Romans 13:11-14 and Matthew 21:1-9
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
As the church’s year begins anew, we hear a familiar gospel lesson. Jesus and His disciples are drawing near Jerusalem. When they come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of his disciples into the village opposite Bethphage. He tells them that they will find a donkey tied, and a colt with the donkey. These two disciples are to loose both animals and bring them to Jesus. If anyone says anything about what they’re doing, they’re to simply say, “The Lord has need of them.” Mark and Luke tell us in their accounts that someone did indeed ask them what they were doing, and that the reply the Lord had given them was enough. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. Jesus doesn’t ride on both the donkey and the colt at the same time. When Matthew says the disciples sat Jesus on them he’s using a figure of speech called synecdoche, in which a part can refer to the whole, or a whole can refer to a part. Mark and Luke both tell us that Jesus rode only the colt. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on the colt, the foal of the donkey, following a royal highway of palm branches and garments, while shorts of “Hosanna to the Son of David” fill the air.
This gospel lesson is familiar as all the gospel lessons are. We hear the same lessons on the same Sundays each year, and this is meant to teach us the entire Christian faith over the course on an entire year. But we hear this text—St. Matthew’s account of Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem—even more often. We hear this text every year on this Sunday. We also hear this very same text each year on Palm Sunday—the beginning of Holy Week. Why do we hear this text so often, twice a year every year? The answer lies in the interpretation of Jesus’ actions. Why does Jesus tell these two disciples to go to the village opposite Bethphage, loose someone’s donkey and her colt, and bring them to Him? Why does Jesus ride the colt into Jerusalem the way He does? St. Matthew interprets Jesus’ actions: “All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’” Jesus’ action shows His care for God’s Word. He fulfills prophecy, and not just one prophecy, but all the Scriptures since the Scriptures testify of Him (John 5:39). But more so, Jesus fulfills this prophecy because by this He would be identified as the king of Zion, the ruler of Israel, the Messiah. Riding on the colt marks Jesus as the arriving king. It also tells us what kind of king arrives.
What king enters His city on a colt, the foal of a donkey? Chariots and armies with heralds running before him are more like it, for the ancient world, at least. Motorcades of black limousines filing to the capital is what we’re used to seeing. For all their differences, modern rulers are no different than ancient ones. When they arrive, they arrive in fanfare and formality, splendor and solemnity. It’s a show of strength, might, prestige, and honor. But the prophet says that this is not now Zion’s king will arrive. He is coming in lowliness, and nothing says lowliness, humility, and gentleness, like riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey. But this is the point. Jesus does not come to Jerusalem to be an earthly king. He will even tell a group of Pharisees during Holy Week, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Matt 22:21). He will tell Pilate the governor of Judea appointed by Caesar, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Jesus doesn’t arrive in Jerusalem as king of the earthly Zion, the Jerusalem which now is (Gal 4:25). He arrives as the lowly king of the true Zion, the Jerusalem above (Gal 4:26), the Israel of God, which is the body of believers—Jew and Gentile alike.
He arrives in such a lowly, gentle fashion because His advent is not one of judgment, but mercy. He says in John 3:17, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” This is the purpose of His advent. This is why the eternal Son of God assumes human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary and lives as man. This lowliness and gentleness is how He conducts His ministry precisely because He comes to call sinners to Himself so that they repent of their sins, believe in Him, and so live under Him in His kingdom of grace. He tells the multitude in Matthew 11:28-30, “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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” This king seeks those who labor under the heavy burden of sin. He offers rest to the conscience burdened by guilt and sorrow. He offers His yoke and burden instead, a yoke and burden that are easy and light. His yoke is not like sin’s yoke. His yoke frees because it is perfect forgiveness for every sin. His burden unburdens because it is His perfect righteousness in God’s sight. His yoke, His burden, is the gospel, for in the gospel alone do sinners find rest for souls wearied by sin, the temptations of the devil, and the oppression of this evil world in which we live. We sang this very thing a moment ago in the sermon hymn, “Once He came in blessing, All our ills redressing; Came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy; Bore the cross to save us, Hope and freedom gave us” (TLH 74:1). All who receive this king in faith receive His yoke and His burden, and He, as their gracious king, takes away their sin and guilt. This is the purpose of Jesus’ advent in humility, which continues even now through His true ministers. He continues to invite sinners to Himself through the preaching of repentance and faith.
The day will come, however, when this time of grace is completed. During the days of His lowliness Christ promised that He would return in glory, with all the holy angels with Him. He will return to judge all mankind. The dead will be raised so that they might be judged. The sea will give up its dead, so that every one of Adam and Eve’s descendants will stand before His glorious throne to be judged. Those who did good in their life—good that flowed from faith in Christ—will enter everlasting life. Those who did evil in their life—evil because, no matter how good they appeared before man, in God’s sight whatever is not from faith is sin (Rom 14:23)—those will enter everlasting punishment. Jesus says in John 3:18, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” All who refuse Christ’s invitation to come to Him in repentance and faith stand condemned already. God’s wrath remains on all who reject repentance and cling to their sins, defend them, and excuse them. For many confess Christ with their lips but deny Him with their life, imagining that Christ can be their king while they live as their own ruler.
This sort of fleshly security can happen to any Christian because we all have the sinful flesh with its lusts and desires. This is why St. Paul warns us in today’s epistle that it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The sleep of security imagines we cannot fall away from faith. The lethargy of the flesh is to be shaken off because with the passing of each day we are one day closer to Christ’s second advent. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. If we believe that Christ fulfilled all the Scriptures that pertained to His first advent, we believe that He will fulfill the Scriptures and return to judge the living and the dead. Christ wants His Christians to watch for His coming, not by gluing their eyes to the skies or their television screens watching for signs, but by daily casting of the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light. He wants us to put off the Old Man each day, our sinful nature, and put on the New man, our spirit renewed by the gospel. We put aside debauchery and drunkenness, sexual immorality and indecency, discord and jealousy, and any other work of darkness—sin—which may tempt us. We make no provision, no allowance for the flesh, for the wickedness it wants. We do this for several reasons, one of which is thanksgiving for the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, another is that we do not want to go back to our sins, for if we give in to them and live in them, we deny our king and His rule in our hearts.
For now, there is forgiveness. Christ still advents among us, in our hearts each day, inviting us to repentance and faith. Christ still advents among us as our lowly and gentle King, desiring to rule our hearts and minds, not with force and coercion, but with His gospel and Holy Spirit. This is why we hear this text twice a year, every year. For as many days as God grants us, He desires to come to us with His gospel and rule our hearts with it, so that when He returns in glory to judge the living and dead, He may recognize us as His own, and welcome us into everlasting glory and blessedness. Amen.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
