Advent 1

Matthew 21:1-9 - Advent 1 - December 1, 2013

  Lauding the Lord's Lowliness

Today is the first Sunday of the Church Year and the beginning of the Season of Advent.  During Advent, we prepare for our celebration of Jesus’ birth at Christmas.  We do this first of all by remembering why He was born in the first place: to die on the cross and take away the sin of the world.  It’s fitting that we begin the Church Year with the Gospel lesson that we just heard, because it records Jesus’ final entrance into Jerusalem right before His long awaited crucifixion under Pontius Pilate.  We begin the Church Year with the same Gospel, which is appointed for Palm Sunday as well.  We do this because the entire Year, indeed, our entire lives revolve around that singular event that took place on Mt. Calvary 2000 years ago.  The reason we make the cross the focus of our Church year is because it is the focus of Scripture. 

The Old Testament is full of prophecies concerning Christ’s death on the cross.  In Genesis 3, we have the very first promise of the Gospel, when God says to the serpent, “[The Seed of the woman] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”  This means that the incarnate Son of God would save mankind from the tyranny of the devil, but in the process, He would give His own life.  Isaiah describes the events of Jesus’ crucifixion with unmistakable accuracy: “He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities…”  Psalm 22 likewise, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? … they pierced My hands and My feet …” And still there are many more places in the Old Testament that speak clearly of how the promised Savior and King of Israel would sacrifice His own life in order to save sinners from hell. 

Obviously these prophesies are all the clearer after the fulfillment.  But it’s amazing, nonetheless, that no matter how clear the promises of the Old Testament prophets were, it still came as a surprise, and even a scandal, that through the preaching of this Man’s cross, all the world should be saved.  The reason so few people expected their king to come in such humility is really pretty simple: it isn’t what they wanted.  But what did they want?  Well, they wanted what anyone would have expected to get when they are told that their King is coming to save them: they expected and wanted a glorious victory over all their earthly enemies. 

We don’t have kings today.  But in Jesus’ day, and throughout the Old Testament, a king was a very powerful man.  He commanded great armies, and demanded the submission of all his subjects by punishing disobedience.  Only by exhibiting such power and glory could a king defend his people and keep them safe.  Then the question of course comes down to this: safe from what?

Rome.  War. 

Sin.  Humility. 

What do we need to be saved from?  What you want will shape what you expect. 

In Jeremiah, our first lesson this morning, we hear that the promised son of David “shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely.”  This was a spiritual promise.  But many Jews had expected a political savior who would come and free them from Roman occupation and once again make them a great nation.  The reason they thought this way is because they had poorly diagnosed their own spiritual problem.  They thought that they needed to be freed from political enemies.  But they didn’t believe that their greatest enemy was their own sin. 

Jesus came to fulfill Scripture, including that which we just heard.  He came to save all mankind from their sin.  In order to do this, He had to disappoint all the false hopes and dreams of Israel that imagined a different kind of glory.  Jesus came as the very opposite of a triumphant king.  He hid His eternal glory and fulfilled those words of Gospel from Zechariah 9: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” 

Jesus was the exact opposite of the king that most of Israel had expected.  Donkey = king ushering in peace.  But peace still needed to be won.  Jesus was the exact opposite of the king that most of Israel had expected.  But this makes sense, since the righteousness that Jesus won for us is the exact opposite of the righteousness that those who need no Savior from sin pretend to have.  It is the difference between whatever sinful man can produce and that which we must receive from God by grace alone through faith.  An earthly king demands righteousness from us; but Jesus gives righteousness to us. 

Jesus came to earth in humility to serve us in mercy.  He didn’t come in order to demand submission by force, like earthly kings must do.  No, instead He came to earth as a lowly servant in order to rescue us from the wages of our sin, and to gain victory over our death.  It was precisely in His seeming defeat on the cross that Jesus won our victory. 

Behold, your King comes to you lowly.  Christ came to serve sinners.  And He continues to do this.  He does this through His Means of Grace today where He gives to us the very righteousness that He earned by submitting to the Law.  The law is a much more oppressive tyrant than Rome or anyone else could ever have been or be, because it reveals that we are enemies of God.  But for Jesus’ sake, God forgives us our sin through the word and sacraments that deliver to us in lowly form the very victory that He came as a servant to earn in our place. 

