200410 Good Friday Drive in Service (audio) 200410 Good Friday Order of Service (bulletin) Sermon Manuscript: I’d like to speak with you tonight about the events leading up to the crucifixion during Holy Week. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday. 500 years before Holy Week the prophet Zechariah said, “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.” We heard this prophesy being fulfilled on Palm Sunday. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey the people were shouting and rejoicing. They said, “Hosanna,” which means, “please, save us.” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.”This did not make everyone in Jerusalem happy, though. Most of the church officials in Jerusalem thought that Jesus was a false teacher—a Sabbath breaker. “How could someone who heals on the Sabbath be anything but evil?” they wondered. Since they were so certain that Jesus was no good, it was extremely galling to them that he was so popular. The stupid people who hadn’t read the right books were latching on to Jesus and asking him to save them. They were calling him “the anointed,” or “the Christ.” They were calling him the King. This was troubling to the Jewish authorities. The Romans were the occupying power over the Jews at that time. If they heard about this king idea, then there was going to be trouble. The church officials always had to walk a fine line. They had to be subservient to the Romans on the one hand, but appear independent and orthodox to the Jewish faithful on the other. If the people go after Jesus as the king, then this throws their whole well-choreographed scheme into chaos. Who knows what might happen? But it probably wouldn’t be good for them. They had to neutralize Jesus as the rising leader of the Jewish people.This is what they try to do. The first couple days after Palm Sunday they send their best debaters after Jesus. They ask him tough question after tough question. They tried to trap Jesus into saying something wrong. This doesn’t work. Instead of Jesus looking like a fool, they were looking like fools. It got to the point where they didn’t dare ask him any more questions.I think Jesus’s disciples thought that this was great fun. It’s always good to be a part of the winning team, and Jesus was winning. It’s also nice to be part of the inner circle of somebody who is powerful, and, to be sure, Jesus’s star was rising.But Jesus’s mindset was different than his disciples. While his disciples are thinking about kingdom building and greatness, Jesus has his eye toward the end of the world. It is during the first part of this Holy Week that we get Jesus’s great teachings about the end of the world. At the end of the Church Year, when we consider the prophesies about the end of the world, our Gospel readings come from what Jesus says on Holy Week.The fact that Jesus and his disciples are not on the same page explains several things that happen. It explains why the disciples were arguing among themselves over who among them was the greatest when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper. It explains why Peter took out his sword and was prepared to fight when Jesus was arrested. Instead of praising Peter for this bold act Jesus told Peter to knock it off. The story line that the disciples had of going from one triumph to another did not include Jesus being arrested—or at least not peaceably going along with it. It is shameful when someone gets arrested. Even if the person is innocent, it is still highly embarrassing, for most people think, “the guy must have done something wrong, otherwise they wouldn’t have arrested him.” And so it came to pass that in spite of all the disciples’ bravado; in spite of all their bragging about being willing to die rather than forsake Jesus; when the Shepherd was struck the sheep were scattered. They all took to the hil