This day begins so hopefully.  There is Jesus standing in the bright morning among the dew covered olive trees on the hillside opposite the hill upon which Jerusalem is built, with the Kidron valley between.  And coming toward Him are two disciples leading a donkey and her foal.  And Jesus tells His friends He will ride the donkey.  . . . The disciples have never seen Jesus ride a donkey, and so, a kind of carnival atmosphere develops.  The disciples spread cloaks over the ass to make a kind of saddle for the Master, and then they go along the road, leading the beast upon which Jesus sits, singing Psalms and laughing . . . almost in spite of themselves.  . . . And the odd pedestrian seeing this spectacle, joins the fun; some cutting palm branches to spread before the donkey like a carpet.  . . . And still others join in until soon it’s quite a crowd, laughing and singing and moving palm branches from the rear to the front . . . making jokes about the brown stuff on Isaac’s palm branch.   And so Jesus enters Jerusalem . . . surrounded by laughter and songs . . . and snatches of Psalm:  “Hosanna!  . . . Hosanna to the Son of David!  . . . Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord!  . . . Hosanna in the highest!”

    This day begins so hopefully, . . . but soon the laughter is gone, because we hear that there is a betrayer among the disciples:  Judas, whom Jesus calls “friend”; . . . Judas brings to the lonely place where Jesus has gone to pray . . . Judas brings a great crowd of armed men, sent by the chief priests, to arrest Jesus  and to bring Him in secret before Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Sanhedrin -- the Jewish Supreme Court.  . . . Judas comes with an armed company . . . and all the disciples forsake Jesus, Saint Matthew says, . . . “all the disciples forsook him and fled.”  . . . All the disciples forsook Jesus . . . except for Peter (who promised at supper he would not).  All the disciples forsook Jesus except Peter, who follows at a distance to the courtyard of the high priest.  Peter follows at a distance to the courtyard of the high priest “to see the end” we are told; . . . so that, inside Jesus is lied about in order that he might be charged with a capital offense and be put to death, . . . while outside . . . outside the servants get curious about Peter and ask if he too was not with Jesus when he arrived in Jerusalem so full of fun.  . . . And, like the other disciples, Peter forsakes Jesus as well.  . . . In spite of his word given to Jesus at supper, . . . Peter forsakes Him by denying that he knows the man.  No better than the man Judas, . . . Peter betrays the friendship of Jesus.

    It is perhaps the blackest moment in history.  For, where is God’s grace?  Where are the blessings which the Son of God pronounced upon the meek and the poor in spirit?  Where are the blessings which were pronounced upon the sorrowful?  Is this God’s grace that poor and humble Jesus should be lied about, condemned to death, spit upon, slapped, cut with whips, and gouged with thorns?  Is this God’s grace that sorrowful Peter should not even be given divine encouragement to admit his love for Christ?  Is this how God rewards a faithful life(?) . . . to withdraw His grace and allow the stinkers to win in the end?
  
    You would want to say so, . . . but Matthew keeps saying, over and over again, that what was done was done “to fulfill the Scripture”; . . . it was done “to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets.”  . . . There is a lie circulating among otherwise honest churchpeople; . . . there is a lie circulating within the Church that the Bible is not inerrant.  The Bible is not inerrant because it was written by men in response to their understanding of God in their time and in their place.  . . . But we are in a different time and place, and so, Holy Scripture cannot be an inerrant guide for us.  But that is a lie, and you must not believe it; for, Holy Scripture contains the inerrant Word of God.  Holy Scripture contains the inerrant Word of God if read with a simple mind, a chaste heart, and an intelligent faith.  . . . Saint Matthew was just such a soul.  . . . And so, over and over again he says that the events we hear about today were done “to fulfill the Scripture; . . . to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets.”  . . . Having studied Holy Scripture with simplicity, chastity, and intelligence, over and over again, Saint Matthew suggests to us that just outside our field of vision . . . just outside our field of vision the Ineffable God has provided for the moment we remember today.  But what does that mean?  Does it mean that the Lord God has contrived to bring about all these terrible moments?  . . . Or does it mean what is prayed in the Collect for Purity:  that the hearts of God’s children are open to Him; that from Him no secrets are hid?  And knowing our hearts, . . . knowing all the good that is there . . . and all the fear, . . . the Lord God Almighty has provided for those moments when we disgrace ourselves.

