Advent 1
Mt
21:1-9
12/3/23
In August 1944 the
Allies were chasing the retreating Germans across France. They had no intention of entering Paris. The city had no strategic value, and they
didn’t want Paris to be damaged in combat.
However, on August 19
the population of Paris started an uprising against the Germans. Fearful that the Germans would lay waste to
the city as they had done against the uprising in Warsaw, there was now a need
to enter the city and liberate it.
The Allies needed to
enter the city, and French General de Gaulle was insistent about how this would
happen – Free French troops needed to go in first. It did not matter that French forces were a
small minority among the Allies, which were overwhelmingly made up of United
State and British forces. It was important for restoring national pride that
French forces entered first and liberated the city.
The Allied command sent
the 2nd French Armored Division to lead the attack, supported by the
United States 4th Infantry Division.
The French forces managed to enter the city on August 24. They were welcomed by the Parisians on the 25th
as German resistance collapsed. The next
day, the French troops took the lead in triumphal parade as the France
celebrated regaining her sovereignty.
In our Gospel lesson
this morning we see Jesus enter the city of Jerusalem. We learn that he was also very specific about
how this would take place. He made
preparations to fulfill God’s Word as the Messiah. Yet we learn that he entered as the humble
king who had come offer himself for our sin.
Our text describes
what happened on Palm Sunday. Jesus had travelled from Galilee to Judea in
order to be in Jerusalem during the Passover.
We learn from the Gospel of John that our Lord made this trip several
times during his ministry as he went to the city to observe the pilgrim
festivals.
Like many other
pilgrims, Jesus had made the journey on foot.
But as he arrived at the city he did something new. We learn that he sent two of his disciples
into the village of Bethphage and told them, “Go into
the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a
colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.” The disciples did as our Lord had said, and
when they had brought the animals they put their cloaks on them. Our Lord rode
the donkey as they continued down from the Mount of Olives and crossed over
into Jerusalem.
Our Lord choreographed his entry
into Jerusalem. And Matthew tells us
why. He says, “This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the
prophet, saying, ‘Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to
you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a
beast of burden.’”
Jesus entered into Jerusalem on a donkey
because this action fulfilled what the prophet Zechariah had written. He was the king – the Messiah – coming to his
city. The donkey certainly had royal
associations in ancient Israel. But it
was not a warhorse or chariot that you would expect of a Roman emperor or
governor. And this contrast is noted by the way Zechariah describes the king: humble. Jesus comes as the Messiah – the king. But he comes as the humble king.
Jesus
comes as the humble king because of the purpose of his
trip. In the previous chapter Jesus had
told the disciples, “See, we are going up to
Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and
scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to
the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be
raised on the third day.” Jesus
comes to the city to suffer and to die.
He comes to bear our sins and to give his life as the ransom that wins
forgiveness for us.
On
the one hand, it may seem strange that we come to church today and our Gospel lesson
makes it sound like this is Palm Sunday.
After all this is the First Sunday in Advent. It is the start of the season that is
preparing us to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.
However,
the Gospel lesson has been chosen for a very specific reason. The first Sunday of the season that prepares
us for Jesus’ birth sets before us the purpose of Jesus’ ministry in the
world. Jesus was born in order to die
for us. When the angel announced Jesus’ conception to Jospeh he said,
“Joseph,
son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She
will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save
his people from their sins.”
This is not a cute story
that we are preparing to remember. It is
not about the most wonderful time of the year.
Instead, the child born in the humility of a manger came into the world
in order to ride as a humble king on a donkey.
He came to his city in order be enthroned on a cross. He came as God’s answer to the sin that is
present in your life.
Jesus was certainly
noticed. We learn that most of the crowd
spread their cloaks on the road. Others
cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went
before and after him shouted, “Hosanna
to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest!”
“Hosanna”
was a word that had come to be a statement of praise. The term “Son of David” was associated with the
Messiah that God had promised. The statement “Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord” derives from Psalm 118 and identified Jesus as one who was
part of God’s work.
What
did the crowds think about Jesus? We
can’t say for sure. Most likely there were a mix of views just as there were a
variety of expectations in Judaism about the Messiah. But it is evident that
they believed Jesus was somehow part of God’s action to bring deliverance to
his people. And the one thing that all
versions shared was that this would be powerful and immediate. When God acted he would do so in might to
destroy the enemies of his people and give them victory. Might and power now – that is what
people expected.
That
is what we want from God. We want might
and power now. We want a Church that is successful and popular, not one that
receives our culture’s rejection. We
want healing and relief, not the way of faith that trusts in God. We want success and wealth, not trust that
God holds our times in his hands.
Jesus
came as Israel’s Messiah – as her king.
But he came as the humble king because this is how God works. He came as the humble king whose purpose was
to suffer and die for the sins of all. He
came as king who was the suffering Servant – the One who gave himself into
death for us.
The
king came to his city and he was not recognized. He was rejected. We learn in our text that when Jesus entered
Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” The crowds
that accompanied Jesus were excited but they were no more insightful. Rather
than saying that this was the Christ sent by God they said, “This is the
prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The
humble king had come to be crucified.
He had come to die a humiliating death as he was mocked by those
below. Those who passed by derided him
wagging their heads and saying, “You who would
destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you
are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” The religious leaders said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the
King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in
him.”
But Jesus remained
on the cross because of his love for the Father and his love for us. He had entered into the world in humility as
he was born of virgin and laid in a manger.
He died in humility because this was the way in which he won forgiveness
for us.
Yet the humility
came to an end. Jesus died and was buried.
But on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead. God defeated death as he raised Jesus. He exalted Jesus for the risen Lord declared,
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
The death and
resurrection of Jesus has shown us that God works in humility in order to bring
forgiveness and salvation. Humble means
are not the opposite of power. Instead,
they are God’s power at work in our world for us. That is true of the way that Christ continues
to come to us today.
In a few moments
we will sing, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the
highest.” We will do this as Christ’s Word is about to be spoken over bread and
wine. Through that Word, the risen Lord
will cause his true body and blood to be present for us – the body and blood
given and shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Like the baby in the manger and
the man on the donkey these are humble means.
But they are also God present in our world giving forgiveness and
salvation.
Through his body
and blood Christ strengthens us in faith. He calls us to himself and leads us
to rest in him. He gives us grace to
trust in God in the midst of all circumstances because God has revealed his
love in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
It is the risen Lord who gives us this food that sustains us during this
pilgrimage of life.
Christ loved us by
acting in humble service. Now forgiven
by him, he sends us forth to act in the same way towards those around us. In Matthew’s Gospel, just before entering the
Jerusalem our Lord said, “You know that the rulers
of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority
over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you
must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even
as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his
life as a ransom for many.”
On this First Sunday in
Advent we see Jesus enter into Jerusalem.
We see him enter as the humble king who goes to the cross to die. We are reminded that this was always the way
of Christ. Though the Son of God, he
entered into the world as a humble baby in a manger. He came in order to die as he won forgiveness
for us. Yet that humility culminated in
exaltation when God raised him from the dead.
The resurrection of Jesus
now guides the way we look at things. We
recognize the humble Word and Sacraments as the means by which Christ comes to
us with forgiveness and strength. We
trust in God in the midst of all circumstances because of the love he has
revealed to us. And we live in the
confident expectation that the way of humility and faith will come to an end on
the Last Day when we greet our exalted Lord with the cry, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
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