Palmarum, the 6th Sunday in Lent + Philippians 2:5-11 + April 9, 2017
Order of Holy Communion - pg. 15
Hymn # 160 All Glory, Laud, and HonorIntroit
O LORD, - || do not | be | far | from - | Me; *
O My Strength, hast- | en - | to - | help | Me!
|| Save
Me from | the | li- | on’s - | mouth
*
And from the horns of | the - | wild - | ox- | en! (Psalm 22:19, 21a)
|| My
God, My God, why have You | for- | sak- | en
- | Me? *
Why are You so far | from - | help- - | ing | Me?
|| All
those who see Me | ri- | di- | cule -
| Me; *
They shoot out the lip, | they - | shake - | the | head.
|| They
say “He trusted in the Lord, let | Him | res- | cue - | Him; *
Let Him deliver Him, since He | de- - | lights - | in | Him!”
|| Be
not far from Me, for | trou- | ble | is
- | near; *
For there | is - | none - | to | help. (Psalm 22:1b, 7–8, 11)
(From Judica through Holy Saturday the Gloria
Patri is omitted).
|| O
Lord, do not | be | far | from - |
Me; *
O My Strength, hast- | en - | to - | help | Me!
||
Save Me from | the | li- | on’s - |
mouth *
And from the horns of | the - | wild - | ox- | en! (Psalm 22:19, 21a)
Collect for Palmarum, the 6th Sunday in Lent
Readings
Sermon
Grace
and peace be unto you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
1) “Let this mind be in you,” St. Paul writes, “which was also
in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to
be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a slave,
and coming in the likeness of
men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient to the point of death,
even the death of the cross.” With
these words St. Paul describes the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of
God. This Jesus Christ is in the form of God and did not consider it robbery to
be equal with God. “Being in the form of God” means that Christ is truly
God. He is the Only-Begotten Son of the Father, begotten before all worlds were
made. The Apostle John calls Him the Word of God, making Him coeternal with the
God the Father, because there was never a time when God would be without His
Word. The Word of God is that which God the Father used as His instrument for
creating all things seen and unseen. “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that
was made” (John 1:3). Elsewhere, St. Paul calls Christ “the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express
image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). Christ is to God
the Father what brightness is to light, so when we see Christ, when we hear
Christ, when we learn from Christ, we are seeing, hearing, and learning from
God the Father since Christ is “the
express image of His person.” Christ Jesus is in the form of God, being the
everlasting Son of the Father, the Only-Begotten Son of God. That is why He “did not consider it robbery to be equal
with God.” He IS equal with God the Father. There is no robbery involved in
calling Him God.
2) That
fact is what makes what Paul says next so mysterious, so ineffable, and so incredible.
The eternal Son of God “made Himself of
no reputation, took on the form of a slave, and came in the likeness of men.”
The one who shares in the honor of God the Father makes empties Himself and
makes Himself nothing. The one who is, by nature, in the form of God, takes on
the form of a slave. The One who created man in the Garden of Eden now comes to
earth in the likeness of men. The translation before us today reads, “He made
Himself of no reputation.” A better way of translating it might be, “He emptied
Himself out.” All His divine prerogative He lays aside. All the glory He has
the eternal Son of God is hidden away and concealed under human flesh.
Everything that He is by nature, he puts aside, though not in a way so that He
ceased to be God. He takes on the form of a slave, and came in the likeness of
men. He assumes our human flesh. He assume His opposite and comes to earth.
This is what St. John is speaking of in His first chapter when He writes, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The incarnation, the
enfleshment, of the Son of God is the chief mystery of the Christian faith
because who can fathom with their mind how this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is
fully man and fully God at the same time, so that “in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily?” (Colossians 2:9).
Human reason and understanding can’t comprehend such a thing. It must be taught
by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God. We can explain this great
mystery with as many words as the Scriptures give us. We can confess what the
Scripture teach us about Christ. But ultimately, only faith can believe this
man, Jesus of Nazareth, to be fully God and fully man.
