Bible Text: Matthew 21:1-9 | Preacher: Pastor Christian Preus | Series: Advent 2020 | The time will come, and it’s sooner now than when we first believed, when Christ will come in splendor and power to free His Church from every evil of body and soul. We confess every Sunday that we look for that day, “And I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.” And that looking is a happy looking, it’s a looking forward to, like a child looks forward to Christmas morning. It will mean the end of sadness and sin and pain and doubt forever. It will mean seeing the face of the Lord who bought us. No Christian can fail to join Job in saying, “O how my heart yearns within me!” We just sang it. We love the Lord’s appearing. O glorious Sun now come.
We associate Judgment Day with power. That’s how we sing – “Soon will come that hour, when with mighty power, Christ will come with splendor and will judgment render.” We’re confessing here that everyone will see His power, with their eyes, even the heathen, and every knee will bow. But when we say that Jesus will come with power on the last day, we are not denying that he came with power into Jerusalem or that he comes to us in power now. He did and He does. St. Paul says it, “The Kingdom of God consists not in prattle, not in mere talk, but in power.” The Lord came lowly into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, yes. He comes to us now in water and Word, in body and blood, in words spoken by a sinful man. Yes. Call it lowly. But this is the power of God.
There is no contrast between the lowly and the powerful. My wife wins my heart by being lowly, by forgiving me and looking past my faults and honoring me even when I haven’t deserved it. My mother has won my devotion by being lowly, because she lost sleep for me and suffered pain for me. And no amount of raw power or force could wring this love out of us. You can’t put a gun to my head and force me to love you. That’s not the way love works.
So look again at Jesus entering into Jerusalem and see His power. This is not weakness. It’s the power of God. He called for a donkey. Demanded it. And He got it. He could demand and get anything He wanted. Jesus says it to Peter in the Garden, ‘Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?’ He could demand and make every knee bow. But he asked for a donkey instead. And when He rides into Jerusalem, He could demand and get anything he wanted again. He could make sinners suffer for their sins. He could crush them under His feet. He could demand they pay what they owe. But he asks for nothing. He demands nothing. Because He loves us. And He wants us as His own. And He won’t get us by force. You can get slaves by force, you can’t get children. You can get fearful sycophants and resentful subjects by force, not loving disciples and trusting brothers.
Instead Jesus uses His power to suffer force Himself. Here he directs all history; and now history sees Him dead on a cross. They mock Him and say, If you are the Christ, if you have the power, save yourself, but He wants no such power, no such vengeance, instead His power proceeds from His love; He uses His power to save us, to suffer the punishment for our sin, to win peace with God. This is God’s power. God is Love. If you want to see Love’s power, look at your Lord Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Look at Him lowly and humble. Look at the Creator of heaven and earth going to His death. And never mistake this for weakness. It’s lowly, it’s humble, but it’s not weak. There is nothing stronger than God’s love. Love brought God down from heaven. Love caused Him to become our Brother. Love drove Him to humble Himself and bear our sins.
Of what this paltering world calls love,
I will not know, I cannot speak.
I know but His who reigns above
And His is neither mild nor weak.
Hard even unto death is this
And smiting with its awful kiss.
What was the answer of God’s love
Of old, when in the Olive Grove
In anguished sweat His own Son lay
And prayed, O take this cup away?
Did God take from Him then the cup?
Now child, His Son must drink it up.
And there is again nothing weak about God’s Word, nothing weak about your Baptism, nothing weak about the body and blood of Jesus He puts into your mouth. This is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. That’s what St. Paul tells us. Jesus can’t say enough about the power of His Word. It raises the dead. It gives power to become children of God. It forgives sins. It gives the Holy Spirit.
This is why the words of Zechariah, “Behold your King comes to you, humble,” describe not only Jesus’ entering into Jerusalem, but Jesus entering into your heart. Love drove Him to become a baby and live for you and ride into Jerusalem for you and die for you and rise for you. And the same love drives Him to you today. Your King comes to you humble. He doesn’t come to force you or to wow you or to compel you with any kind of violence. He comes in love to give you what you desperately need in this world of sin and uncertainty and doubt. There is a verse of our hymn that didn’t make it into our hymnal but it teaches this truth so beautifully. It goes, “No care nor effort either is needed day or night, how ye may draw him hither, in your own strength and might. He comes, he comes with gladness, moved by His love alone, to calm your fear and sadness. To him they well are known.”
It’s not that Jesus can’t show His power in any other way. He can heal every sickness. He’s proved that. He can bless you with money, with success, with happy house and home and family – look at Job, he gave him ridiculous riches. And Jesus will give us all this and more, he promises it, some in this life and everything in the life to come. But he will give it to us when we can handle it, when sin and temptation won’t drive us to worship it and put it above our God. Jesus comes to us with power to give us what He knows we need above all else. Remember his words to Martha, “Martha, Martha, you fret and worry about many things, but one thing is needful.” And it is Jesus’ almighty power, a miracle of greater proportion than any sign from heaven, that He calms our fears, takes away our guilt, gives us peace of conscience, lifts off our shoulders the burden of worry about the things of this world, directs our hearts and minds to see this sinful world for what it is and then to find our rest in Him. To forget about our own righteousness, as if it amounted to anything, and to claim Him as the Lord our Righteousness.
This Word, this love, has the power to do what no force could possibly accomplish. The people threw their cloaks down for Jesus to trample. We call this event Palm Sunday, but you notice our text says, “Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road.” And it’s their throwing cloaks that’s so significant. In the ancient world, in fact, until relatively recently, your cloak was a necessity, not just an occasional coat to put on. It was for most a blanket in the cold night, and they didn’t have a whole set of them either. When those people threw their cloaks on the ground they were throwing their comfort, their daily bread, their material possessions. They were making a confession. Their hearts weren’t won over by stuff, by the things of this world, but by Jesus. Whatever stuff they had, even the bare essentials, even what kept them warm at night, they would offer to Jesus in thanks for the treasure He gave them freely. Peace with God by the blood of Jesus. There is the one thing needful.
As the Church now begins her year with this first Sunday in Advent and we prepare for Christmas, the world once again renews its zeal to seek after more and more stuff. Government decrees and fear of infecting people with a disease will keep people from church, but nothing will keep Americans from consuming more and more stuff. I went to the mall on Friday to get some shoes for my boy, because we took a family walk and noticed that there were literally holes in his shoes, both of them, so we figured it was probably time to get him a new pair, and I couldn’t believe how many people were standing in line at stores to get stuff they didn’t need. Now we’re all going to shop for Christmas, I know that, and there’s nothing wrong with it at all, especially when we’re getting things for people we love. But do not let this becomes the theme of your Advent or your Christmas. This is not the time, there is never a time in the Christian life, but especially not now, to be bogged down by anxieties and cares of getting more and more stuff either for us or for other people. It won’t give any lasting happiness. Remember that we’ve died to this life, and we owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another. So take your example from the people who welcomed Jesus by throwing their livelihood on the ground for him to trample in the dust. Receive from Jesus the stuff of God that won’t ever let you down or run out or disappoint. Know again His power, as He comes to you lowly, and feeds you with His body and blood and takes your burdens on Himself and gives you His own righteousness and peace. And look forward not with anxiety, but with joy, to resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.