Each year during Holy Week, Brown’s Chapel and Pleasant Hill share a combined worship time. Now, in this time of crisis, we can’t meet personally, but we can meet spiritually.
Ray is providing Bible Study guides to help us stay on track as we Glory in the Cross.
Palm Sunday Study
Zechariah 9:9-17 Zechariah was a prophet of God and a priest who was born in Babylonia. His time of service came after Israel had returned home from exile. We often imagine after people have been exiled from their homeland and are then offered the opportunity to return home they both would be joyful and secondly they would gladly follow God’s leading. But one of the challenges in Israel in Zechariah’s s time was they the people seemed willing to go astray from God again. Zechariah seeks to call them back with the vision of God coming into their midst with great promises. Vss 9-10 give us the picture of the king riding a donkey, (which was a lowly animal of peace in comparison to the war horses). David and his sons had written mules to show that they came in peace.
In vs. 9 this king is said to come in righteousness, having salvation and gentle. He will take away war and bring peace.
Vs. 11 talks of the blood of the covenant. The most likely reference is the covenants of the OT, which were often sealed with a sacrifice. There still are some people left in Babylon that have not yet returned -thus a reference of being brought up out of the waterless pit.
Vss 14-17 talk about how things will be different if the people follow the way of the Lord.
Matthew 21:1-11
It is Passover time and Jesus and his disciples are making their way to Jerusalem, which was considered to be the most holy place to celebrate the Passover. As they are getting near Jerusalem, Jesus sends two disciples to get a donkey and her colt from a nearby village. His instructions are if anyone asks what they are doing or why they are doing it to respond. The Lord needs them. Vss 4 &5 remind us of the connection with our reading in Zechariah about the king riding a donkey. The disciples brought the donkey and colt to Jesus. The disciples put their cloaks on the donkey and Jesus mounted the animal. There were many pilgrims, like Jesus and his disciples, who were making their way into Jerusalem for Passover as well. A large crowd of folks gathered and laid their cloaks on the ground. Some cut tree branches and spread in the road. Those going before and those following called out “Hosanna! to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”
The word hosanna is a praise word, which basically means Glory to God! You may recall hearing some of these same phrases when we celebrate Holy Communion.
Vs. 10 tells us that when Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” Imagine how this entrance affected that city. How do you picture it? Can you think of times in your life when someone came to where you lived or where you saw a similar thing on the news? Anyone remember when the Beatles came to the US and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show? Some folks immediately knew who they were for they had already heard of their music, but many others wanted to know who they were and why all the commotion. Many dismissed the excitement as foolishness.
The crowds who had witnessed miracles, especially the feeding of the 5,000 answered “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Is that the answer you would expect them to give? Are you in any way surprised that they use the word “prophet”?
Galatians 6:12-16
In the closing verses of Paul’s letter to the Galatians he addresses an issue that has plagued the church in Galatia. There are folks who were formerly Jews, but who became Christians, who insisted that if non Jews decided to become Christians they had to undergo the rite of circumcision before they would be authentic Christians. Paul seems to see this as a pitfall. He says that if they advocate circumcision then the Jews will not persecute them for being followers of the Christ. But Paul advocates that an outward ritual does not substitute for new creation of in the language of Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus in the John 3, “New Birth” and in the language of John and Charles Wesley, “Regeneration”.
Vs. 14 is the basis of our Lenten and especially Holy Week focus of “I will glory in the cross~” Paul says that he will not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” How do you interpret Paul’s words? What would it mean for you to make that same affirmation? How would you explain to someone else the significance of the cross of Jesus Christ to you?
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
The introductory words in vss. 1-2 set the tone for this psalm. This is a hymn of thanksgiving for the victory God has given his people. A king in the line of David is leading the people through the gates of the Lord. Vss 20 & 21 repeat the words and phrases that we heard in Zechariah of righteousness and salvation. Vss 22 &23 are repeated in the New Testament on several occasions about the stone, which people rejected becoming the capstone, which is the top stone.
Vss 25-29 give us a picture of God’s people worshiping in thanksgiving and praise. One of the ways of doing so was walking with boughs or branches from trees as they walked around the altar. In the Palm Sunday story we see a similar picture as those in front and those behind praise God with their clothing, branches from the trees and their songs of praise to God for the One who comes in God’s name.