PALM  SUNDAY                          

          March 31, 2023

Dear Road Church Friends,

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. The events of Jesus’ last week in Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection take up the final third of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the second half of the Gospel of John. Everything else in each of the Gospels serves as the Prelude to Holy Week, just as each day in Holy Week anticipates Jesus’ final night, and last supper with his disciples. Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22 make the Supper the defining event of that night that teaches us how Jesus wants us to remember him. John’s account of that important night includes all of chapters 13-17, and there is no mention of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, John highlights something Jesus did before the Supper that the others do not mention. Jesus took a wash basin, got on his knees and washed his disciples’ feet. When he finished, he took his place at the table and asked, “Do you understand what I have done?” Then he told them that this is how he wanted them to remember him, and that washing the feet of others is the defining feature of Christian discipleship. This Sunday is a Communion service. Gather with us for the Supper, and to reflect on what it means to wash one another’s feet.

  SCRIPTURE: John 13: 1-7       SERMON: Do You Understand What I Have Done?

It was the Jewish Passover. Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he wanted to show them the full extent of his love. They were together for the supper. Now Judas had already decided to betray Jesus, and Jesus knew it. He also knew that the Father had given him all authority in heaven and on earth and that he had come from God and would  soon return to God. So he got up from his place at the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”

FROM BETHLEHEM TO CALVARY

From Bethlehem to Calvary the Savior’s journey lay,

Doubt, unbelief, scorn, fear and hate beset Him day by day,

But in His heart he bore God’s love that brightened all the way.

O’er the Judean hills he walked, serene and brave of soul,

Seeking the beaten paths of men, touching and making whole,

Dying at last for love of man, on Calvary’s darkened knoll.

He went with patient step and slow, as one who scatters seed,

Like a fierce hunger in his heart, He felt the world’s great need,

And the negations Moses gave He changed to loving deed.

From Bethlehem to Calvary the world still follows on,

Even as the halt and blind of old along His path were drawn,

Through Calvary’s clouds they seek the light that led Him to the dawn.

by Meredith Nicholson

Holy Week blessings to you all,

Pastor Norm

This Palm Sunday service on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/live/6LGk2EXW6i0?feature=share