Our text this morning is found in the Gospel of Matthew, and I would invite you to turn there

and follow along as I read. Matthew 21, and I'll read the first nine verses, and then we'll conclude the reading by turning

to Chapter 23 and reading verses 37 through 39, Matthew 21, 1 through 9.

And when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage to the Mount of Olives,

then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them,

Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied and a cult with her.

Untie them and bring them to me.

If anyone says anything to you, you shall say,

the Lord has need of them, and he will send them immediately.

This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Prophet saying,

Tell the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you,

humble and mounted on an ass and on a colt, the full of an ass. The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

They brought the ass and the cult and put their garments on them and he sat there on.

Most of the crowds spread their garments on the road and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted,

Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

And Jesus said, oh, Jerusalem,

Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you.

How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under

her wings, and you would not. Behold your house is forsaken and desolate, for I tell you you will not see me again until you say,

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Once there was a king who reined over a kingdom, the whole earth. He was a good king and very, very powerful. He loved his subjects and governed the whole earth with perfect justice.

...