The Humble King

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. Our gospel readings are chopped up into two pieces today and you can remain seated for them.

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The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark chapter 14. It was now two days before the

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Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest

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Jesus by stealth and to kill him. For they said not during the feast lest there be an uproar from the people.

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And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper he was reclining at table. A woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly.

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She broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was this ointment wasted like that?

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For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. And they scolded her.

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But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.

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For you always have the poor with you and whenever you want you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.

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She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial and truly

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I say to you wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world what she has done will be told in memory of her.

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And then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray

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Jesus to them. And when they heard it they were glad and promised to give him money and he sought an opportunity to betray him.

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And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the

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Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, go into the city and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.

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Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, where is my guest room where I may eat the

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Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.

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There prepare for us. And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them and they prepared the

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Passover. And when it was evening he came with the twelve and as they were reclining at table and eating,

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Jesus said, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.

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They began to be sorrowful and say to him one after another, is it I? And then he said to them, it is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.

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For the son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

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It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to them and said, take this is my body.

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And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and they all drank of it. And he said to them, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.

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Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.

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And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives and Jesus said to them, you will all fall away for it is written

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I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I am raised up,

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I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, even though they all fall away,

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I will not. And Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

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But he said emphatically, if I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same.

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And they went to a place called Gethsemane and he said to his disciples, sit here while I pray.

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And he took with him Peter and James and John and began to be greatly distressed and troubled.

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And he said to them, my soul is very sorrowful even to death. Remain here and watch.

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And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that if it were possible that the hour might pass from him.

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And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what

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I will, but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep?

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Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.

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The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.

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And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy and they did not know what to answer him.

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And he came the third time and said to them, are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough.

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The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

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See, my betrayer is at hand. And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

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Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man.

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Seize him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said,

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Rabbi. And he kissed him. And they laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

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But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

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And Jesus said to them, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to capture me?

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Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching you, and you did not seize me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.

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And they all left him and fled. A young man followed him with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him.

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But he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together.

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And Peter had followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

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Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.

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For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, we heard him say,

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I'll destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands.

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And yet even about this their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked

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Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is this that these men are testifying against you?

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But he remained silent, made no answer. And again the high priest asked him, are you the

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Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I am. And you will see the

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Son of Man seated at the right hand of the power and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witnesses do we need?

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You have heard this blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death.

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And some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, prophesy.

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And the guards received him with blows. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing

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Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene Jesus.

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But he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway, and the rooster crowed.

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And the servant girl saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them.

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But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them, for you are a

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Galilean. But he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak.

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And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

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And he broke down and wept. This is the gospel of the Lord. The Holy Gospel according to St.

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Mark chapter 15. And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and the scribes and the whole council.

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And they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate. And Pilate asked him, are you the king of the

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Jews? And he answered, you have said so. And the chief priests accused him of many things.

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And Pilate asked him again, have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you. But Jesus made no further answer.

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So the Pilate was amazed. Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked.

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And among the rebels in prison who had committed murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas.

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And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. And he answered them saying, do you want me to release for you the king of the

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Jews? For he perceived that it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him released for them

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Barabbas instead. And Pilate again said to them, then what shall I do with the man that you call the king of the

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Jews? And they cried out, crucify him. And Pilate said to them, why?

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What evil has he done? And they shouted all the more, crucify him. So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them

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Barabbas. And having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. And the soldiers led him away inside the palace that is in the governor's headquarters.

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And they called together the whole battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, twisting together a crown of thorns.

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They put it on him. And they began to salute him. Hail, king of the Jews. And they were striking his head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to him.

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And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him.

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And they led him out to crucify him. And they compelled a passerby,

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Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

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And they brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull. And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

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And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them to decide what each should take.

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And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And the inscription of the charge against him read, the king of the

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Jews. And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

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And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads, saying, Aha, you who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

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Save yourself and come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying,

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He saved others. He cannot save himself. Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

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And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour,

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Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my

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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders hearing it said,

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Behold, he's calling Elijah. And some ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying,

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Wait, let's see whether Elijah will come to take him down. And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.

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And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that this is the way he breathed his last, he said,

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Truly this man was the Son of God. And there were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were

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Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger, and of Joseph and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him.

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And there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem. And when evening had come, since it was the day of preparation, that is the day before the

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Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

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Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead.

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And when he had learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph brought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock.

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And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.

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This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus, Amen. If you would turn with me over to our first reading while we were out in the fellowship hall from John chapter 12.

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I'll begin at verse 12 of John chapter 12 in just a moment. So the moment had come.

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The man and the moment had met. Everybody knew that something big was going to happen.

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Consider the state of Israel at the time of the events that we just heard recorded on this

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Palm Sunday. Israel's, well, politicians were as corrupt as corrupt gets.

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The land was filled with tax collectors, prostitutes, the Herods were a joke, self -centered narcissistic rulers indeed.

