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In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear Saints of God, Zechariah, when he prophesied that the King will come into Jerusalem, righteous and having salvation, says that he’ll be humble and mounted on a donkey and goes on to promise, “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations.”
It’s not just that Jesus rides a donkey; it’s also what He doesn’t ride. He doesn’t ride a war horse. He doesn’t ride a chariot. He doesn’t ride a camel or an elephant. Can you imagine Jesus on an elephant, triumphant? That would be triumphant, coming to save and stomp the enemies over. That’s what triumphal entries were for, after all, to show strength, power, to show who was in charge.
I was reading this week about the triumphal entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon. If you want a triumphal entry, this is a triumphal entry. October 22nd, in the year 331 BC, Alexander the Great comes up against Babylon the Great, and they simply give up. Now, this is amazing to think about because Babylon was this great and magnificent city in the ancient world. It had these huge walls. The walls of Babylon were so big that they had all these gardens in them with trees on top. The hanging gardens of Babylon were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. These walls were so wide that you could have chariot races around the top of the walls of Babylon. It was so broad that there was farmland inside the city, and the great river Euphrates ran through the center of the city. This is great Babylon, but they see Alexander, who was on quite a conquering spree, and so they said, “Okay, fine, you can have the city.”
To indicate that Alexander was going to be the king, this is what happened. There was a guy, Begophones I think is how to say his name. He had oversight of the citadel and the royal treasury of Babylon, and so he went out to meet Alexander. This is what he did. He had the road coming into the city carpeted, the whole road with flowers and garlands, and he set up stages, intervals along the side of the road with silver altars piled up with incense and perfume and frankincense. He came out to meet Alexander, and he had with him huge herds of cattle, horses, and lions and leopards in cages to give to Alexander. Can you imagine?
Alexander comes to meet him. Oh, I’m sorry, I’m not finished with the procession. I gotta—this is from Curtius Rufus, by the way, an ancient historian. He says, next came out from the city magicians who were all chanting their songs in their native fashion. Then, behind the magicians were the Chaldeans, the stargazers, and then the Babylonians, who were represented not only by the priests, but also by musicians with all of their native instruments singing the praises of Babylon and the praises of Alexander. And then the Babylonian cavalry, who were fully equipped, but the historian says not to demonstrate majesty, but extravagance. They were polished up sharp, and here comes all the cavalry to concede.
Coming in the other direction is Alexander the Great, and he’s surrounded by an armed guard. He has his soldiers all around him, then behind him his infantry, and then behind him the people of the city. He enters into Babylon riding on a chariot and makes his way to the citadel and sits on the throne. Now can you imagine this parade into Babylon? All of these soldiers, all of this might, all of this riches, all of this glory, with the incense and the choirs and all of the instruments that are there—no one would have any question what Alexander was there to do, but to sit on the throne and to rule and to reign according to his power.
That, dear saints, is not why Jesus came. It is not His triumphal entry. The key word in the promise that Zechariah gives us is this word, humble, lowly. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. He cuts off the chariot; the war horse is cut off; the battle bow is cut off. He comes to speak peace.
We might think it rather jarring to hear first the Gospel of Jesus’ triumphal entry, and then to hear the Gospel reading of Jesus’ death on the cross. But they are, dear saints, all of one peace. It is why Jesus came. Not to conquer, but to be conquered. Not to kill, but to be killed. Not to judge, but to be condemned. Not to punish sin, but to be the punishment for sin. He came to be the King that was crowned with thorns. The only spear He has is the one that makes a hole in His side. His throne, His chariot, is His cross, adorned with a purple robe for mockery, honored by the soldiers to put Him to shame, lifted up, not in glory, but in death. And all of it for you because Jesus would be the King in this way. Not to rule and reign with an iron fist like Alexander in Babylon, but to bless and forgive as the kind and merciful Savior. His kingdom is the kingdom of peace—the peace of the forgiveness of sins, the peace of the redemption that He won on the cross, the peace of His death and of His resurrection for you. This one is your peace.
So we rejoice that Jesus came in order to die. We rejoice that He gave His back to the whip, His face to the smiter, that He was spat upon and abused because He did all of these things for you, for me, for our life and salvation. And Jesus wants us to rejoice in it. There’s going to be a temptation, I think, this week to be sad as we reflect on the sufferings of Jesus, but listen to the Lord’s explicit instructions.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you, righteous and having salvation. May this death and resurrection of Jesus give us joy that never ends.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
You may stand or kneel for prayer.
Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
We give thanks to you, O Lord Jesus Christ, that you have come in the name of God to rescue and redeem us, to be our King and our Savior. And we give thanks to you for your triumphal entry into Jerusalem, for your bitter suffering and death, for your rest in the tomb, and for your resurrection, which brings us peace and life and hope, the forgiveness of all of our sins.
We pray that by your Holy Spirit we would remain trusting in you in life and in death and unto life eternal, Lord, in your mercy.
We give thanks to you, O Lord, that you have set your people and your church to be in every place and in those places to be a light, to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. We pray for our congregation that we would be a beacon of light and hope in the midst of this dark world. We pray that you would give us confident joy in all of your work for us, that we would rest knowing that you continue to intercede for us.
We pray that this Holy Week would be one of joy and blessing by your Holy Word. We pray, O Lord, that you would give wisdom and patience to all those who are elected and appointed to serve in this congregation, especially for David, Jim, Mike, and Karen, for our Board of Elders, our Board of Finance, our Board of Trustees, for all of the volunteers and committees, and those who serve you in all different ways. We pray that you would bless and grant peace, that we would continue to abide in your word. Lord, in your mercy.
We pray, O Lord, for those who have requested our prayers, that you would hear them, you would visit them, that you would deliver them. We pray especially for Nicole, Dot, Elizabeth, Stana, and Noreen, for Harper, Leroy, Pam, Valerie, Rick, Leo, Bruce, Sally, Ruth, Kane, and Taquan, that you would comfort with both your presence and promises in suffering, in sickness, and in peace and health, Lord, in your mercy.
We pray, O Lord, that you would grant your Holy Spirit and faith and repentant joy to all who approach your altar this day, that this gift would be for us an establishing of our own hope in your mercy. We pray that you would prepare us to both live and die in your name, that as our last hour comes you would be with us. We ask all these things through you, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who accomplished the salvation of mankind by the tree of the cross, that where death arose, their life also might rise again, and that the serpent who overcame by the tree of the garden might likewise by the tree of the cross be overcome.
Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying,
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat, this is my body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins; this do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.”
The peace of the Lord be with you always.
Now may this true body and blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, strengthen and preserve you in the true faith to life everlasting. Depart in peace. Amen.
Peace your word has done for me. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in me.
We give thanks to you, Almighty God, that you have refreshed us through this salutary gift. And we implore you that of your mercy you would strengthen us through the same in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another. Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Amen.
You may be seated. God be praised for his mercy to us in Christ.
Uh, most of the announcements are, uh, I’m gonna encourage you first to this Wednesday take a nap because our, our, uh, Holy Week festivities really begin in earnest on Thursday this week.
So Monday, Thursday, uh, this week, seven o’clock service, we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper and all the gifts that, uh, the Lord gives us in the Supper. Good Friday, we’ll hear of the passion of Jesus again and consider what this means, that He suffers and dies for us. Seven o’clock on Good Friday. A Holy Saturday is the Easter Vigil. That starts at 7 o’clock as well, and that is an opportunity to remember all the works that the Lord has done throughout history to rescue us and save us, and how those all fit together. So 7 o’clock Saturday.
And then next Sunday is already the Sunday of the resurrection. We’ll rejoice in the Lord’s life, His eternal life for us. Our services will be 8 o’clock and 11 o’clock. No Sunday school in between. We’ll have a little Easter egg hunt for the children and time for fellowship between the services next week.
Next week would normally be the week of our first Sunday of the month picnic, but because it’s Easter, we’ve delayed that for one week. So, on April the 11th, we’ll have that picnic—bring your own everything—and we’ll meet together as a congregation after the late service. That’ll also be volunteer recognition. So if you know how to recognize volunteers, you have to come for sure. But we want to thank all the—there’s so much work that’s been done this last year in the church. It’s been a wild year, so to recognize all the work that’s been done and to thank the Lord for that.
One last announcement, and that’s this. You’ll notice that our prayer list in the Weekly Word this week is quite a bit shorter than it has been in weeks past. This new year, we decided to put in a policy that when a name goes on the prayer list, it’ll stay there for two months, and then in the third new month, it’ll go off unless it’s requested to stay. So that hopefully that’ll help keep that list a little bit more manageable but also up-to-date. If someone was taken off that prayer list that needs to be back on it, please do not hesitate to contact the office. We’ll just put the name right back on and just let us know if you want us to keep those names on there if there’s people that need our constant prayers.
I think that’s all the announcements. God’s peace be with you.
