Advent
1 – November 26th and 27th, 2016 – Matthew
21:1-9
In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Advent King +
In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Advent King +
This
is the way we start the Church year, the way we begin this season of
Advent – with the story of Palm Sunday. It’s a familiar story, a
popular story, a happy one. Who among us doesn’t like the waving
of palm branches, the joyous excitement and expectation that is part
and parcel of that day? And we start the Church year with this
reading because Advent is all about joyous expectation in the face of
hardship, excitement that Christmas is almost here. Advent is the
season where we get to look forward – we take our place with those
of the Old Testament looking forward to the first coming of the
Christ Jesus, which we will celebrate come Christmas Eve. However,
this text is not simply here to set the mood, to set the ambiance of
our Christmas Shopping Season, it’s not merely meant to whet our
appetites for the holidays. Rather, this text teaches us who Christ
Jesus is, who this Child whose birth we will celebrate on Christmas
is, who it is that does all these miracles, who it is that goes to
the Cross. This text doesn’t just set us up for Advent, but it
sets us up for the entirety of the Church Year, it sets us up for
every reading we will hear, every sermon that will be preached, every
service in this place. Why do I say this? Because everything in the
Church can be summed up in the words of prophet Zechariah, “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.”
So,
let us ponder this for a bit. The very first thing we have to get
down pat is that Christ Jesus is our King. Well, duh, Pastor, we
know that! Yes, we know that, we all say it, we pray “Thy Kingdom
Come” – but I wonder if we, especially we as Americans, really
get what the fact that Jesus is our King… means. We're used to
having a president. We're used to polls and voting and they had
better campaign and tell me what I want to hear, otherwise I'll vote
for the other person! You've got 4 years to impress, or You're
Fired! We love our democracy – the rule of the people – we the
people! We're in charge! That’s not how it works with a King. We
don’t choose or elect Christ – rather, He is the King, and He has
said, “I am Your King, and you will be My people.” We aren’t
the ones in charge – He is. And more to the point, while we might
have every right as Americans and in fact a civic duty to think
critically about our leaders and evaluate them and even protest them
if we want… that’s not our relationship with Jesus. Christ Jesus
isn’t going to worry about opinion polls or even angry crowds –
even the one of Good Friday morning. He is the King, and what He
says goes.
And as
sinful human beings, according to our sinful flesh, we hate the fact
that Jesus is King. That’s what sin is – sin is nothing other
than rebelling against Christ Jesus and trying to make ourselves king
in His place. Our King says, “Don’t eat of this tree” – the
serpent says, “Eat of this tree, then you’ll get to be like God,
you’ll get to be the King!” And thus sin and our rebellion
begins. And every sin, every temptation to sin is nothing more than
us telling Jesus, “No, we don’t want you to be our King.”
Well, that sort of puts a point on it – yet it's true. Sin is
rejecting God. But here is the wonder of the ages – even though by
our sin we reject, we turn our backs upon Christ Jesus, He does not
abandon us. He could have simply washed His hands of us – said,
“You don’t want to be in My Kingdom of life and joy – fine –
forget you. Enjoy your wretchedness.” But He doesn’t. Instead,
He tells His servants to say, “Say to the
daughter of Zion- Behold, your King is coming to you.”
Christ Jesus is not content to let you remain trapped in sin,
trapped in rebellion, and so He is determined to come to you. If you
now dwell in a fallen sinful world, He will come into that sinful
fallen world, be born of a Virgin, to rescue you. If you now dwell
in Satan’s clutches, He will come, be tempted and hounded by Satan,
all to restore you and make you once again part of His own kingdom.
If you are hounded by death, Christ Jesus will even be scourged and
crucified, all to give you life that does not end or fade. Your King
is determined to be your King, a King for you, and what we see here
in His Church is nothing but His coming to you and for you.
“Behold,
your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey.”
Christ Jesus is King, and He will do
things His way, for indeed, He is wise and gracious, and He knows
what is best. And He comes humbly. In our text we see Him entering
Jerusalem upon a donkey. And that is a humble thing – even with
the crowds lauding Him – it’s humble. A conquering king, one
would think, should enter a city on a mighty steed, with vast armies
behind him. In fact, that’s sort of what the crowd there was
hoping for – a mighty warrior king who would pull down the Romans
and kick the gentiles out. That was what they were expecting – but
that is not what Christ comes to do. No, His enemies are much bigger
than the small fish of Roman rule – no, His targets are Satan and
Sin and Death – and so He comes humbly. It is in His humility and
gentleness that He defeats our foes – Christ Jesus doesn’t wrap
His hands around Satan, but rather defeats Satan by being handed over
to death. His humility is what brings Him victory. But the crowd
did not want a humble king. They wanted one who was brash and bold
and would drop down the smite on the Romans… and so Christ Jesus is
rejected.
