Book of Common Prayer

United praise under the Messiah’s universal rule

⁷ Welcome one another, therefore, as the Messiah has welcomed you, to God’s glory. ⁸ Let me tell you why: the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised people in order to demonstrate the truthfulness of God—that is, to confirm the promises to the patriarchs, ⁹ and to bring the nations to praise God for his mercy. As the Bible says:

¹⁰ And again it says,

¹¹ And again,

¹² And Isaiah says once more:

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the holy spirit.

The triumphal entry

²⁸ With these words, Jesus went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹ As they came close, as near as Bethany and Bethphage, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples on ahead. ³⁰ “Go into the village over there,” he said, “and as you arrive you’ll find a colt tied up, one that nobody has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you should say, ‘Because the master needs it.’ ”

³² The two who were sent went off and found it just as Jesus had said to them. ³³ They untied the colt, and its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ “Because the master needs it,” they replied.

³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and mounted Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he was going along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road.

³⁷ When he came to the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to celebrate and praise God at the tops of their voices for all the powerful deeds they had seen.

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees from the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell your disciples to stop that.”

⁴⁰ “Let me tell you,” replied Jesus, “if they stayed silent, the stones would be shouting out!”