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The fact that Israel was ruled by a pagan Roman emperor really just irked everybody to no end.

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And there's Jesus coming into Jerusalem. He had just raised Lazarus from the dead.

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The man and the moment were about to meet. Everybody knew what was going to happen. Jesus was going to ride into Jerusalem on a war horse, go straight to the temple, be coronated king, and then he was going to drain the swamp.

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And he was going to make Israel great again. But that's not what he was there to do.

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And that's what we want. We want God to come and flex his muscles.

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We want God to come and judge those sinners and get them out. Got to get rid of those tax collectors.

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We got to get rid of those prostitutes. We got to get rid of those pagans. We got to get rid of them so that we can shine.

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But see, here's the issue. If that's what Jesus had come to do on Palm Sunday, you and I would have been swept in with the tax collectors and the prostitutes because of our sin.

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If Jesus had flexed his judgment muscles, none of us would have been able to resist being swept up in the swamp that was about to be drained.

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The draining of the swamp takes place on the day of judgment. Today is the day of salvation.

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Today is the day of mercy. And so rather than hearing Jesus coming in to make Israel great again, we hear something completely different and something quite amazing.

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In fact, very comforting. John 12 says, the next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

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So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord, even the King of Israel. And here they recognize Christ as King, and they are right in lauding and magnifying his name in this way.

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And I find it fascinating that rather than rose petals or flowers being strewn in front of Jesus, it is instead palm branches.

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Palm trees do not have flowers. They only have thorns. It's quite appropriate.

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And so they recognize him as King. And if we think through our long reading in the Gospel of Mark today, the long reading, the only time

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Jesus in his earthly life wore the purple and was paid homage to as king was when he had been handed over to the soldiers of Pilate, the

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Romans, putting a crown of thorns on his head, clothing him in purple, and paying homage to him and saying,

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Hail, King of the Jews. This is the only time he wore the purple and was hailed as king.

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And this was his choosing, his decision, because this is the kind of king that he is.

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We heard it in our epistle text. Who, though being in the very nature of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

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But he made himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant. He humbled himself and became obedient even to the point of death on the cross.

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So the crowd cries out, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the king of Israel.

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And Jesus found a young donkey, not a war horse, sat on it just as it is written,

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Fear not, daughter of Zion. Behold, your king is coming to you sitting on a donkey's colt. He has not come to judge you.

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He's come to bleed and to die for you. Think again about the words. There's Jesus on the cross, suspended between heaven and earth.

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Our sins, your sins, my sins placed upon him. And there they are mocking him.

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He saved others. Why can't he save himself? Come down from the cross and then we will believe in you.

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Save yourself, Jesus. You see, Jesus didn't come to save himself.

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He came to save you. He came to save me. And so he stayed on the cross.

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And see, the cross is the seat of judgment. That's his throne.

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He's wearing his crown. And the inscription above him is absolutely correct.

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The king of the Jews. But what kind of king is this?

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Our politicians seem to be more interested in serving themselves than the people who elected them.

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It's always about spinning things in just the right way so that they can have just a wee bit more power, or a little bit more money, or a little bit more influence.

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And we all kind of have come to expect this. Politicians are all about saving politicians.

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Saving themselves. But not this king. This king has not come to save himself.

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He's come to save you. And he, unlike any politician I've ever seen, perfectly serves his constituents.

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Perfectly. For them. Bleeding. Dying. His disciples did not understand these things at first.

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But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him. And that had been done to him.

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And see, the crowd that had been with him, when they called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, they continued to bear witness.

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The reason that the crowd went to meet him was that they had heard that he had done this sign. So fascinating that when this sign is reported to the

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Pharisees, their solution was to not only kill Jesus, but kill Lazarus. Imagine just how backwards you have to be in your thinking.

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How dare you get out of the tomb without our permission? Get back in there! Such is dead humanity.

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So the Pharisees said to one another, you see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.

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What a wonderful statement. Most certainly true. Now consider then Zechariah's prophecy regarding then the events that we just read about.

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In Zechariah chapter 9, and remember, Zechariah is writing in the Old Testament, not the

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New. Hundreds of years before Christ was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, Zechariah, the word of God comes to him and he prophetically sees across the centuries and is reporting to us the events of what it is that we will see happening on that very first Palm Sunday.

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And here's what Zechariah says. Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion. Shout aloud

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O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your King is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation is he.

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Humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. You see,

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Jesus is not coming to judge. He's coming to save. And the prophet

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Zechariah saw it and wrote of it. And then we get this wonderful picture of not something that we will see in this lifetime, in this cursed creation, but of something that is still coming.

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I love how oftentimes prophecies of the Old Testament take pieces of Jesus's first advent and his second advent and smoosh them together because the one will bring the other.

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Verse 10 says, 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.

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Plural. His rule shall be from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. A picture of Christ's glorious reigning over all of the earth.