3) What is even more mysterious about this
enfleshment of the Son of God is the reason He did it. In the ancient Greek
myths the pagan gods come down from heaven and appear in the form of men from
time to time. When Zeus came down from Olympus it was to fulfill his own
desires, usually the desire he had for a human woman. The Greek gods came to
earth to gratify their lusts and their desire to be praised by men. The Greek
gods are obvious forgeries of God because they behave just like men do. That is
the sure sign of idolatry, when your god behaves just like you do. But Christ
Jesus is different. He does not assume human flesh to gratify some desire or to
fill a need of His own, as if God can have unmet needs. The Lord says in Psalm
50:12, “If I were
hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and all its fullness.” Nor does He come to be worshipped and adored as a prince among men,
though He deserves man’s worship. He
does not appear in the likeness of men to threaten men’s lives and destroy
them. No, He comes in humility. He comes in charity. He comes in meekness. He
says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). He demonstrates His
humility again today as He comes to Jerusalem “lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the
foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). Christ
comes not to take from mankind but to give.
4) The final goal of incarnation
of the Son of God, the purpose of all of this, is His death. St. Paul says, “And being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the cross.” This is the reason
for the incarnation. He must come as man so that He can die as a man for the
sake of all men. For all men and women are born sinful, born under the wrath of
God because they are born of the line of Adam and Eve who brought sin and death
into the world through their disobedience. The Only-Begotten Son of God assumes
human flesh so that He might bear the wrath of God upon the cross for all mankind
to atone for the sins of all mankind. God the Father “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might
become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Every Old Testament sacrifice, every Passover
lamb, all the blood of bulls and goats pointed forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29),
for “without
shedding of blood there is no remission” of sins
(Hebrews 9:22). Christ comes to us humbly and meekly to die for us, to be “the propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2). He atones for the
sins of the entire world by His death upon the cross, so that all who believe
in Him have what He offers: the forgiveness of all their sins, salvation, and everlasting
life. He earns a perfect righteousness, one which no man, woman, or child could
accomplish, and He offers that perfect righteousness to all, and gives it
freely to us when we believe the Gospel: that for Christ’s sake we have a God
who is merciful to us and loves us.
5) Today Christ humbly enters Jerusalem so that He might be betrayed by one of
His own, that He might suffer for our sins and die to win the forgiveness of
all our sins. He goes willingly to be wounded for our transgressions, to be
bruised for our iniquities, to receive the chastisement that brings us peace,
so that “by His stripes we are healed”
(Isaiah 53:5). How do we respond to
such an incredible, ineffable, mysterious promise? How do we receive such a
glorious God who is willingly crucified for sinners? Let the humble multitude
outside of Jerusalem show us. They “spread
their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road” (Matthew 21:8). Let us put no obstacle in the way
of receiving our humble and crucified Lord Jesus. Let us prepare our hearts by
removing not our physical clothing, but the garment of the sinful flesh. This
means that we receive the crucified Christ by confess our sins and laying them
aside. We repent of them, we sorrow over them, and we desire to be rid of them.
So let us cast them off as one casts of an old garment. Others outside
Jerusalem cut down palm branches to lay before the coming Christ. So let us cut
down the high branches within our hearts, our haughty thoughts, our ambitions,
and any imagination that says we don’t need what He comes to win for us. For if
you think you have no sin, or that your sins aren’t that bad and don’t deserve
death and Hell, then you think don’t need a crucified Christ. Let us humble
ourselves at the coming of our humble Lord, knowing that “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Let us gladly confess ourselves to be sinners who are sick
with sins, for Christ says in Mark 2:17, “Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners,
to repentance.”
6) Finally,
let us fill our hearts and mouths with the words of the crowd outside
Jerusalem. “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of
the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9). Hosanna is Hebrew for “Save
us, please.” Let us not only confess our sins but believe His Gospel so that we
firmly trust and do not doubt that by His death covers all our sins so that they
are blotted out and remembered no more by God our heavenly Father. Let us bless
One who comes in the name of the Lord, the Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all that He has given to us by the mystery of His incarnation. Let us bow
the knee, if not physically, then let us bow in our hearts before the one who
came to give His life that we might have everlasting life, the one who knew no
sin yet became sin for us so that by faith in Christ and confidence in His
mercy and merits, we might become the righteousness of God. Let us praise God
our Father for sending His Only-Begotten Son into the world in human flesh. Let
us praise God the Son who, “though
He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty
might become rich” in heavenly blessings (2 Cor.
8:9). Let us praise God the Holy Ghost that for the faith He works in our
hearts to believe this mysterious, ineffable, and incredible Gospel of the
forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake. Amen.
May
the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.