The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Luke 19:28 After He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 When He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; there, as you enter, you will find a colt tied on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as He had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 They said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their coats on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As He was going, they were spreading their coats on the road. 37 As soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 shouting: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!” find you asleep. 37 What I say to you I say to all, ‘Be on the alert!’” (NASB)
The assigned Gospel lesson for this first Sunday in Advent is the same basic lesson that we will read at the beginning of Holy Week. If a person is new to the church calendar and the assigned reading for this First Sunday of the church year, a reading about Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday seems out of place. It seems more like Easter than Advent and Christmas. But this has been the traditional Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in advent for a very long time.
Advent is after all about preparing for the coming of the King in all His various manifestations. Amidst all of the sentimentality, and historical revisionism, and theological ignorance about Christmas and the Christ Child, Christ as King must be front and center of any Advent observance. So we have before us the Triumphal Entry of Christ the King as our assigned reading.
First to some “kingly” facts. In the ancient world and even today the “triumph of a king” involves both prevailing over and rejoicing in the new king. Second the triumph of a king also establishes and manifests his kingship.
Defeat makes a king into no king at all and a king without a subjects isn’t a king either. Unless a king is recognized as king, he is no king.
A king, therefore, implies a kingdom. A kingdom consists of people who acknowledge the man as king and willingly live under his rule and according to his laws.
Historically Americans don’t much like kings and for good reason. But when it comes to human history, monarchies and dictatorships have been the default governing system for humanity.
So this morning’s sermon is dedicated to a review of the office of king in general and Israel’s own history with kings as a prelude to both the Gospel lesson and to our Advent preparation for our King is coming.
For most of human history kings are troublesome people. They are the law. They demand obedience. They have the authority to reward family and friends and punish their enemies.
Kings should be a blessing to their people. They can also be a curse. It seems to be true that absolute power corrupts absolutely and kings usually have absolute power.
At first the children of God didn’t have a king. They had Moses. Joshua, and judges who acted based on God’s Word. But as time went on that wasn’t enough for the Israelites. In the ancient world every other great nation in the world had a king. 1 Samuel 8 tells us that the Israelites wanted a king to judge them “like all the nations” had. They wanted a king that would fight their wars (1 Sam. 8:4–22). They wanted a king that would give them prestige and a place at the table of world power.
In response to their demand, the Lord God sent the prophet Samuel to warn the people what life would be like if they went the way of the rest of the world. 1 Samuel chapter 8 God tells them exactly what is will happen if they are intent on having a king, likened unto the other kings in the world.
Through the prophet Samuel God tells them a king will use their sons to protect himself in battles. A king will take their daughters to be his bakers and cooks. He will take their property to enrich his friends and political allies. He will tax the common people to enrich his servants. All the people will be the king’s subjects, which meant, they’d be his slaves.
By demanding a king of their own, the adopted children of God were rejecting the rule of God by His word administered by judges. They wanted a bread king and a king that would get along with the rest of the world.
All that God had done for them in the past didn’t matter. His delivery of their fathers in the faith out of Egypt didn’t matter. His faithfulness to their fathers in the wilderness, didn’t matter. The fact that He had led them into a land flowing with milk and honey and had given that land to them, didn’t matter in that moment. What matter is that they wanted to be like the rest of the world. They wanted a king. They got a king. In fact they ended up with a lot of kings over time and all but a very few turned out to be very bad kings. What constituted a bad kin? That would be a king who forsook the God of God, who corrupted the worship services of the Lord God and brought Baal worship to the temple. They were kings who exploited, used, and over taxed the commoner for their own gain and the gain of their friends. They got their kings alright and it didn’t turn out all that well.
But when it comes to a king, the Lord God would have the last word. He would send Israel a different kind of king. He was intent on setting on the throne a king who would rule over the children of God with God’s own grace and mercy. The same grace and mercy that was shown to him.
So God raised up a shepherd boy named David and commissioned him saying “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.” (2 Sam 5:2). A shepherd boy to shepherd and people and in time become king over the house of Israel.
Old Testament scholars call it the Davidic Kingdom and it would be different than the others. The Messiah would come from David’s line. Thus the promise that the kingdom of David would be blessed by “the steadfast love” of God, which would never depart from it. We all know that king David was not a sinless man. He sinned daily and also grievously. But he repented and was forgiven and for his sins, David was not allowed to build a proper temple in which God would dwell. Instead, God said that Solomon “shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam 7:13). God Himself would be King over Israel. He would rule over His children and would dwell with Israel through the earthly Davidic king and in the temple. In other words, He ruled through both the man and office of King David and in the temple as the people’s forgiving Father.
While God remained ever faithful in the Old Testament, the kings and people who follow David and Solomon did not. After repeated calls for the kings, religious leaders, and people to repent, the Lord God gave them over to be conquered by the kings of Assyria and Babylon—and eventually Rome (Micah 6:16) for their idolatry.
In the midst of their exile and slavery to pagan kings, the Lord God promised His people through the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah that they would be returned to the land and be rescued from their sin through the already promised Messiah. In time, they would have a good King, a King who would bring a new kingdom and God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!” Zechariah was sent to say, “Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9) That is a promise of a different kind of king. This one is humble. This one serves. This one has something different to give– salvation.
And this humble king would come from a humble town: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” (Micah 5:2).
This King would be the true Davidic King. He is the One who fulfills that which God promised in Micah 5:4-5: “And he shall stand and shepherd [God’s] flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God And [Israel] shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.” (Micah 5:4–5). He would come into His temple to purify His priests and His people (Mal 3:1–3).
Enter Jesus on that first Palm Sunday who “was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem” and a great multitude that lined the road singing, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
That great multitude was there to welcome their king. They were preparing the way for their promised King or so they thought. Their king “humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The Davidic King comes to His royal city and to His house the temple as a humble King who wept over the city’s rejection and passed judgment on the people who had turned His Father’s house into a den of thieves. But He was also the King who sacrifice Himself to save us. He did not take our sons or daughters to protect or enrich Himself. He did the opposite.
Jesus comes in such a humble manner, it is no wonder that so many refuse to recognize Him, even in His own Church. He does not present Himself the way we think He should come. We expect earthly peace, popularity, and prosperity. We desire entertainment, promises, and principles of success and wealth.
The Son of David, the King of kings, and Lord of lords does not come in such ways because He does not come to bring us an earthly kingdom. Jesus tells Pilate on Good Friday when He is asked if He is a king, (John 18:36) “My kingdom is not of this world.”
The King of kings also had to be the Lamb of God. The King rides into Jerusalem and to His sacrificial death to bring us to a far better kingdom and never ending kingdom.
This is the very reason that He came lowly, riding on a colt the fold of a donkey, was arrested, tried, convicted by God the Father and sinful man alike, crucified, died, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven to rule His kingdom.
Get ready. Our King is coming. Get ready. Our King has defeated the foe. Get ready our King is here in this place forgiving your sins through His Word and Sacrament. Get ready, Christ the King is born, Christmas is coming. Get ready. Our King will come again.
AMEN.
May the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.