, we pray, O Lord," and that is what Jesus came to do and did do. The alternative psalm is Psalm 31:9-16, a prophetic psalm of David. David suffered many things in his life, and they predicted the sorrows of Jesus and His suffering. See the mention of those plotting to take the life of Jesus and how His friends fled from Him. However, Jesus trusted in His heavenly Father and said, even in the agony of His death, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” He trusted the steadfast love of His Father’s plan and brought that everlasting love to us by His sacrifice and death for us.