The King Comes

1st Sunday in Advent (December 2, 2007)

Rev. Steven D. Spencer

Matthew 21:1-9

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 "And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them." 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.' " 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love Advent. I love the season for a number of reasons. We switch the colors in the church to purple, which is a nice change after having so many Sundays of green. Even though we are finishing up the calendar year it’s the beginning of a new Church Year, out with the old in with the new. We begin the new Church Year by using a new lectionary of Scripture readings—which by the way is a really old lectionary. We’re now using the historic readings of the church that have been in use for centuries. The Epistle and the Gospel readings you heard this morning were the same ones read in Luther’s church at Wittenberg some 500 years ago. And don’t forget the Advent candles that are lit in the sanctuary, which are another tool for teaching people about Jesus.

And then there’s another reason I love Advent. Maybe it’s one that isn’t universally shared by some of you. I like cold weather. I’m sure I’ll be reminded of this when down the road when I too become weary of it. But I’ll enjoy it while I can.

With the exception of the scrooges, I think most folks love Advent. They love it because of what comes next. Advent means “coming”, and we’ve learned to link the season to what is soon coming: Christmas! As we have been reminded time and time again of the true meaning of Christmas, we should also be reminded of the true meaning of Advent—that it isn’t about what is coming, but who is coming—Christ Jesus, our Lord and King.

We still look forward to the coming of Jesus. And yet we’re not waiting for Him to be born, even though the birth of Jesus is what we hear about at Christmastime. Advent does become a time of anticipation and excitement about Jesus coming. But we’re not anticipating His arrival as a child in a manger—that has already happened. We look forward to His final Advent, when He shall come in glory to judge both the quick and the dead. The King of kings and Lord of lords will return as the judge of all men on the Final Day.

In our Gospel for this First Sunday in Advent, we hear about another coming of Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Behold! Your King comes to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey. You would think, the entrance of a king into a city would be much more grandiose. Humble? Where’s the army behind him? A donkey— where’s the armor-plated warhorse? This isn’t very impressive, is it? Especially in a world where might makes right. Jesus’ humble entry into Jerusalem mounted on the foal of a donkey—a borrowed donkey at that- almost looks like a mockery of the expected power and might. Kings don’t ride around on donkeys. At least earthly kings don’t. And they don’t ride into the city without an army behind them and in front of them. At least earthly kings don’t. But when it comes to the King of the universe, Christ Jesus—the eternal Son of God—it’s a good thing that he didn’t come in a display of power and might. We should be comforted; brothers and sisters, to know that your King entered the city with humility and on a donkey, for this is the only way that he could come to his people and have them live.

 Jesus rode into the city and fulfilled what was foretold by the prophets. In particular, in was a fulfillment of Zechariah, chapter 9: rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

So, why does he enter the holy city on a donkey? Why does he ride in on a beast of burden, an animal of peace, and not on an armored stallion? He did so because He came to the people of Jerusalem not to conquer them, but to be killed by them. He rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to prepare for Good Friday. He went into the city a final time to die. For the people of Jerusalem, who were the daughter of Zion, did not receive Him and believe in Him, but instead would kill Him.

But what a comfort it is, dear Christians, to know that this is the way in which the Lord comes to His people. He came to His own, but His own did not receive him. Christ Jesus came to His own people, the Jews, and they would not believe in Him. But did He punish them on the spot for their rejection? Did He summon fire and brimstone upon the city of Jerusalem, as He had upon Sodom and Gomorrah? No! Jesus, true God and true Man, wept for Jerusalem. The Lamb of God who had come to His people to redeem them instead wept, lamenting, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

 You know, it’s a good thing that Jesus still comes to us according to his grace, in humility and mercy. If He were as impatient as us, He would have gotten tired of coming to His people and being greeted with our sins. He would have stopped coming to His people on earth according to His grace and would have come in judgment a long ago. It’s is a good thing that he continues to come to his people in grace and mercy, because if he dealt with us according to our deeds and according to our hearts, we’d be in serious trouble. As we pray in Psalm 130, If thou, O Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand—but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.

