In the Name of Jesus
Isaiah 50,4-9 2212
Palmarum (6. Sonntag der Passionszeit) 029
Hugo, Bishop of Grenoble, France. † 1132
1. April 2012
1. O Almighty and Everlasting God, who of Your tender love towards mankind, has sent Your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon Him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, so that all mankind should be redeemed by His great humility; mercifully grant, so that we may both look to His cross where salvation was purchased, and also be made partakers of His resurrection (Book of Common Prayer 36). Amen.
2. John the Apostle and Evangelist describes Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem during the Feast of Passover this way: »The next day the large crowd that had come to the Feast of Passover heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, crying out: „Hosanna! Blessed is He who arrives in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!“ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on him, just as it is written: „Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is arriving, seated on a donkey’s colt!“ [Zechariah 9,9] Jesus’ disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him« (John 12,12-16).
3. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday begins the events of Holy Week. His disciples hail Jesus as Israel’s King and the world’s Christ. The Apostle John proclaims that Jesus has fulfilled the Prophet Zechariah, who wrote in 519 B.C.: »Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is justifying and saving, He is humble and mounted on a colt, the foal of a donkey« (Zechariah 9,9). Yahweh’s salvation was close at hand.
4. This salvation was not all pomp and circumstance like Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem seems to indicate. There were other prophesies to be fulfilled, like the Prophet Isaiah: »The Lord who is the Lord has given Me the tongue of those who are taught, so 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 who is the Lord has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward. I gave My back to those who strike, and My cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I did not hide My face from disgrace and spitting. But the Lord who is the Lord helps Me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will 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 who is the Lord helps Me; who will declare Me guilty? Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up« (Isaiah 50,4-9).
5. Palm Sunday begins the week in glorious triumph. Jesus has publicly and prominently manifested Himself as the Christ. The Jewish religious leaders are flabbergasted: »Behold, the world has gone after him!« (John 12,19). Yet by the end of the week, the world has gone against Him. The high priest, along with many Pharisees, priests and Sadducees (the Sanhedrin) convict Jesus of blasphemy. They then bring their case before Pontius Pilate and argue that Jesus deserves to die. The Jewish crowd that has gathered to celebrate the Passover shouts for Jesus’ conviction. Pilate attempted to set Jesus free, but fear of a massive riot forced his hand; he handed Jesus over for crucifixion as a seditious criminal of the Roman Empire. Holy Week closes with Jesus dead on the cross and His burial in the grave.
6. What a sad, pathetic end for Israel’s Messiah! The hopes and dreams of Jesus’ disciples have been dashed. Where are the seats of glory at Jesus’ left and right that James and John had sought after in last week’s Gospel Reading? Where is the glorious reign of heaven that Jesus was supposed to usher in with the apostles as 12 mighty princes? Where are the heavenly hosts that were expected to descend from heaven and sweep the mighty Roman legions into the Mediterranean Sea? Jesus entered Jerusalem on a colt as the Messianic King, but He leaves Jerusalem bearing the cross of a condemned insurrectionist. All human hopes have been dashed.
7. »Jesus’ disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about Him and had been done to Him« (John 12,12-16). First century Israel expected a militant, political Messiah who would rout the Romans and re-establish the Davidic Kingdom in Palestine. This, however, was not Jesus’ intention. God the Father had better, grander plans for His Son. Well, surely the twenty-first century must be different, right? Soon Jesus will work in human history and return to the nation of Israel all that has been taken from them, right? Surely it is God’s will to boot out the Muslims from Jerusalem, demolish the Dome of the Rock and rebuild the Jewish temple of the old covenant, right?
8. Such zionistic notions do not factor into Jesus’ ministry, Palm Sunday, Christ’s Passion or the proclamation of the apostles in the New Testament. Jesus’ notion of the Christ does not coincide with many of his countrymen in the first century nor with some Evangelicals in the twenty-first. Jesus knew how many people would misinterpret His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This is why He deliberately taught His disciples about His messiahship by a using a title that had not become associated with errant baggage.
9. Jesus never referred to Himself with the titles Messiah or Christ, although others confessed Him as such, particularly His apostles and disciples. Jesus’ preferred term was Son of Man. »Jesus answered Nicodemus: „And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up“« (John 3,14). »And Jesus answered His apostles: „The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified“« (John 12,23). »When Judas Iscariot had gone out, Jesus said to His apostles: „Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him“« (John 13,31). We see from Jesus’ use of the phrase Son of Man that as the Christ: Jesus did not arrive to restore the Jewish political kingdom, but He arrived to save Israel and the world from sin.
10. So Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to inaugurate the heavenly reign, a reign that is firmly centered upon the suffering, crucified and dying Messiah and Christ. Jesus brings you salvation, and He brings it with power and glory. Jesus enters Jerusalem as Israel’s King and Christ. His disciples and the Jewish crowd acclaim Him as such. Time and again in the Holy Gospels Jesus boldly proclaims that the Son of Man, the Christ, goes up to Jerusalem to suffer and die in order to redeem the fallen world back into God the Father’s loving fellowship. Jesus describes His crucifixion as His glory and glorification (John 12,23).
11. Thus Jesus humbly rides into Jerusalem upon a young male donkey. On that first Palm Sunday, this colt, the son of a donkey, is blessed to bear upon his young back the Son of Man. This colt receives, and rejoices in, Jesus by simply being a colt and doing what a colt does, namely, he is a steadfast beast of burden upon which Jesus can ride. Although Jesus is being lauded with great pomp and glory, His faithful donkey bears Him to His Divine throne in majestic humility. Like the young colt, Jesus is more a Suffering Servant than a King. Jesus takes His seat upon the throne of the cross instead of a lordly chair. Jesus wore a crown of thorns instead of a golden diadem. Jesus is a Messiah and a Christ who is humbled and afflicted upon the cross.
12. „Both those who went before Christ and those who followed Him with a loud voice simultaneously petitioned God the Lord so that He would increase and strengthen the reign of the Christ. They did not allow themselves to be offended at the humble appearance of His reign. Nor did they allow themselves to be frightened off by the threats of the Pharisees, Luke 19,39: »And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus: „Teacher, rebuke your disciples!“«. ... You should confess Christ and His reign without regard to any offenses and threats. You should thank God the Lord from the bottom of your hearts for the fact that Christ has also initiated His reign of grace among you, and you should pray from the heart for it to be upheld and spread“ (Gerhard 293).
13. So with the disciples we acclaim: »Hosanna! Blessed is He who arrives in the Name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!« (John 12,13). And with the Psalmist we affirm: »But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever« (Psalm 52,8). »The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God« (Psalm 92,12-13). You flourish because Christ Jesus faithfully entered Jerusalem upon a donkey to make you righteous. Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Christ Jesus, the Son of Man who was lifted up on the cross, pour out upon us in Your Word and Sacraments grace and mercy so that we who believe in You will have eternal life. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
The Book of Common Prayer. Copyright © 1979 Oxford University Press.
Gerhard, Johann. Postilla, Vol. 1. Copyright © 2003 The Center for the Study of Lutheran Orthodoxy.
No comments:
Post a Comment