Passion Week is the time each year when the church retraces Jesus’ steps to the cross and the grave and out of the empty tomb.

“We see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9).”

Crowned. Exalted. Honored. Glorified. Because of the suffering of death.

To help us this year, we will be turning to the Gospel of Matthew which begins, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David.”

• Palm Sunday (April 13) – Crown Him the Humble King (Matthew 21:1-17)
• Good Friday (April 18) – Crown Him the Crucified King (Matthew 27:27-54)
• Easter Sunday (April 20) – Crown Him the Conquering King (Matthew 28)

We begin this Sunday as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to the shouts and praises of crowds of people who, like Simeon, had been “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” Hosanna is the word they shouted, which is simultaneously a plea for help, “Save us!” and a recognition that help has arrived, “We’re saved!” But that help would not come as they expected.

The glory of Palm Sunday is not that the long-awaited King parades into town amid the pomp and flare of natural human expectation. This is not a king of unchallenged pedigree, born in a palace, nurtured by world-class tutors, surrounded by accomplished generals, trumpeting into the great city to conquer his foes and lay claim to his crown.

No, here is a Nazarene, a man from the backwater, purported to have been conceived in shame, a common laborer by trade, riding not on a noble steed but on the colt of a donkey. He comes not to brandish his sword and demonstrate his quality to meet popular expectations, but to give his own neck to the knife and display his meekness in uncompromised sacrifice. He comes not to kill but to be killed, accompanied not by generals and soldiers but by twelve very ordinary and unimpressive men, one of whom will betray him, another of whom will deny him, and all of whom will scatter when the real trouble begins.

He comes to be the stone the builders will utterly reject on Friday, which God will unveil as the very cornerstone on Sunday morning. (David Mathis, Rich Wounds)

Randy Gruendyke will preach this Sunday from Matthew 21:1-17 and Kenny Clark will be leading our sung worship. Please pray for each as they prepare. Philippians 2:9–10 shows us how to pray for all who will gather at Grace this Sunday. “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” Let’s pray that we also exalt Jesus more highly, joyfully bowing our knees to him as our Humble King.

See you Sunday, Grace. Come hungry.

 

Song of the Week

The King in All His Beauty by Matt Papa and Matt Boswell

Now see the King who wears a crown
One made of shame and splinters
The sacrifice for ruined man
The substitute for sinners