These are the readings and sermons of St. John's Lutheran Church of Park Rapids, Minnesota. They are offered so that the Word of God would shape and strengthen you to be what He calls you to be, salt and light.
You can find us at stjohnspr.org. Now, on to the Word.
Our Old Testament reading for this Palm Sunday is recorded for us in the prophet Isaiah, the 50th chapter.
The Lord God has given me a tongue, the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a Word, him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens, he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
The Lord God has opened my ear and I was not rebellious, I turned not backward.
gave my back to those who strike and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.
hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.
But the Lord God helps me, therefore I have not been disgraced.
Therefore I have set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
Behold, the Lord God helps me.
Who will declare me guilty?
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Our Epistle reading is from the second chapter of Philippians.
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.
Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but made himself nothing.
Taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men,
and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
This too is the Word of the Lord.
I invite the congregation to please stand for the reading of the Gospel.
Our Gospel is recorded for us in the Gospel of St. John, the 12th chapter.
As Jesus came into Jerusalem, he went in and was found teaching,
and these events immediately follow in John the account of Palm Sunday, so this is the same day.
Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
So these came to Philip, who was from Bessadia in Galilee, and asked him,
Sir, we wish to see Jesus.
Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus,
and Jesus answered them, the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
if anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
if anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.
Then a voice came from heaven, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.
The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered.
Others said an angel has spoken to him.
Jesus answered this voice has come for your sake, not mine.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now will the ruler of this world be cast out, and I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.
He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
So the crowd answered him, we have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever.
How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?
Who is the Son of Man?
So Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer.
Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtakes you.
The one who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.
While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light.
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Though he had done so many signs before them, still they did not believe in him.
So that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled,
Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Therefore they could not believe.
For again Isaiah said he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart,
est they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
Nevertheless, many, even of the authorities believed in him.
But for fear of the Pharisees, they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.
For they love the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
This too is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Grace to you in peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Jesus' name.
As we reflect on our Lord's path for this holy week, we see it as a path of amazing grace.
Christ took this path from His entrance into Jerusalem to the cross
and through the open tomb for our sake and for our salvation.
Among those who followed Christ on this path was the disciple Peter.
Peter was often regarded as the lead disciple.
He was the first disciple Jesus chose.
He often spoke on behalf of the other disciples, but of course, we don't place Peter on a pedestal.
He needed saving just as much as we all do.
He was literally the first to say so.
Lord, save me!
That was the cry Peter made when he was sinking in the waters of the stormy sea in Galilee.
At first, he dared to think that he could walk on those waters even as his Lord did.
But his daring faith would become diverted away from his Lord and become fixed instead on the strong winds and the roaring waves.
That's when he began to sink.
So Peter was not only sinking under the water but was also sinking in fear.
His faith had given way to fear.
And this wouldn't be the first or even the last time that this would happen.
In faith giving away to fear, he is truly representative of all disciples, including us.
For we also sink in fear when crises arise and we're tested beyond our own ability to see or grasp hope in such times.
However truly bold and confident Peter may have seemed, his nagging fear would continue to haunt him.
And that fear would lead him to sink on more than one occasion.
But Christ's amazing grace comes to the fearful.
Even in times of crisis our Lord Jesus reaches out and catches us just as he caught Peter sinking beneath the water.
And so this image of our Lord catching Peter is helpful for us as we continue our journey of faith in the passionate depths that our Lord is willing to go.
Peter's journey began when his Lord called him.
In Luke's telling of the story of Peter's call, Jesus encountered him on the shores while he was washing his nets after a disappointing day of fishing.
Peter would receive grace, undeserved love that he certainly did not expect that day.
Jesus said to him, put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.
Now while Peter may have recognized and accepted Jesus' authority as a teacher and leader,
he probably doubted whether Jesus knew more about fishing than he did.
Nevertheless, he put down those nets just as Jesus said, and surprised, there were so many fish that their nets would begin to break,
and even the boats would start to sink under this huge hall of fish.
And then we hear a more contrite confession from Peter on his knees in the presence of Jesus.
Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.
I'm sure that Peter, like all the other disciples, was truly amazed at that catch of fish.
But the grace of Jesus also opened up this deeper issue in Peter's life.
How to deal with this fear?
He was deeply afraid to be in the presence of Jesus because now he recognizes Jesus as representative of the holiness of God.
Indeed, he was right to be afraid, but he didn't yet understand the path that Jesus was taking for him and for us to lead us beyond our fears.
When Christ calls us, he calls us not to be afraid, not to be afraid of his love and grace.
Don't be afraid of that love and grace that will always be there to catch us.
Do not be afraid, Jesus says to Peter.
Jesus calls Peter and his fishing partners to this new mission path that they will take with Jesus.
From now on, you will be catching people.
And when we think of all of that sinking in fear that was true for Peter,
remember that his name literally means rock.
Yes, rocks do sink, but rocks are also the foundation stones for buildings.
And Peter would come to represent the rock on which the church stands,
the rock that upholds the very foundation of the church, the rock that Peter makes
is a much bolder and more faithful confession of who Jesus is for us all.
You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Jesus would say that this faithful confession that Peter makes didn't come from Peter,
but is itself a grace given by our Father in heaven.
And so the church joins Peter in this confession of faith.
It's a foundational stone of the church on which her faithful witness to Jesus is built.
This confession is a strength upon which the church itself is built
that not even the gates of hell can prevail against it.
But this confession also empowers us to grasp the power and the freedom of the gospel.
