Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”

Part of the reason of the children being involved in this morning’s service and the pomp and circumstance of the music and the proclamation of the Gospel reading from the midst of the congregation is for us to grab hold of what happened at this event. It’s not merely a wonderful opportunity to bring out greenery and throw it around and sing praises, but to proclaim Him to be the very one unto whom we sing and shout, “Hosanna,” which means, “Save me.” But save me from what? Because there’s a lot of people who seek Jesus to save them from all kinds of earthly matters, job security, finances, health issues, cancer, old age, and Alzheimer’s, despondency and despair and anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse. Those are all things that we seek to be saved by our Savior, Jesus Christ, but all those things have everything to do with a body in a world that is dying and that will not be eternal. Consider the amount of time that you spend in prayer. Then consider the subject matter about which you pray and how much of the subject matter about which you and I pray dwells and hovers over matters that do not really matter.

Now, Jesus, when He came to this world three years prior to this text and began to do miracles, revealing Himself as the Messiah, He did things in this world. He brought healing to bodies. He brought eyesight to blind eyes. He brought food to hungry bellies. He brought forgiveness to prostitutes and others. But all of those things that He did can we not say that those same things still apply to us? Are we not supposed to be asking God for those same kind of things? Is it wrong? Of course not. It’s not wrong. But is that what Jesus comes to save you from?

Two people have cancer. One dies and one’s cured. Did God not answer the one’s prayer? Two marriages, one ended in divorce and one didn’t. Did God not answer that one’s prayer? Did they not pray fervently enough and correctly enough? Earthly things. Jesus did bring redemption but not in the way that He brings spiritual redemption of sins. That’s an assured always yes and indeed.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? The Jews demand and are fearful of these miracles that Jesus has done in order to bring people to follow after them, away from them and to Christ instead. They shouldn’t be so scared of that, because these are also the same people who shout….many of them are….the same people who shout, “Crucify! Crucify!” So did they really need to have anything to be concerned about? But in this world? Oh, my stars, look at how you and I are wrapped up in numbers and results to prove truth and validity. If it conjures a great result, there’s truth and validity. If it does not produce anything of value or worth, there’s proof of its lack of validity and lack of truth.

I believe it was our Lord who said, “Broad is the gate and many are those who go down it to destruction. Narrow is the path and few are those who enter eternal life.” So, is it about visible proof and evidence? Jesus came in on a donkey and not a stallion. He came in to die, not to liberate the people of Israel from bondage to the Romans. He came to save your soul and to forgive your sin. He did not come to solve every earthly matter in your and my life. Does that make Him less a Savior for you? If so, then what kind of Savior are we talking about? A sugar daddy savior? Or a Savior of our sins and forgiveness?

You’ve been baptized and you have been set apart by God, not so that your life can show forth all kinds of great attributes to prove that God’s Gospel works in your life. You’ve been set apart by God in your baptism to mark you as His child. End of story. And you’ve not been set apart by God in your baptism to prove to yourself that you are God’s child. God’s declaration proves that to you and to me whether we feel it inside of our bosom or whether we have doubts and fears. Because I can trust that you would admit and confess to me that you have doubts and fears just like I do because we live inside of a very sin-filled fleshly body, and we live among some pretty sin-filled people in a dead and dying world that can be prayed for all we wish to pray, but it will remain a dead and dying world. Hence, why He said, “The poor you will always have with you.”

Now, that’s not to say we don’t do anything and don’t help and don’t love and don’t give. Absolutely, we do, but there is going to be no Utopian society in this world. There will never be the perfect church. There will never be the perfect family, the perfect marriage, the perfect father, the perfect mother, the perfect son or daughter. Never. But there will be forgiveness, and that forgiveness is eternal. And it doesn’t matter what you think of you, and it sure doesn’t matter what others think of you. Now, that’s Satan’s prompting. Hence, he prompted the Jews to be concerned about what others think of Christ, because they only saw Him in regard to what He did in this world and had nothing in their mind’s eye of what He did for their soul. But you do. You do believe what He’s done for your soul. You do believe that is what matters about your Lord Jesus. You are convinced that what Christ declares about you is what matters in this world and not what you think about you or what others think about you. That’s Satan’s playground and he loves to drag us into it, time and time again. And the only one who delivers us from such guilt-ridden playground of Satan is Christ who declares to you, “You are My beloved child. You are Mine. I set you apart. I claim you when you don’t even want to claim yourself and you don’t want others claiming you either. I claim you.” There’s a difference, a marked difference.

So when we sing “Hosanna to the Son of David,” we’re saying, “Hosanna, save me from me and my sin.” I live in this world and the glory that awaits me is hidden. I have that glory in me now, but it’s hidden. It’s hidden underneath the fleshly garment. It’s hidden behind fleshly thoughts that we can’t even stop entering our head. And it’s hidden behind weakness of flesh and bone, mental ability and physical ability. But we have such glory. And in the One who trod His way all the way to Calvary’s cross, the glory was also hidden in Him as He humbly and willingly stretched Himself out upon that accursed tree. His kingship and His great power and might were hidden, but you and I believe by faith it was there for me. You say that to yourself, “That was there for me.”

So, sing hosanna to the Son of David for He has and will continue to save such cries of faith who trust in Him as Savior of sin and death and the awful conflict and accusations of our own flesh and the devil. In His name, Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting.

Amen.