“THE COMING KING”
Palm Sunday (Sunday of the Passion)
March 29, 2015
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9 (ESV)
Today is kind of a strange day--a day of mixed feelings of sorts. It has a note of joy in it as we remember the triumphant entry of our Lord into the holy city of Jerusalem but, at the same time, we can’t help but to bear in mind the reason why He went to Jerusalem that last time. But on the other hand, I suppose that mixed feelings are something that we ought to be used to by now, because there are an awful lot of things in life that we have to approach with mixed feelings--an appreciation for the joy of the moment and a confidence in the final outcome, but nevertheless a lot of fears and misgivings about what may happen in the meantime. That’s just the way that life is, even for Christians like us: It can be a frightening experience--one that confronts us each and every day as we are faced with all kinds of uncertainties, resulting in all kinds of mixed feelings.
But as far as we can tell there were no mixed feelings on that first Palm Sunday so many centuries ago. There seemed to be in that crowd of people a unanimity of mind and purpose. All of those people were out there that day for the very same reason: to acclaim this Jesus of Nazareth--to declare Him to be the King of the Jews--to find in Him the Fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy that serves as our text for today. But what happened to that crowd? I’m afraid that we all know the answer. I’m afraid that no matter how joyful we may want to be on Palm Sunday, we just can’t forget the fact that within five short days this joyous cheer of “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9)became a blood-curdling scream of “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (John 19:6) “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19:15). What happened to that crowd is what happens to all of us sometimes. On Palm Sunday and again on Good Friday those people got caught up into the emotion of the moment. But human emotions just aren’t that reliable. Our emotions, like the rest of us, are tainted with sin. Our motivation to speak and to act cannot be merely emotional; it must be rooted in a realization and recognition of who Jesus Christ really is.
Just who is this Jesus--this One who we call our King? Well, for one thing, He is the Righteous One. He is righteous, first of all, in His nature, because He alone is holy: without sin and hating sin. That is what was required. It had to be that way. You or I never could have fit the bill. The Passover lamb prescribed in the book of Exodus had to be what was perceived as the perfect lamb: “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old” (Exodus 12:5). And the Lamb of God, who was to be the Fulfillment of that ancient divine object lesson, likewise had to be perfect and unblemished. He alone was free from sin and guilt, and so He alone could bear the sin and guilt of all humanity. If it were left up to you or me, we couldn’t even atone for our own sins, let alone anyone else’s. But, as the Scripture says: “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV).
Our King Jesus is also righteous in His dealings with us. He is not One to be unfair and unjust. And yet it is fairness and justice that we are afraid of. Because He is righteous and fair and just, He exposes our sin for what it is. He doesn’t want to hear any of our flimsy cover-ups or our lame excuses or our feeble attempts to justify our sinful actions. He wants honest confession--admission of responsibility and guilt. He wants real contrition--a feeling of genuine sorrow over our sinfulness. And He wants genuine repentance--a sincere desire to forsake our sin and amend our wayward lives. This kind of righteousness doesn’t set well with a lot of people. It makes them feel uncomfortable. They are so used to covering up and making excuses and justifying their behavior that they don’t quite know how to handle simple confession, contrition, and repentance. All of this takes them out of their “comfort zone,” so to speak. They have a difficult time receiving the full and free forgiveness that their Savior won for them on the cross. Consequently they want nothing to do with this Lord and King who cuts right through all of the lies and the hypocrisy and exposes us for what we really are.
But Jesus is more than just righteous. He is also described Zechariah’s prophecy as the “humble” One (or, as some translations put it, the ”gentle” One). And believe me, He really is. Just one look at this Palm Sunday scene proves it. How did He enter the city with His motley little group of followers and what was He trying to say by that action? Did He come as a conquering ruler? No, He certainly did not. If that’s what He had had in mind, He would have ridden on a tall and muscular white stallion, surrounded by uniformed and armed heavily armed troops. But He didn’t do any of that. Instead, He came into Jerusalem with His rag-tag band of twelve disciples (with perhaps a few other “hangers-on”) and He came riding on a jackass. Go ahead and laugh--it’s funny. He intended it to be. What He was doing by this act was making fun of the trappings that we associate with power and pride and glory. He was belittling our arrogance, our self-pride, our pompous attitude. He was elevating simple humility as the greatest of virtues.
Our Savior has also shown Himself to be gentle with us. The Lord who exposes our sin and shoots down all of our excuses does so in order to forgive our sin, taking it all upon Himself and nailing it to the cross in His own body. It is sin that He hates. But as much as He hates sin, He loves sinners even more. He loves them enough to suffer and die for them. He is a compassionate Lord--One who doesn’t leave it up to us to do what He knows that we cannot do for ourselves. And so He does it all for us. He meets the demands of God’s Law for us in His perfect life and He suffers the consequences of our sin in His innocent death on the cross in our place. All of this our gentle King did for us, in order that we might receive the blessings of forgiveness, peace with God, and everlasting life as God’s free gifts of grace in Him.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus, we--the Christian Church--are the daughter of Zion. We are the daughter of Jerusalem. And Jesus Christ, our King, is coming to us. He comes not as an imperfect or unreliable king, but as the Righteous One--the Holy One--the One who, because He has won the ultimate victory over sin and death, can be counted on to overcome everything else for us as well. He comes not as an angry Judge or one who is unapproachable, but as the gentle One--the humble One--the compassionate and forgiving One. We need not be afraid of Him. He loves us and forgives us and gives us everlasting life. By the power of His Holy Spirit, working through His Gospel, we receive in faith everything that He offers us by His grace and we respond to His gifts of grace by never failing to laud and glorify Him as our King, our Lord, and especially our Redeemer from sin and death.
Amen.
May the One who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, making us kings and priests before His God and Father, lead you to a life of repentance and trust. May He also be glorified in the lives of you, His people. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.