[Machine transcription]
And as he was drawing near, already on the way down the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude
of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works
that they had seen, saying, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Amen.
You may be seated.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
You’re saying, I don’t know if you checked twice as you were hearing the gospel lesson
of the triumphal entry to make sure it was still Advent and not Palm Sunday.
That’s the verse, the text that we hear on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.
It’s the verse that recounts what happened when our Lord Jesus Christ, 33 years old,
rode down the Palm Sunday path.
That wasn’t what it was called then.
They called, they changed the name.
And after he rode down there into Jerusalem to overthrow the money changers, to cleanse
the temple, to teach, to finally at last that week be arrested, to be crucified, buried
for us and for our salvation.
How is it then that we hear that Gospel reading today on the first Sunday in Advent?
In fact, this is an old tradition.
As far back as we have readings on Sundays, the triumphal entry of Jesus was read not only
on Palm Sunday, but also on the first Sunday of Advent, that is the first Sunday of the
church year. And you have to think that this is pretty precious territory. We only have
52 times in a week where we get together, and so we’ve got 52 choices for what to
read on those Sundays, and to give two of those Sundays over to this text, that must
mean something. In fact, I think not only should we think of this Sunday as the first
Sunday in Advent, but we should think of it as the first Sunday of the church year, and
And in this way, this gospel text, more than any other gospel text, sets the stage for
what happens in this place every single week.
In fact, I think it’s not only true that we read this text twice a year, but in fact,
I think we could say it fairly that we sing this text and speak this text and meditate
on this text every single week.
in the Sanctus, when we say blessed is He, blessed is He, blessed is He who comes in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. So maybe this, more than any other passage
in the Scripture, this text tells us what happens in the divine service. And it is this.
Jesus comes to us lowly, meekly, humbly, righteous, and having salvation.
Just as he rode the donkey, never been ridden before, down the Mount of Olives and through
the Kidron Valley and up into Jerusalem, so now he comes to us, riding on his Word, riding
standing on the bread and the wine to bless us, to save us, to deliver us, to set us apart,
to transfer us from the kingdom of this world to His own kingdom.
It was making me think this morning of this text in Colossians.
This is Colossians chapter 1, verse 12 and 13, we give thanks to the Father who has qualified
us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light.
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the
Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
I think Luke highlights this for us in the⦠in the passage on the triumphal entry.
The passage, by the way, is in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus’ triumphal entry into
Jerusalem.
But each of the Gospel writers gives us a slightly different perspective and a slightly
different insight.
We’re going to be hearing a lot from Luke, by the way, starting now and for the next
year.
We’re in series C in the three-year series of readings, and so we’re going to hear
a lot from Luke.
and so we get to hear from Luke again this morning. And Luke gives us this particular
emphasis that the crowds say, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
Luke wants to remind us that this triumphal entry of Jesus is the entry of a king. In
fact, you know the triumphal entries are common in the ancient world. The most famous one
was probably Alexander the Great who rode in triumphal entry into Babylon. He had this
five-mile-long thing that he rode on and he was in the back and he had cages with lions
and people had choirs and they were throwing roses all over and burning incense and all
the people were everywhere. It was this great triumphal entry.
But there’s another triumphal entry that I think should have our attention, and as
As far as the historians say, it happened on the same day.
That every year, Herod, and remember this is not Herod the Great who killed the children
in Bethlehem, but his son Herod who ruled in the North Galilee and also on the west
side of the Dead Sea over there, that every year he would come with his armies and with
his attendants into Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.
And he would come on the first day of the week, on Sunday, and he would be coming in
from the⦠from the east, sorry, from the west, he would be coming into Jerusalem and
he would come in great procession and great triumph and he would be entering into the
city. And as far as we can tell that Jesus was making his own triumphal entry at the
same time from the other side of the city, from the east.
I was trying to imagine it, how to get the picture in our minds. If you could imagine
that you were⦠maybe this is the best way to do it. Imagine you were floating on a hot
air balloon over Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And you would see there to the east from the
Mount of Olives, you would see Jesus riding on a colt in the full of a donkey and you
would see His disciples putting their coats on the ground and the people waving the palm
branches and the children coming behind them singing Psalm 118, Hosanna, Hosanna to the
King, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. And then from the other side
of the town, you would have seen Herod riding, probably on a war horse, surrounded by soldiers,
There’s men with army, with their soldiery gear, with their armor on and their spears
and their shields, all kind of marching in procession.