The Lord GOD didn’t immediately destroy Jerusalem for her rejection of her King, but eventually the city was annihilated by the Romans. So complete was the destruction of that holy city that not one stone was left upon another. And yet, the Lord doesn’t visit the same destruction upon you and me today.

It is a good thing that the Lord Jesus came to his people and comes to us, because we could never come to Him. We cannot come to Him, seek Him, or open our own hearts to Him because of the utter blackness of our sinful hearts and the fruits that follow them—sin and rebellion. Our own hearts condemn us, having God’s perfect Law written upon them, which shows us our sin.

We continually disobey our Lord’s commandments. We know from Scripture that our sins have merited nothing but death and eternal punishment in hell. But God doesn’t chastise us with a lightning bolt and execute swift justice. Nor does He come to the unrepentant with immediate destruction and death. The Lord comes to the people of this world continually with love, patience, and the promise of forgiveness. How comforting this is, when we realize our predicament as creatures who, despite our best efforts to lead God-pleasing lives, live in constant defiance of our Lord.

God doesn’t come to us to give us what we deserve. He doesn’t come to us in His holy wrath and cast us into utter darkness, where there is great weeping and gnashing of teeth. He comes to us and gives us what we don’t deserve, full pardon and forgiveness of all of our sins. Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem that Palm Sunday for you. He went there for the final time as the Lamb of God, to be crucified and to shed his blood for the sins of the world, including all of yours.

Your King came into the city and was delivered into the hands of men to be crucified, so that He wouldn’t have to come to you in his righteous wrath and justice. Having made full atonement for your sin—having paid the price— He now comes to you in peace and love. Because you are justified by faith, you now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has saved you by His grace, and He comes to you to give you His grace continually.

The Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the most humble animal, a borrowed donkey colt, not in a show of triumph and splendor. He comes to you every Sundau in the same manner. Not in a glorious display or emotional frenzy of excitement in worship, but through the humble means of His Word and Sacrament.

Who would have thought that this carpenter riding on a donkey could be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Well, He was, He is. And who would think that God would attach his saving Word of promise to water, of all things, for the forgiveness of sins and washing of regeneration of the soul? Well, he does in Baptism.

 Who would think that God would deliver his Word to you through your pastor, who is just a mere man, instead of through a booming voice from the sky? Yet He promised to do just that when He gave to His apostles the authority to forgive the sins of the penitent and to retain the sins of the impenitent, when he told Peter Feed my sheep. Who would have thought that after Jesus’ bodily ascension into heaven that He would still come to you and be truly present with you unto the end of the age, as He promised? Well, He is, when he gives you His holy body and precious blood in a tiny wafer of bread and a sip of wine.

The church has recognized this in her communion liturgy. In the Sanctus, we sing the same words uttered among the followers of Jesus who lined the street leading into Jerusalem. Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest— blessed is he who cometh in the Name of the Lord. For just as these believers rejoiced at the coming of their King to save them, so also does the church rejoices as her King’s comes  in the Holy Supper, even  as ordinary and unimpressive as it may appear.

There’s never been anything especially impressive about the ways that Jesus comes to his people, at least not by our worldly standards. But He was never about trying to impress people.

He came to His people under the most humble circumstances and in the most humble ways to save them. He comes to you through his humble, chosen means. And He promises to be with you according to his humble grace and mercy until He comes again, only then it will be in power and might.

Rejoice, therefore, you the daughter of Zion, and give thanks to the Lord for coming to you in the ways He does, and lift up your hearts to Him in joyful anticipation of his 2nd Advent. As we continually remembering the joy and blessings of His 1st Advent in Bethlehem. May this be your certain hope, to know that your King has come to you, in the + Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus Name, Amen and Amen!

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, now and forever more. Amen

Please rise as we join in singing the offertory…