WEBVTT - This file was automatically generated by VIMEO

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Good to be with you. Have you ever watched a big parade?

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How did that make you feel?

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I was seven years old when Queen Elizabeth the

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second made her first visit to Australia.

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In fact, she was the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.

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At the time the Royal tour of 1954 was

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the biggest single event that was ever planned in

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Australia.

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It was organised in the days before email and facsimile and

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mobile telephones.

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And what a lot of organisation was involved!

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Officially printed programs stated that all

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those responsible for an event were to

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synchronize their watches with the abc time signals at

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9am each day.

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I remember my parents bundling the family into the car

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and driving from Young our hometown to Canberra.

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I remember lots of people - a long and

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boring weight and then in

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the blink of an eye a motorcade flashed past and we

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drove home again.

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I was unaware that this was part of a tradition

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that has existed for thousands of years. In fact,

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as long as there had been monarchs and other forms of national leadership.

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In Our Gospel reading today Matthew describes a

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parade.

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Jesus is entering the city of Jerusalem for the final time.

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Crowds of pilgrims are arriving with him for the

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Passover Festival.

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This Festival celebrated the liberations and slavery

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in Egypt.

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Brought my God and led by his servant Moses.

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They're cheering him.

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They're laying down their cloaks before him along with

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palm branches.

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The long expected Messiah has come.

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The kingdom they have longed for is arrived. Jesus of

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Nazareth will be the one to deliver them from Roman

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rule.

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Now the crowd may be recalling the Golden Age of

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King David a thousand years before.

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More likely, they recall the legendary Judas

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Maccabeas, a national hero from

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200 years before who liberated Jerusalem from

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his pagan occupiers.

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What they found him understand was that Jesus of Nazareth was

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not like King David,

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was not like Jesus maccabeas and certainly not

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like Herod.

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a king writing on a donkey?

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a beast of burden not a royal charger

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He wears simple peasant clothes.

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Where are the Regal robes and where's the gold crown?

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Matthew tells us the whole city was stirred up

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asking. Who is this?

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Jesus doesn't use a written or verbal Proclamation announcing

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his arrival.

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now incitement to Rebellion. He uses

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an action.

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This means of entry to Jerusalem will fulfill

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the prophecy of Zechariah in chapter 9.

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"Rejoice greatly o daughter Zion"

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shout aloud o daughter Jerusalem. See your

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king comes to you humble and riding on a donkey on a colt

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the foal of a donkey.

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The crowd are welcoming Jesus with the expectation that

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he will lead a successful uprising against the

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Roman occupiers.

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when he fails to meet their expectations

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They will call for his execution. Is it

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possible that we can resemble those physical pilgrims

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We think we know God.

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God is that Divine being you can do anything God wants.

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God is all powerful strong righteous and

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decisive

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And then God shows up among us

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today as a gentle humble Rabbi on

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the back of the donkey preaching love more than

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power.

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Are we prepared to lay our cloaks on the road

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for him to ride over making our property and time available to

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him?

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Do I obey his kingly commands

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especially when they puzzle me or demand a costly

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obedience?

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Or do I on the other hand regards Jesus as someone to

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help me do what I want.

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Someone to call on in time of trouble when all else has failed?

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Why did Jesus to help me to go where I've already

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made up my mind to go and to do what I've already

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decided to do.

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This account of donkey fetching sounds like a spy story.

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A donkey was valuable possession,

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an unbroken colt,

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a lifetime of service ahead of

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this is Grand Theft Auto!

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What's this? Why a donkey?

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Just go and find this animal and take it ?

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What's the password supposed to be?

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Who owns this donkey?

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How come we don't know who owns the donkey? When was

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this arranged?

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What will happen if I get arrested for taking the donkey?

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Whatever the complications might have been these two

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did in time bring the colt.

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and it was on this animal that Jesus enjoyed the

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only wholehearted public worship of his three

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year Ministry.

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Sublime moment

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The disciples can never fully understand

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the purposes of God.

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Prays out always answer the way we expect or

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want.

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When we receive his prodding or someone encourages

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our service or we see a need

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that cries out to be met because spend a long time figuring things

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out.

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Or we can simply Act.

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True and  honest disciples followed instructions

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overcame hesitancy

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fetched  the donkey as instructed and provided

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the means for Jesus to claim unique

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servant kingship over Jerusalem and indeed

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the world.

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today if we're to receive the king who

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comes

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We'll, not only give him our allegiance.

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We will also prepare the way for him to enter the hearts lives and

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communities of those who don't

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yet know him.

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We may never know this side of Heaven how God will

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use our obedience.

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Will you join me in a prayer?

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Let's pray.

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Lord Jesus this Sunday we welcome you

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into our midst.

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So we didn't know how to

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come to you you came to us.

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You've entered our city and embraced us.

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We thought we knew you well, but your actions

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on this holiest week surprise confound

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and sometimes confuse us.

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We thought we knew you.

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Yet you came to us as the Messiah we didn't expect.

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You saved us in ways we didn't expect to be saved.

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You welcome to people we didn't think you would receive.

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You showed up Among Us in a form a challenge what

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we thought about God.

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And what we thought about ourselves.

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Help us receive you Lord as you are

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rather than as we might have you be

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by the power of the Holy Spirit enable us to

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grow in our understanding of you strengthen us

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as we walk behind you on your way to the

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Cross this week.

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and always

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amen