Sermon text: Isaiah 53:5–7
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
In like a lion, out like a lamb. You’ve heard the saying before. It refers to the month of March. It’s the idea that March usually comes in like a lion — weather harsh and cold and fighting — but at the end of the month, March often goes out like a lamb — the weather fair and mild and sunny. In like a lion, out like a lamb: strong beginning of the month, gentle end.
That may be true for the month of March, but it also can be said of the Holy Week celebration. In like a lion, out like a lamb. You see, that is how it went for the Lord Jesus Christ on His march into Jerusalem on Passion Sunday, and out of the city of Jerusalem on Good Friday. Christ came into the city like a lion, at least in the minds of those who came out to sing praises to Him. But He went out like a lamb, a lamb led to slaughter.
Holy Week begins today with a Sunday we call Palm Sunday. Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem and is hailed as a conquering hero, greeted with palm branches and loud praises of hosanna in the highest. But Holy Week reaches its climax on Good Friday, when Jesus is crowned with thorns and led out of the city like a common criminal, onto crucifixion and death and burial. So this week, this Holy Week, we see our Lord come in like a lion, but He will go out like a lamb.
A lion king — that’s what the people wanted on that Palm Sunday. Someone to march right into Jerusalem and run the Romans right out. They wanted a mighty Messiah, a new King David. Someone strong and aggressive and powerful. Someone to get rid of the foreigners, to kick them out of the country, and to make Israel great again. That’s what many were hoping for when Jesus showed up: a would-be political savior, a lion king.
Now, the idea of a lion king Messiah goes all the way back to the book of Genesis, Genesis 49:10. There we read, “Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” And so from the tribe of Judah would come the rulers of the people of Israel. King David was such a ruler, a great military leader who brought the glory and grandeur to the nation. And David’s descendants would continue to hold and wield the scepter for centuries after him, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him shall be the obedience of the nations. There would come one descendant of David who would be like the Lion of Judah, the promised Messiah, the lion king.
Now Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. He was a descendant of David’s. So could He be the great messianic lion king? He had done such great and wonderful works throughout His earthly ministry. His wisdom seemed to exceed that of King Solomon himself. Could He be the promised one of old?
Pilgrim throngs from all over were already crowding Jerusalem for the Passover feast. Excitement was building; expectation was running high. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. So the people go out to meet Him with their songs: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” So Jesus enters the city in triumph. But He drives out not even one Roman soldier. The only driving out He does is when He clears the temple of merchants. Instead of denouncing Israel’s political enemies, He denounces Israel’s political-religious leaders: the Pharisees, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Law and gospel, not sword and club, are His weapons of choice.
Is there any way to lead a rebellion without swords and clubs? It is the way to bring sinners to repentance. And it is the way to bring the rage and anger of your opponents down on your head, by calling them sinners in need of repentance. And that in turn will be the very way Christ will win forgiveness of sins: by being struck down by His enemies, who show a greater force than He does.
The Lion of Judah is going the way of the Lamb, the way of the cross. On Good Friday, He’s led out of the city in disgrace. He’s crucified. He dies. He is buried. You see, it would take a lamb, not a lion, to free us from our strongest enemies.
Centuries earlier, the prophet Isaiah had written about the suffering servant of the Lord who, though innocent, would be like a lamb led to slaughter. That’s Jesus, the innocent, righteous sufferer. Look at how even the people in our text recognize Jesus, and that He was innocent of any crime. Judas is filled with remorse and admits that he’s betrayed a man who is innocent, and has betrayed innocent blood. Pilate wants nothing to do with this man’s blood; he recognizes that the man before him is innocent. Pilate’s wife was more right than she knew when she said that He was a righteous man. Not only was He innocent of any crime, He was innocent of all sin. But you and I — we’re not so innocent. We’re not so righteous.
And that is the reason for the sacrifice of the Lamb. It’s the reason that God gave Isaiah the prophet this to write, Isaiah 53:5–7: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned — every one — to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
We were those straying sheep, but Jesus is the Lamb led to slaughter. You and I have strayed from the green pastures and the paths of righteousness. We wandered off to strange and dark, dangerous territory. Instead of loving God, we decided to become gods ourselves. Instead of loving our neighbor as ourselves, we love ourselves, and our neighbor is an afterthought. You and I are guilty of sin, and the sentence is death. But this man, Jesus Christ, is innocent and a righteous man. He took death upon Himself in our place.
And that meant He had to do it as a lamb, not as a lion. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And that’s why He died: so that all of your sins would be taken away from you. And so it is now: life, not death, is your eternal inheritance in Christ. You now are at peace with God. Only a lamb, a spotless Lamb of God, dying as the sacrifice in our place — only a lamb, not a lion, does that for us.
But in doing so, and in dying, Jesus proved Himself to be the real Lion King. In what looked like defeat, Christ was truly triumphant. By His dying on the cross, He conquered our real enemies: sin, death, the power of the devil, and the gates of hell themselves. In weakness, in humility, Jesus was strong to save.
In his book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan is the great king of Narnia. Willingly he lays down his life and allows the enemies to kill him. But that turns out to be the way in which the ancient Stone Table of the law is broken. The treacheries are paid for. Enemies are put to flight. Aslan the lion is, of course, a picture of the self-sacrificing victory of Jesus Christ Himself. Because Christ died in weakness for sinners and thereby won victory for us, now you and I can afford to be weak, too. We can admit to being sinners because we know that God is a forgiving God. We can forgive others because we know God has forgiven us, and forgiven them as well. Now we can live in pain and setbacks and unanswered questions, because we have hope, and we know that this life is not the end. It’s temporary.
In the book of Revelation, chapter 5, St. John gives a vision of the throne room of heaven. He is told, “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered!” Then John looks, and what does he see at the throne? A Lamb standing, as though it had been slain. Now, there’s a subtle shift that takes place in the text — I don’t know that you noticed it, but John is told to look at a lion, but when he looks, he sees a lamb. A lamb who was slain, no less. The point being: the lion is the lamb. The lamb is the lion. And the lamb is the one that was slain. The conquering Messiah is the one crucified. There is no other.
On the cross, Jesus triumphed over our enemies: sin, death, and hell. By His death, He destroyed death. And by His rising, He restored life. With His own blood, He has made us God’s very own people. And it happened during this week, Holy Week: coming in as a lion and going out as a lamb. The Lion who is the Lamb is our Lord. And so, with those worshipers in the heavenly throne room, we too praise our victorious King and Lion who is the Lamb. We sing with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And to put it another way: worthy is the Lamb whose death makes me His own. The Lamb is reigning on His throne. Amen.
Your sins are forgiven.
May the peace which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.