It really is amazing, though, how such clear prophesies about Jesus were ignored and redefined by those Jews who did not believe.  And yet the word of God today continues to be twisted.  The New Testament is not less clear than what we heard from Jeremiah, Zechariah, David, Moses and others.  In fact, the words in the New Testament that teach us about the benefits of the Sacraments are even clearer than what was promised in the Old.  What, after all, can be less vague than the sure statement that “Baptism does now save”? from 1^st Peter 3:21. What can be more certain than the words that declare from Jesus’ own lips, “This is My body”?  What words can be more free from confusion than the promise that “whosever sins you forgive on earth are forgiven in heaven”?  And yet these very words of comfort from our Lord’s own mouth are under attack by those who would rather paint a more triumphant picture of the Christian life. 

“Does Jesus rule your life?” they ask.  “Is He really your King?  Has He vanquished all your enemies, you who call yourselves Christians?  Or do you still struggle with the same old sins?  Do you still find weakness and regret in your heart, and in your life?  Do you still see yourself making provision for the flesh to gratify its desires?  Do you still see the demanding reign of the Law that occupies and enslaves your wounded conscience?  Ah, then you must invite the Lord into your heart [have you heard this?]. You must wait for your King to come to you in pomp and glory to remove all those shackles from your life.   Or have you not experienced the victorious triumph of the Lord of Glory who frees you here and now from all that keeps you cast down in despair?”  But dear Christians what do we wait for?  What kind of coming does Jesus promise us today?  Do not expect Him to come to you in any more splendor than when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to die 2000 years ago – because His means of conveyance today are no loftier than the foal of a beast of burden.  He does not come to show you what kind of power will give you a similar victory.  He comes to you freely giving the victory that his lowly submission has procured. 

Just as it might have seemed that Jesus’ entry would have been more marvelous, it seems that he would have also given his disciples a more impressive task to serve him.  But there is no more important task than fulfilling Scripture.  The disciples’ work did not make them look very accomplished.  And the work of your pastor does not make him look very important either.  Neither of our work makes Jesus look very glorious.  But by doing the work that Jesus gave them to do, the disciples provided the means by which Jesus would come to His people – with lowliness and humility in order to serve them in mercy as He made His way to the cross.  That is where we find the glory of Jesus. 

Jesus’ victory in your life right now is not by making you look triumphant.  The servant is no greater than his master.  In fact, you still look like sinners.  And you will still feel your sin.  You will still suffer persecution and temptation, and disappointment in your earnest efforts to live better lives.  But Jesus did not come to make Israel a great nation by her own standards.  He came to take her sin and your sin into Himself as He suffered all of God’s wrath in our place.  Jesus does not come to give you your best life now, as though our success and righteousness will shine.  No, our righteousness is hidden in lowliness just as Jesus hid His own victory under the veil of defeat as He crushed the ancient serpent’s head by dying on the cross.  And so we find our glorious victory today, not where our righteousness shines, but where it is hidden in Christ through the promise of the Gospel. 

Only by faith can we accept the lowly advent of Jesus as He came to take our sins away on the cross.   And only by faith in what He earned for humanity there, can we accept His lowly advent today as He comes to bring us what He earned through the humble means of water, of bread and wine, and through the words of a sinner like me.  But make no mistake about it.  When Jesus comes to you right now through the Absolution, when you approach this altar to partake of His body and blood, He is bringing with Him all the glory that not even heaven can contain.  He does this by forgiving you your sins and through this He creates the very faith that saves you. 

 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation.”   

Who is this daughter of Zion?  Who is this daughter of Jerusalem?  It is the Holy Christian Church; that’s who.  It always has been.  It is those who see their real need for salvation in the forgiveness of their sins that God has promised.  It is those who rejoice when Jesus comes.  We don’t look for pomp and majesty as we await our Savior to come to us.  Instead, we find Him coming in humility and lowliness, and in true faith we adorn Him with praise. 

In Advent we see the connection between Christmas and the cross, because Jesus fulfilled all that he came to do.  It is for that reason that he comes still today.  And it is for this reason that we celebrate this season of Advent and every advent of word and sacrament.  In these appearances of lowliness, the greatest glory is shown, when our sins are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. 

And it is for this reason that we Christians go about our daily lives in humble service to others, despite how menial and insignificant our work appears.  Because when we live our lives believing this, that we are righteous before God for Jesus’ sake, even the lowliest task is the most glorious service rendered to God.  Because faith in the righteousness of Christ, by which we have true peace with God, is the greatest honor and glory and shout of hosanna there is. 

In Jesus’ name.  Amen