Palm Sunday + Matthew 21:1-9 + March 25, 2018

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Jesus enters Jerusalem the way does today to teach us what kind of King He is. On Friday morning He would tell Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). On Sunday He demonstrated that difference. He begins His journey by sending two of His disciples, which two we’re not told, into the city of Bethphage. Jesus tells them that immediately upon entering the village they will find a donkey and her colt tethered. They are to bring the colt and her mother to Jesus. If anyone says anything about it, they are to answer simply, “The Lord has need of them.” This is a strange errand. Jesus had entered Jerusalem many times during His earthly ministry and never asked for two beasts of burden before. But this day is different. This is the day the prophet Zechariah foretold. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). When the King of Israel enters Jerusalem again, He will do it in this way. Now when Zechariah made this prophesy by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit there was no king in Jerusalem, nor had there been for seventy years. This was to be a sign for the people. When you see a man sitting on a colt, the foal of a donkey, entering Jerusalem, Zion, the city of David then you would see your King. Jesus has the donkey and her colt fetched to show the people of Judea, whether they believed Him or not, that He was their King. “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.” Christ will do this for the rest of the week. He will continually fulfill the prophesies given to the Patriarchs and prophets to show Israel, to show you, that He is the promised one, the Messiah, the King.

When you see Jesus riding into Jerusalem, seated on the donkey’s colt, the mother following, you see the King Zechariah foretold. He doesn’t look like other kings because His kingdom isn’t like other kingdoms. The way He reigns isn’t the same way that kings, governors, or presidents rule their people. He is “lowly.” There’s no arrogance. No presumption. No high-handedness. There isn’t even might and power on display. Instead Jesus is lowly and meek. The contrast becomes even sharper when you consider who Jesus is. He’s not a prophet. He’s THE prophet whom Moses foretold would come and preach God’s Word. He’s not a priest. He’s THE high priest of God come to make THE atoning sacrifice for the sin of the entire world. He’s not a king. He’s THE king of kings, the Lord of lords. He is the Son of God of whom we confessed in the Nicene Creed a moment ago to be “God of God, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.” Jesus is God Himself, God’s Son, who has assumed our human nature in every way, except without sin. St. Paul describes Him this way, as “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 bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7). This is lowliness. This is humility. God becomes man.

But the humiliation and lowliness isn’t just that the eternal Son of God assumed human flesh. He did not do this for Himself. There’s no prestige or glory to be gained in God becoming flesh. He does it to save His people. And to save them He must die in their place, for their sins, as their substitute. “Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8). His lowliness and humility is that He became man in order to die for the sons of men. Earthly kings have a multitude of servants. Christ said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). The way He serves humanity is by taking all of humanity’s sins upon Himself and dying for them. Zechariah has said of Him, “He is just and having salvation” (Zechariah 9:9). Christ proves Himself to be just, for He willingly bears the justice of God His Father against sinners. God can’t simply ignore our sin and let us into His kingdom. If He did that He would not be just, nor righteous, nor holy. That would make Him permissive and weak, like a parent that promises to discipline his children but then relents, doing more harm than good to the children. God’s justice demand that the penalty for sin be paid. But in His mercy He gives us His only-begotten Son, in human flesh, to bear our deserved punishment. This is how He reigns. We do not serve God and earn His favor. He favors us and serves us by suffering God’s wrath against sinners and paying the wages of our sin, which is death.

This is why the prophet says that He is just “and having salvation.” He Himself is just, fully righteous, committing no sin, speaking no sin, and thinking nothing contrary to God’s will for humanity. He is perfectly righteous and pays for our all our sins. This is how He can have salvation for us. His salvation is that He has paid the penalty for our sins AND that He lived justly, righteously, and perfectly whereas none of us have. Christ offers all men the forgiveness of every sin because He has made atonement for every sin. Christ offers all men His righteousness so that they stand before God’s throne as sons of God, perfectly righteous, in whom there is no spot or blemish of sin, greed, corruption, lust, covetousness, or pride. He takes away the sins of those who believe this and He gives them His perfect righteousness. It is as St. Paul says in Romans 4, Christ’s perfect merits and righteousness “shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification” (Romans 4:24-25). He humbled Himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross. He was delivered up into suffering and death for our offenses. And He was raised on the third day so that He might be a living Lord and King who would daily justify us and declare us righteous when we confess our sins and feel to Him for refuge from God’s wrath.

This is the kind of King Jesus is. He is humble of heart because He comes to call all men to Himself, that is, He calls men everywhere to repent of their sins and seek mercy from Him because He desires to show mercy. “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,” He says in Matthew 11:28-29. He doesn’t come as a tyrant. He does not come as an angry judge. He comes to be your King, just and having salvation, lowly and gentle of heart. Jesus says in John 3:17-18, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned.” Those who believe the Gospel, that in Christ God is merciful to us poor sinners, forgiving all our sins for Christ’s sake, aren’t condemned, for Jesus has taken that condemnation on Himself to the point of death, and risen! But He warns us in the rest of the verse, “He who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Behold your king. He comes to serve, not to be served. He comes to give His life for you, not to demand your life. He is lowly, sitting on a donkey, the colt, the foal of a donkey so as to show you what kind of King He is for you.

And how ought we to respond? First, with faith, firmly believing and not doubting that He has taken our punishment upon Himself and borne the wrath of God that we deserve for our many and daily sins. The crowd that went before and followed after Him from the mount of Olives to Jerusalem rejoices over Him. They see the One whom the prophets foretold. So we too should see in Jesus the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament and rejoice that God has sent us a Savior King. That’s what they sing to Jesus when they shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosanna means “Save us” in Hebrew. Hosanna looks to Jesus for salvation and praises Him for the salvation He brings. So we ought to always look to Jesus in faith, trusting in His compassion and believing that by faith, not because of our goodness or worthiness, He saves us from our sins.

The crowd also shows us how else to rejoice in His arrival. They take off their outer garments and lay them in the path of the cold. So we lay down our garments at Jesus’ feet. Not our actual garment, but the garment of our sinful flesh. St. Paul tells us, “Put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Ephesians 4:22). Put off the old man, the sinful flesh. This means we ought to daily strive against our sins and our sinful nature, putting it off like we would a piece of clothing, and putting on Christ’s righteousness as our daily dress instead. This means that we say “no” to our sins, remembering that we belong to Christ who has forgiven our sins. Finally, the crowd cuts palms to lay at Jesus feet. Palms are a sight of victory over one’s enemies. So we ought to rejoice in the victory that Christ gives us over our sins, first in that He removes them from us by forgiving us of them, and second, we rejoice in the victory He gives us in daily temptations when, by His help and aid, we abstain from our sins. May Christ, our humble King who brings us salvation, work this faith in us all. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.