We
today need remember that Christ Jesus, our King, is humble. Granted,
as He is risen, He is exulted, and every knee shall bow at His name,
but He is still humble, and He still teaches us to be humble. In
every teaching of Christ, you will see this Humility come forth.
Let’s think of some examples – turn the other cheek. What is
that but humility – what is that but being determined to still love
and care for your neighbor regardless of what he or she does to you?
That’s humility. Or how about “let your light shine before men
that they might see your good works and glorify”… not you, but
glorify your Father in heaven. Again – humility, learning to shape
our lives so that others are shown God, so that others are pointed to
Christ Jesus who is their king as well. That’s humility. One
could very easily say that the Christian life, that growing as a
Christian is nothing but learning more and more humility. It is
nothing but learning to beat down those sinful, egotistical desires,
and rather striving to be a humble servant, content to show love to
the neighbor no matter what the cost – even as Christ Jesus our
King is humble and is content to show us love, no matter what the
cost.
And
again, we can rebel against this so. I know people who will say, “I
just don’t see how those crowds on Palm Sunday could be the same
ones shouting out for Jesus to be Crucified on Good Friday.” I
know how – my own flesh cries out against Christ when I am called
on to be humble. If someone annoys me, my sinful flesh doesn’t
want to be humble, it wants to strike out and lash out, and back then
it too would have yelled, “Crucify Him, away with this humility, I
want nothing of it!” But Christ Jesus knows this struggle that I
face, that you face – and thus He continues to come to us, He comes
to us humbly. He comes with mercy and compassion and forgiveness
that breaks down and destroys our pride, our arrogance, our
sinfulness that upon reflection brings nothing but shame. Christ
does not spurn you in your sin, but instead He deigns to come once
again to you to forgive and renew you.
And
how does Christ Jesus come to you? “Behold,
your King is coming to you, Humble.”
Christ Jesus comes to you this day to forgive you your sin, to give
you His own humble strength, and how? In very simple, humble means.
There are no flashes of lighting or peals of thunders – that will
wait for the last day. There are no brash demonstrations of power
and might. No. He comes to you humbly. He knows that you struggle
against sin, and so He comes to you humbly through His Word of
forgiveness and life spoken to you. And even that spoken Word of
forgiveness is given humbly – He doesn’t send James Earl Jones
and his booming voice or Brad Pitt or some other stunningly handsome
celebrity – no, He sends a short, overweight guy with a lisp. Eh,
so be it – you are forgiven on account of Christ Jesus, your Humble
King. Your Humble King comes to you via holy baptism, which again,
is really a humble thing. A bit of water combined with the Word of
God – not much to see, in fact, much of the world disdains baptism,
thinks the best it might be a symbol, a quaint ceremony. No – it
is your King coming to you, it is your King declaring that you are
now His royal co-heir of the new heavens and the new earth, that life
everlasting is yours. Your Humble King comes to you in His Holy
Supper – and again, that is Humble. To have His most holy meal,
nothing complicated or grandiose is needed, no caviar or single malt
scotch – He takes bread and He takes wine and by the power of His
Word He Himself comes to us, restores us, renews us. And all of
this, all of it for our own good. Even before we would think to seek
Him out, He has called us into His kingdom and promised to be with us
– because He is our Holy and Righteous and Good King, who in His
humble love for us comes to bring us salvation.
This
is what we will spend the season of Advent looking forward to with
expectant hearts – to see the mystery of Jesus' holy and humble
nativity for our salvation. This is what we will see the rest of
this Church year, indeed, every time we are gathered together in
worship – we see our humble King coming to us for our own good.
Behold, Oh daughter of Zion, your King is coming to you, and He will
come to you humbly in this place, in His worship even until the day
when He comes again and takes you to share in His eternal reign world
with out end. Come quickly Lord Jesus – In the Name of Christ
Jesus, our Advent King +