Daily Dose of the Word of God - Psalm 118

Erin Pacheco, Director of Worship

Transcript

Erin Pacheco  0:07  

Welcome to Elmhurst CRC’s Daily Dose of the Word of God. I’m Erin Pacheco. Today is Friday, April 11, we’re deep in the season of Lent, and Palm Sunday is coming!   This Sunday, we’ll enter in the story of Jesus by hearing, and kind of reenacting, the scene where Jesus arrives at Jerusalem for the Passover feast. As we’ve been hearing in John 12, everyone’s been talking about this — this guy who can raise people from the dead! The crowds are excited – maybe this is the Messiah! A revolutionary! The authorities are anxious about mobs and uprisings, with the city bursting at the seams. The religious leaders are plotting to kill him.  And everyone is wondering: with death threats in the air, will Jesus even show up for the festival this year? But he does. Like a king, riding on a donkey. There’s all kinds of drama, sights, and sounds. Animals, people, palm branches waving, shouts of “Hosanna! Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” Their words echo Psalm 118. It’s one of the Psalms that would have been sung as part of the Passover feast each year, commemorating Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. I’m going to read some of those verses. Listen for how this ancient psalm resonates with the story of Jesus as he enters Jerusalem for the Passover. 

Erin Pacheco   1:44  

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteous: “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!” I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Hosanna! Lord, save us!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. With branches in hand, join in the joyous procession, up to the temple, up to the horns of the altar.

Erin Pacheco   3:03  

I hope you will join us for worship this Sunday, palm branches in hand, joining in the joyous procession, right up to the altar where the ultimate sacrifice was made. Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. “Hosanna to the God who saves us.”

Erin Pacheco   3:26  

Let’s pray. God, we’re a lot like those ancient pilgrims — not quite sure who you are, but excitable and easily carried along with the crowds. We shout Hosanna! because we want victory and saving from the enemies that we’d like you to crush. But you alone know what we actually need. Help us see you, Jesus, amidst the noise, and follow you all the way to the cross. Amen.