Blessed Is He

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the sixth and final Sunday in Lent, the 10th of April, 2022, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Today's service also included recognition of our Confirmands and the receiving of a new member.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Today is the last Sunday in our season of Lent and our walk with Jesus through the final weeks of His mortal life on this earth.  The cross is looming ever closer, but our Lord is the only one who truly understands what lies just ahead.  Even though He has tried to tell His followers what is soon to happen, they just have not been able to grasp what He has said.

The time of the Passover feast has come, and Jews from all over are streaming into Jerusalem.  Soon, the unspotted Lamb will be sacrificed for that celebration of the people’s deliverance by God.  Jesus’ followers now truly believe Him to be the promised Messiah, who will again deliver them from captivity.  And as they approach Jerusalem, they come with joyful hearts, singing and shouting along the way.

Please listen and follow along as the Apostle Matthew describes how Jesus and His disciples entered Jerusalem and the events that followed on that day, from chapter 21 of his Gospel account, verses 1 through 17, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible…

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,

‘Behold, your King is coming to you,

Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!

‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!”

10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”

12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”

14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?”

And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read,

‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants

You have perfected praise’?”

17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

--Matthew 21:1-17 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for sending Your Son, the Messiah, our Christ, to deliver us from captivity to sin.  Even though so many of Your chosen people failed to recognize it at the time, You kept Your promise to free us from the chains of sin and death, granting us access to Your heaven by our faith and acceptance of Your Son as our Lord.  Thank You Father for keeping that promise.  Forgive us, please, when we fail or hesitate to share this wonderful news with those who most need to hear it.  Please help us be more mindful of our commission to spread the Gospel.  And help us remember how much Jesus did and continues to do for us.  And Father, please protect us from Satan and from those who carry out his evil works.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, worship, and service, and healthy and safe through these trying times.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this day.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

In the early 1920s, Communist leader Nikolai Bukharin was sent from Moscow to Kiev to address an anti-God rally.  For over an hour he abused and ridiculed the Christian faith until it seemed as if the whole structure of belief was in ruins.  Then questions were invited.  An Orthodox church priest rose and asked to speak.  He turned, faced the people, and gave the Easter greeting, "He is risen!"  Instantly the assembly rose to its feet and the reply came back loud and clear, "He is risen indeed!"

This reminds me of the Apostle Luke's telling of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.  With so many people shouting their praises to Jesus, the Pharisees commanded He rebuke His disciples.  Jesus replied, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”  Bukharin may have thought he had silenced those Christians, turning their belief to stone, but then they all cried out, “He is risen indeed!”

The Apostle Matthew is most noted among the four Gospel writers for showing how Jesus fulfilled all the Messianic prophesies from the Scriptures, from what we now call the Old Testament.  Our reading this morning starts out with one of those times, as Jesus rode right into the heart of Zion on the colt of a donkey, as foretold by the prophet Zechariah.

A more humble entrance one could not imagine, yet the people treated Him as that King.  They cut branches from the trees and waved them and laid them in the roadway.  Some of them even spread their cloaks on the road, so the donkey wouldn’t kick up too much dust.

And they shouted:  “Hosanna in the highest!”  “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Little did they know that in just a few days they would be calling for this King’s death.  But Jesus knew.  Jesus knew, yet He continued doing what He had begun: serving His Father God, ministering to the people, healing them of their afflictions.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.  In His mortal life, Jesus never acted all high and mighty, never “lorded” it over anyone.  Although He performed mighty acts and signs, He remained humble through it all.  Even with such a great fanfare greeting His arrival, He rode in on the back of a lowly donkey.  This was not a conquering king, but a humble servant.  In chapter 2 of his letter to the Philippians, verses 5 through 11, the Apostle Paul tells us to be more like Jesus in this regard…

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.

6 Though He was God,

He did not think of equality with God

as something to cling to.

7 Instead, He gave up His divine privileges;

He took the humble position of a slave

and was born as a human being.

When He appeared in human form,

8     He humbled himself in obedience to God

and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

9 Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor

and gave Him the name above all other names,

10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

11 and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

--Philippians 2:5-11 (NLT)

The name of Jesus.  

Jesus was humble.  There should be no doubt, by anyone, that He was God in the flesh while He walked this earth.  He could heal any affliction, drive out any demon, even raise the dead back to life.  What more could He have done if He had wanted to?  Yet He used His great power only in service to God, not to His own glory but to glorify God.

We who profess our belief in Jesus as Lord call ourselves by His name: Christian.  When we come in His name, when we work in His name, we are truly blessed.  But as Paul said, we must have the same attitude that Jesus had.  We must take up the humble position of His bondservant, serving Him through our service to others, loving Him through our love to others.

May all we do glorify our Lord.  For some sweet day, every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus, and every tongue will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.  In the blessed name of Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, You bless us beyond measure.  You even sent us Your own Son that we might be reconciled back to You.  Thank You, Father, for such great mercy and love.  Father, sometimes we forget that we are here to serve You, to worship You, to glorify You.  Sometimes we get too wrapped up in our own lives to worry about how others might be getting along.  Forgive us, Father, when we turn too far inward, looking more to our own needs than to helping others.  Forgive us when we lose sight of the things of heaven.  Please help us be humble servants in all we do.  And Father, please help us remain strong, faithful, and true through all that we face in this age.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You set the example of how we should live: ever humble, always serving others.  You glorified God in all You did.  Thank You, Lord, for coming to us and offering us redemption from sin and salvation from death.  Thank You showing us what it means to be a humble servant.  Please, Lord, forgive us when fail to follow Your lead.  Help us be worthy of bearing Your name.  Remind us that through all Your suffering, You remained steadfast in Your faith and Your mission.  Show us how we too can carry out the mission You gave us.  And Jesus, please strengthen us through these very difficult times.  Heal the hurts that separate and divide us.  Help us remain trusting and obedient no matter what we go through.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on what this life might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.