    And so, Saint Matthew says, . . . in fulfillment of God’s promise spoken by the prophet Zechariah,

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass . . .

in fulfillment of God’s promise, Jesus sat astride a donkey to come to you as your king!  For, He is triumphant and victorious.  How?  . . . Jesus tells us from the Cross.  He says, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” . . . “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”  . . . And that is the beginning of the Twenty-second Psalm, isn’t it?  . . . We sang it just before the Gospel.  And how does that Psalm progress?

Packs of dogs close me in, and gangs of evildoers circle around me; they pierce my hands and my feet; . . . They stare and gloat over me; they divide my garments among them; they cast lots for my clothing.

In fulfillment of Holy Scripture, written some three hundred years before Jesus was born, . . . in fulfillment of Holy Scripture the Christ is crucified:  cruel spikes are driven into His hands and His feet -- He is nailed to a Cross -- and the fearful hearts of His people gloat over Him, . . . and the indifferent soldiers gamble for His clothing . . . to amuse themselves and to pick up some spare change when they sell their winnings.  In fulfillment of Holy Scripture, the humble and gentle king, who made the blind to see, the lame to walk, and who fed the hungry; . . . in fulfillment of Holy Scripture, the humble and gentle king is treated with cruelty by some and indifference by others.  In fulfillment of Holy Scripture, the heart of humanity, at the crucifixion of Jesus, . . . the heart of humanity is before God in its most impoverished state.  . . . But how does the Twenty-second Psalm end?  . . . Beginning at verse twenty-three, it reads:

[the Lord] does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; but when they cry to him he hears them.  . . . For kingship belongs to the Lord; he rules over the nations.  To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; all who go down to the dust fall before him.

And so, . . . after Jesus cries out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani”, . . . Saint Matthew tells us, “He cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”  . . . And the curtain of the temple, which veils the holiest of holies, . . . the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  . . . In fulfillment of the Scripture which reads that the Lord God Almighty does not hide his face from you, . . . Jesus has torn away the veil . . . so that you can see Him, . . . if you are simple . . . and chaste . . . and have an intelligent faith.  . . . And the Roman centurion and the troops that were with him say, “Truly this was the Son of God!”  . . . In fulfillment of the Scripture which reads that the Lord God Almighty rules over the nations, . . . even those who despise God will come to have faith in Him.  . . . And, Matthew says,

the tombs were opened and many . . . of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after [Christ’s] resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

Indeed, the mighty voice of Christ Jesus, which called Lazarus from his tomb, . . . the mighty voice of the Incarnate God startled the dead of Jerusalem awake; the very wind of the Spirit of the Incarnate Son as it was released upon the world blew open the doors of the tombs in which the dead were laid!  . . . In fulfillment of the Scripture, the mighty voice of Christ Jesus has called to all of you as well; . . . the mighty voice of Jesus has called you to bow down in worship to Him Who raised Jesus from the dead and has power to bring life to all of us, . . . if we will but learn from Blessed Peter and not trust in ourselves so proudly as to neglect our need for God . . . and deny Him by our neglect.

    For, the Lord Jesus is triumphant and victorious; . . . because, as hopeful as this day begins, . . . it ends even better.  For, the Lord your God, knowing all the secrets of your heart, has provided a remedy for its tendency to totter.  The Holy Scriptures tell us about it:  . . . how it was, . . . how it is, . . . and how it shall be.  The Holy Scriptures tell us about Jesus, Who is your humble king, . . . Who has revealed the loving and fatherly Face of God to you, . . . Who has healed your festering wounds with His suffering and shall quiet your fears with His rising, . . . and Who has gone before you into death . . . so that when you arrive . . . you shall drink the wine of life.