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And that's not yet. Another picture you may be familiar with are those verses that talk about how we, this happens, we will beat our swords into plowshares.

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That's right. I'm going to be out of a job as a pastor too. I'm going to have to learn how to farm. I've said it again.

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Just keep this in mind. You farmers, I'll need your help on these days. I've got a lot of learning to do.

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We will beat our swords in the plowshares and think of it this way here in the United States, because of the tragic events that have happened in our, in our country over the past few years.

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There's a big debate about gun control and whether or not certain weapons need to be gotten rid of and stuff like that.

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There will be no need for AR -15s or long rifles or handguns in the kingdom that is coming when

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Christ reigns over all of the earth. No longer will we practice war. No longer will we have to learn martial arts or learn how to defend ourselves.

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That is a terrible thing of this creation because of our fallen humanity. But here we get this beautiful picture and this picture is wrapped up in Palm Sunday.

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Now, before we finish our passage in Zechariah, open up your bulletins and return with me to our

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Psalm today. I'd like you to see some things here. That Psalm 118 that we read out also is a prophetic word regarding this first Palm Sunday and there's something amazing in this.

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I'll start at verse 19. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the

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Lord. This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.

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In a moment we're going to talk about what Zechariah says we are saved from. But notice again, over and over again, that our

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Palm Sunday texts point us to salvation, to mercy, to grace, not to judgment.

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Because Christ will be judged and found guilty in our place so that we can be able to go free and not have to suffer the wrath of God.

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I thank you that you have answered me and become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, speaking of Christ.

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And this is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our sight. This is the day that the

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Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. And you're going to notice something here.

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As this text continues, something surreal is going to happen. Here's all of these words of rejoicing, of praising

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God, thanking him for his salvation. And yet, at the same time, because of all of this rejoicing, you get a glimpse then of the terror of what it costs for us to be able to rejoice in this way.

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Save us, we pray, O Lord. O Lord, we pray, give us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord. And there you hear the crowd. We bless you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God.

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He has made his light to shine upon us. And here come the words, bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar.

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And see, that's what Jesus is. Palm Sunday is Jesus riding into Jerusalem.

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Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And he goes, well, he is the festal sacrifice.

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He makes it possible for us to rejoice. And he is bound to the horns of the altar, the horns of the altar of the cross itself.

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You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, and I will extol you.

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Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever.

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And let us always remember that it is the glory of God to forgive and pardon iniquity, and forgive and reconcile sinners to himself, which is exactly what

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Christ is doing as he goes from Hosannas to crucify him.

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So let's return now back to Zechariah and finish the text. So we got this wonderful glimpse of what is to come, that time of true peace, peace across all of the earth, all of the nations of the world at peace with each other,

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Christ reigning from the rivers to the ends of the earth. And as for you, verse 11, because of the blood of my covenant with you, because of the blood shed by Christ, Christ's blood is the blood of the new covenant.

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It is his blood that has forgiven us of our sins. It is his blood that is mixed in the waters of our baptism so that we can be washed, clean, that our robes scarlet from sin may be made as white as the transfigured

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Christ himself. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

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I will set your prisoners free from the, what does it say, waterless pit.

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Now there would be some who would try to convince you, and unfortunately these are people who plague

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Christianity, that nowhere in the Old Testament is the doctrine of hell taught.

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In the New Testament we get the fuller revelation. The hell that is coming is the lake of fire, and I would argue a lake of fire is a waterless pit, is it not?

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And so notice these words. It is because of the blood of the covenant, because Christ did not come down from the cross to save himself, because he stayed there and bled and died and laid down his life so that you and I can be forgiven.

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This text says you and I, having been prisoners, we have been set free from hell, set free from the waterless pit.

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Let us always remember that Christ didn't die to make your life better here.

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He died so that you and I would not have to spend eternity in the waterless pit. So return to your stronghold,

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O prisoners of hope. Today I declare to you that I will restore to you double.

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Right on in majesty, Jesus. Right on to die. What an amazing, rejoicing, terrible, awful, wonderful thing

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Palm Sunday is and Holy Week. As we approach the end of the week, we will gather again on Thursday, remembering the night that Christ was betrayed and instituted the

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Lord's Supper. On Friday, we will reflect and meditate on Christ's passion, suffering, and death so that you and I can be forgiven of our sins.

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Saturday, we will rest with Jesus and then we will gather on Sunday. If it's okay if I can spoil the story,

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I have it on good authority that he rises from the grave. So our

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King of Glory comes in. He's the festal sacrifice bound to the altar so that we can be forgiven and have truly something to rejoice in.

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Thank you, Lord Jesus, our humble King, who didn't come to drain the swamp, but to take the swamp upon himself and bleed and die for it so that he can cleanse it and make it right with God.

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In the name of Jesus, amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, you can do so by sending a tax -free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. And again, that address is

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Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th

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Avenue NW, Oslo, MN 56744. We thank you for your support.

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