Herod was coming off a couple of major victories on the front to the east, and so he would
have come with all of this royal power.
And both were coming into Jerusalem at the same time.
And both were making a claim, the claim that they were the king.
Now, this is what it really comes down to for us, that Jesus has made that claim not
only on Jerusalem, but also on you.
This is what the triumphal entry means.
Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.
And this is why it matters to us this morning, that when Jesus comes to you, when Jesus comes,
Because week after week, when He brings His body and His blood, when He brings His Word,
when He brings His presence to you, He is making this claim that He is your King.
And that we live under Him in His Kingdom and we serve Him in everlasting righteousness
and innocence and blessedness.
Now, this claim that Jesus makes on you and on me to be our king has to be understood
in contrast to all the rest of those who would try to claim that title over us.
And really we see that this is what got the martyrs in such trouble.
Remember how it was with our brothers and sisters in the faith in the first few centuries
of the church?
church, the Caesars would come along and they’d say, hey, we are Caesar, that means king,
we are lord, and so you should say, Lord Caesar.
And the Christians refused.
They said, no, Jesus is lord, Jesus is our king, I belong to him, not to you.
And they would say, look, if you don’t say Lord Caesar, we’re going to have to do some
terrible things to you, set you on fire, cut off your head, your hands, take your possessions,
take your family, really, we’re going to destroy everything unless you say Lord Caesar.
And they would say, Lord Jesus.
Jesus, take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife, let these all be gone, they yet
have nothing won.
The kingdom, ours remains because the King remains ours.
Jesus is King and we submit to no other.
This is the claim that Jesus makes.
And I think, dear saints, that we need to consider this more and more, especially as the days
grow darker, that Jesus, when we say Jesus is Lord, we are saying that Jesus is our King.
Now there’s good news there.
In fact, this should be for us very good news because you see how your king is.
He doesn’t come like Herod with his war horses, with his soldiers, with his armies.
He doesn’t come to destroy.
He doesn’t come to rule and reign by power and strength.
Jesus comes to Jerusalem, we know it, the rest of the story.
He comes to die.
His throne is his cross.
His crown is made of thorns and the jewels are drops of his own blood.
This is how he rules over you, in kindness and in mercy and the forgiveness of all of your sins.
That is his kingdom. His is a kingdom of peace. And that’s what they sang on this day,
blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. And then the next claim is this,
peace. But look, it’s not peace on earth because Jesus did not come to bring peace on earth. He
He came to bring not peace but the sword, but on â but his peace is in heaven.
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
Jesus, your King Jesus, comes to end the war and the enmity that exists between you and
me as sinners and God as holy, and he has done it, as St. Paul reminds us, having been
justified by faith.
We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So Jesus comes to us in the, in the midst of all of our troubles.
He comes to us in the midst of all of our difficulties.
He comes to us in the midst of all of our sin.
He comes to us in the midst of all of our darkness.
And He brings peace.
He claims you as His own.
God be praised for this.
So, so, we want to hear the proclamation of the king.
When sin would say that it rules over you and it is your master, Jesus says, wrong.
I am your king and your sins are forgiven.
When death would try to rule over you and master you, making you afraid to die, Jesus
says, wrong. I am your king and I have overcome the grave. I am the firstfruits of the resurrection
and you will live eternally with me. When suffering threatens to rule over us and say
that you belong to me, that you will be mine forever, Jesus comes along and he says, wrong.
I have suffered. I have died. And though your suffering might be for a little while, your
life with me will be one without tears, without sorrow, without suffering in any way.
When the devil comes and says, I’m the prince of this world and I rule over you,
you belong to me, Jesus comes and says, wrong.
You were triumphed over in the cross, you were bound by my resurrection, you are no
longer the ruler of this world.
They, that is you, belong to him.
So Jesus, your King has
triumphed over all your enemies,
and he claims you as his own.
So we join with the disciples and with
the children marveling and praising God
with a loud voice for
all of his mighty works saying,
saying, blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory
in the highest. Amen. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your
hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