The gospel loosens the chains that bind all humanity.
The gospel confession sets people free from their bondage to sin and death.
All of that sounds good to Peter.
But Jesus also makes it clear that the path of grace that he follows as our Messiah, our Christ, is the one that necessarily leads to the cross and to death.
And that Peter cannot accept at this time.
He rebukes Jesus.
But as he does that, the rock starts to sink again.
And so Jesus calls him a scandalous, stumbling block, and even refers to him as Satan.
Indeed, there is no path into Jerusalem by Jesus as a glorious Messiah without the cross.
Christ's grace comes only by way of the passion.
And this would also be a lesson for Peter to learn while he was with Jesus on the Holy Mountain, where Jesus was transfigured in all his glory.
Peter did not fully grasp what that event was all about.
He did not as yet understand that there is no glory apart from the cross.
Lord, it is good for us to be here.
If you wish, I will make three dwellings here.
One for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.
But just then a great cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice saying,
This is my Son, the beloved, with Him I am well pleased.
Listen to Him.
And so Peter and the other disciples fell to the ground and were literally overcome by fear.
And once again, Jesus came to them.
Jesus touched them.
Jesus raised them up, saying, Do not be afraid.
And from their knees looking up, they saw only Jesus.
The glory that they witnessed was gone in all of its brilliance,
and they weren't even to speak of it until after Jesus was raised from the dead.
Only Jesus would take the path of the cross so that we may forever rise beyond our fears.
And Peter had a lot more to learn about this grace that comes through the cross of Christ,
and that time would come soon enough.
In the week of his trial and passion, Jesus would tell his disciples about the dangers that now lay ahead,
and how they would all be scandalized by this path that Jesus must now take.
They will all flee.
But Peter, Peter would denounce that danger, boasting that he would never be scandalized to follow Jesus all the way,
and he would never flee from his side.
Though they all fall because of you, I will never fall away, even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.
But Jesus said to him, truly I tell you, this day, this very night before the cock crows twice,
you will deny me three times.
And so it was in the night when Jesus was on trial in the court,
that Peter would be found warming himself by the fire in the courtyard below,
and when a servant of the high priest came by, recognized him as a companion of Jesus, he denied it.
do not know or understand what you're talking about.
Well, then Peter tried to escape this scene and find an area of the courtyard where he wouldn't be so easily noticed,
and as he did, a cock crowed.
And again, a servant girl spotted Peter and said to the others in the courtyard, this man is one of them.
And again, Peter denied it.
And finally, one of the other bystanders confronted him, saying, certainly you are one of them,
for you are a Galilean.
And at that point, Peter brought down curses upon himself and openly swore before them,
do not know this man you're talking about.
And at that moment, the cock crowed for the second time,
and Peter realized what he had done.
He had done what he boasted that he wouldn't do.
He had denied his Lord.
He had denied any connection between him and Jesus.
His fear got the best of him.
And in that anguish and fear, he fell again to his knees in tears.
Weeping bitterly for this sinful, scandalous wrong that he had said would never come to him.
But Jesus' grace was not finished with Peter.
Even in his fearful denial and betrayal of Jesus that should sever any connection between them,
Jesus would not sever his love and grace for Peter.
Jesus would go to the cross for Peter and for all of us.
And when Jesus was raised from the dead, Jesus would show Peter his wounded hands
and his pierced side, calling Peter not to sorrow, but to rejoice in the promise
that Jesus' grace would never let Peter go.
Jesus the Messiah caught and held Peter in his crucified hands.
And once again, Jesus would call Peter to catch people in this grace of his promise
and to feed others in his healing and mercy.
And the journey for Peter, however, would also come by way of his own passion,
his own suffering for the faith.
But Peter was made bold to pick up his cross and follow Jesus
because Jesus would never let him go.
Peter would testify before all, Christ's amazing grace is that which God now bestows on all
through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the last days, it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.
And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.
And when others were critical of Peter's proclamation about the grace of Jesus Christ,
he was put on trial and would again confess boldly,
we must obey God rather than any human authority.
Peter would recognize that he underestimated the extent of God's amazing grace for all the nations.
Yet he would come to boldly confess that Christ's grace in, that God's grace in Jesus the Christ is a gift for all, without any limits or restrictions.
And as he once confessed boldly, now he also came to grasp fully through faith
that not even the gates of hell could prevail against Christ's grace,
and that all, all shall be set free from sin and death, from fear and abandonment.
truly understand that God shows no partiality.
And so in his own writings to all who suffer the persecutions of life,
for all who fear and anxiety would certainly be present,
Peter points to Christ's grace as their solid foundation.
As you come to him, a living stone, though rejected by men yet chosen and precious in God's sight.
Like living stones, you yourselves are being built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
We are not to leave behind our crosses and our sufferings in fear,
but to face the fiery ordeal with confidence,
with confidence that Jesus has called us and caught us by his grace.
And as Jesus catches us, he sends us out to catch others
in the sure and certain promise of amazing grace.
And so we follow our Lord's path to the cross in all humility and in all confidence,
trusting that our Lord will lead us through the darkness of our trials,
beyond our fears, to the final fruits of his grace.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God,
so that he may exalt you in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.
And after you have suffered for a little while,
the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory and Christ
will himself restore, support, strengthen and establish you.
To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.
Thanks for listening to Lightly Salted. We'd love to hear from you.
You can contact us at stjohnspr.org, or look for us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Our thanks to Eric Medeerch at soundimage.org for "Morning Dew."
God's Blessings.