Grace Evangelical-Lutheran: Matthew 21,1-9. 1. Sunday in Advent, Populous Zion

Matthew 21,1-9 0114

1. Sonntag im Advent 01, Populous Zion

Eligius, Bishop, † 659

1. Dezember 2013

1. O Lord, our Heavenly Father, we give You most humble and hearty thanks for the consolation ministered to us in the gift of Your dear Son Jesus Christ, whom You did send to be a King and Savior, to redeem fallen men and women from their sin, to deliver them from the might of Satan and the power of everlasting death. We beseech You to grant unto us Your Holy Spirit to enlighten, govern and sanctify our hearts, so that we may truly acknowledge Christ as our King and Savior, and perpetually cling to Him; and at all times grant unto us a true and living faith, so that we may not stumble at His humiliation, Word and Reign, which the world esteems so lightly (Löhe 119). Amen.

2. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them: „Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say: ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.“ 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 an ass, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’« The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the ass and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and He sat on the cloaks. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting: „Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who arrives in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!“

3. The 1. Sunday in Advent begins the new Church Year with the historic reading from the Palm Sunday account in the Gospel according to Matthew. The four (4) weeks in Advent prepare us for the incarnation and birth of Jesus the Christ. Advent, therefore, begins with the emphasis on justification and salvation, and so we traditionally begin with Jesus’ Palm Sunday procession and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus was born into this fallen world to justify and save sinners, and thus the Prophet Zechariah proclaims Yahweh’s salvation which was fulfilled on Palm Sunday.

4. The disciples and the crowd received Jesus with songs and praises as one arriving in the Name of Yahweh, but some of the Pharisees in the crowd wanted Jesus to rebuke His disciples (Luke 19,39). Nothing has changed today. Some welcome Jesus with loving joy, but others reject Him with the vilest hate. Regardless of whether people believe in Jesus, they are nonetheless moved by Him (Nagel 13,2). Even inanimate creation is moved by Jesus, for Jesus answered the Pharisees: „If this crowd were silent, then the very stones would cry out.“ (Luke 19,40).

5. The world asks: „Who is this Jesus?“ Already by the middle of November the world is dreamily thinking of the little Baby Jesus peacefully sleeping in the manger. The world does not want to deviate from this iconic image of Jesus. The answer on the 1. Sunday of Advent is: Jesus is the Son of David who arrives in the Name of Yahweh. Advent prepares the way for this Jesus and Christmas celebrates His birth. To call Jesus the Son of David is to put Him in the royal Davidic line and that makes Him a prince and a king. He is the King who has complete possession and rule over all things (Nagel 14,5). The people of Israel are His, although He had allowed the Roman emperors to rule over the land for Him as stewards. The capital is His, although He had allowed the Sanhedrin to rule Jerusalem in His stead. The land is His, and He had used the Roman legions to police it and secure its borders from invaders. All things are His possessions, even another man’s donkeys whom He took charge of for His ride up to Jerusalem. „Now Jesus enters His city on another man’s donkey, not on a magnificent prancing horse with the flashing splendor of the spears and swords of a great army. His path is strewn with the palms of peace. He rides the animal of peace with the black cross on its back, for here rides the Prince of Peace who is hailed by the glad voices of children. Jesus’ throne is not His by shedding the blood of others but by shedding His own blood. Clearly His kingdom is not of this world. Jesus does not destroy but weeps over the city that will crucify Him. He goes into that city, for now is its great day of grace. Now it may behold its Messiah king clearly set forth. He comes unto His own Jerusalem, the sacred city so abundantly blessed, the glory of Israel to which He had so often mercifully stretched out His hands“ (Nagel 15,7).

6. The crowds, the Pharisees and even many in the world see the signs, but fail to recognize that this King rides into Jerusalem to stretch out His hands upon a rough wooden cross. Perhaps they reject Him with hateful unbelief or skeptical uncertainty, but reject Jesus the King they do. To reject Jesus as King and Messiah is to turn away from His mercy and grace, is to turn one’s back on the forgiveness He merited and the righteousness He imputes. Such rejection has consequences. The leaders of Israel rejected Jesus. They believed the land and the kingdom were theirs as a birthright, and so they had no need for Jesus and His kingship. They rejected the merciful Jesus who would have gathered them to Himself as a hen gathers her chicks under her wing, therefore they could not escape the wrath of the Roman eagle who snatched them up in their predatory talons (Nagel 15,7).

7. Our sinful nature, however, is a far greater predator than the Roman eagle. Our sinfulness exhibits itself in our sinful actions, such as, drunkenness, immorality, quarreling and jealously (Romans 13,13). Our sinfulness has us in its predatory claws and we cannot escape, for we are its helpless prey. Our sinfulness will carry us to death and hell.

8. Yahweh therefore made us a promise through His prophet: »Behold, your King is going to you; He is justifying and saving you; He is humble and mounted on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass« (Zechariah 9,9). This Divine King fulfills His promise, and He rides up to Jerusalem to make you righteous. This is why Jesus was born.

9. Zechariah and Matthew tell us that Jesus saves His fallen world meekly and mildly. He rides into Jerusalem on a beast of burden; He does not lash out against His accusers and He dies the death of a condemned criminal. This is not to say that Jesus is a wimp or powerless against the rulers of His age. Jesus was in complete control during Holy Week, but He exercised His authority by willingly humbling Himself and submitting Himself to others in order to redeem His fallen creation. Jesus is your King and Savior; He wants your loyalty, but He will not force or coerce your loyalty.

10. „There are no reservations in loyalty to Jesus. He wants His love to rule in every house and shop, in every alley and gutter in the city of your heart. To each one of you the Advent king says: ‘Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light’ (Matthew 11,28-30). We were constructed to fit under that yoke. Without it we are like a car without a battery. We can’t get started. Under that yoke, in Christ’s kingdom, we first become ourselves. Then, for the first time, we become a real individual, for Christ has dealt with us personally, in and for ourselves. It was for you, just you (not for a thousand million people), that Christ died. That is the sweet, personal, life-giving message of the cross. As one redeemed by Christ, you belong to Him, to His kingdom. You have a place, value, and meaning, and unto your soul is given rest and peace“ (Nagel,17,12).

11. So great is God’s love for you that His Only Son was born, rode into Jerusalem, suffered and crucified for you so that you would be His people and His Church. Jesus wants you to be in His reign; He desires that He be the King of your heart (Nagel 17,13). The Apostle John writes in his 1. Epistle: »See what kind of love the Father has given to you, so that you should be called children of God; and so you are. The reason why the world does not know you is that it did not know Him. Beloved, you are God’s children now, and what you will be has not yet appeared; but you know that when He appears you shall be like Him, because you shall see Him as He is. And all who thus hope in Him purify themselves as Jesus is pure« (1. John 3,1-3).

12. „What this world despises, Jesus takes and uses to accomplish His great purposes of love. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He perfects praise. He had need of a donkey; so also He has need for me and you“ (Nagel 17,14). Amen.

13. Let us pray. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Our God arrives; He does not keep silence. Amen.

To God alone be the Glory

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.

Grace Evangelical-Lutheran

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church

Monday, December 2, 2013

Matthew 21,1-9. 1. Sunday in Advent, Populous Zion

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