Bible Text: St Matthew’s Passion (26:1–27:66) | Preacher: Rev. Andrew Richard
Jesus sent the disciples to bring the donkey and colt. He didn’t say anything about putting garments on the donkey. The disciples simply wanted to put something between their Lord and a dirty animal. Jesus deserves better than sitting directly on a donkey. For that matter, He deserves better than golden harnesses and silken saddles. But the disciples didn’t have those things; they had their garments, so they laid their garments on the donkey. It wasn’t about measuring up to what Jesus deserves; we can never fully do or give what He deserves. It was the worship of faith, faith that looked at Jesus and knew who He is, and what He had already done, and what He had come to do, faith that said, “He is worth more than a bare donkey,” and laid its garments on the beast of burden. Jesus did not hinder them or despise their humble offering, but saw their faith in it and was glad.
Jesus likewise did not instruct the crowds to spread garments and palm branches in the road. The people just did it. They couldn’t pave the road with precious metals and gems, but they could make it look a little more fit for a king, so they did. Jesus shouldn’t have to tramp through dirt. He deserves better. And the crowds were right. “Give unto the Lord the glory due His name” (Ps. 29:2). Mary, the sister of Martha, took a pound of very expensive ointment and anointed the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair (Jn. 12:3). That ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii, the amount that an average day laborer would earn in a year. Some complained at the waste. Jesus responded, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mt. 26:10). Her faith wanted to honor Jesus and to show everyone the beauty and worth of the Lord. Jesus wouldn’t let anyone despise her, nor did He.
Jesus is worth it. Jesus deserves better than this. Jesus should be seen as great and glorious. Faith thinks these sorts of things in honor of the Lord. Jesus welcomes such thoughts and acts of faith and commends them. But we aren’t always quite as noble as that. Jesus says to His closest disciples, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Mt. 26:38). Jesus is worth that. Faith wants to do what Jesus says. Jesus comes back and finds them sleeping. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt. 26:41). Jesus was worth it. But it didn’t happen. The band of men comes to arrest Jesus. It was easy to see, Jesus deserves better than this. And yet, instead of treating Jesus as He deserved, the disciples did something entirely undeserved: they forsook Jesus. Peter had said, “Though they all fall away because of You, I will never fall away” (Mt. 26:33). But when questioned whether he was a disciple of Jesus, “he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know the man’” (Mt. 26:74). Jesus should be seen as great and glorious. His name and honor should be upheld. Instead one of the apostles invoked the name of the Lord to tell a lie, and portrayed Jesus as low and little.
We’re no better. Sometimes faith is shining brightly and thinks noble, grand thoughts and is focused on the honor of Christ. Sometimes the sinful flesh gets the better of you. You put your coat between Jesus and a dirty donkey, because He shouldn’t have to sit on a dirty donkey. And then you sin such filth that you really have to wonder whether Jesus has been spared anything by sitting on your coat rather than the donkey. Nothing we touch is fit for the King of Heaven. All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Is. 64:6).
Fortunately Jesus isn’t looking to be spared anything. He’s not afraid of dirt, that’s clear enough from every account of His Passion. He’ll let filthy men smear Him with accusations and not breathe a word. He’ll let wretched sinners strike Him and spit on Him. He’ll let unclean hands seize Him and nail Him to the cross. He’ll dirty Himself with your load of dirty sins, and He won’t ask for your garments. There were garments on Palm Sunday: garments on the donkey, garments on the road, garments that man put there to honor his Lord. But there is no garment on the cross. Jesus was stripped of all garments to show that your salvation depends entirely on Him and not on anything that you contribute. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
And here we come to the higher worship of faith. It is certainly good for faith to think of honoring the Lord, to think of His worth and what He deserves and act accordingly. But the higher worship of faith is to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Faith honors the Lord, certainly. But that’s because faith clings to the Lord for dear life and knows that He alone forgives sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation. There is no greater worship than to come before Jesus as a poor, sinful wretch with nothing to offer, and to say, “God, have mercy on me a sinner,” and to know that Jesus has died on the cross to forgive your sins. It’s like it says in our Lutheran Confessions, “God wants Himself to be known, He wants Himself to be worshiped, in such a way that we receive benefits from Him and receive them because of His mercy, not because of our merits. This is the richest consolation in all afflictions” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV.60). This is faith’s true worship.
Faith has received great things from the Lord, and that’s why faith wants to honor the Lord. Faith cries out, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for He has visited and redeemed His people” (Lk. 1:68). “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:12). Faith stands by the road as Jesus passes by and throws everything it has before Him: offers it to Him, subjects it to Him, puts it at His disposal. If Jesus has granted us time, then we cast our time before Jesus by coming to church together, by reading our Bibles and praying and singing at home, by taking time for our fellow Christians. If Jesus has granted us money, then we cast our money before Jesus by supporting the proclamation of the Gospel here in Casper, by caring for those among us who are in need, by supporting our Lutheran schools. If Jesus has given us food or goods, talents, abilities, we cast them before Him by using them to love and serve one another and by making ourselves useful to our neighbor. Since Christ has granted us His name in Holy Baptism, we seek to do honor to that name by believing and speaking rightly according to His Word and by leading holy lives according to His Word. The fact remains that Jesus needs nothing from us, yet also does not despise our offering. It’s like we sing, “But worthless is my sacrifice, I own it; / Yet, Lord, for love’s sake Thou wilt not disown it; / Thou wilt accept my gift in Thy great meekness / Nor shame my weakness” (LSB 439:14).
Every Sunday faith feasts on the Holy Absolution, the reading of the Scriptures the preaching of the Gospel, and the Sacrament of the Altar. During the course of this week the feast is especially rich as we commemorate the institution of the Lord’s Supper and remember even more pointedly than usual the precious suffering and death of our Lord. And we look forward to celebrating the resurrection of our Lord next Sunday. May the Lord strengthen your faith this week to cling ever more tightly to Him for salvation and to honor Him in all things; to Him be the honor and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus likewise did not instruct the crowds to spread garments and palm branches in the road. The people just did it. They couldn’t pave the road with precious metals and gems, but they could make it look a little more fit for a king, so they did. Jesus shouldn’t have to tramp through dirt. He deserves better. And the crowds were right. “Give unto the Lord the glory due His name” (Ps. 29:2). Mary, the sister of Martha, took a pound of very expensive ointment and anointed the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair (Jn. 12:3). That ointment could have been sold for three hundred denarii, the amount that an average day laborer would earn in a year. Some complained at the waste. Jesus responded, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me” (Mt. 26:10). Her faith wanted to honor Jesus and to show everyone the beauty and worth of the Lord. Jesus wouldn’t let anyone despise her, nor did He.
Jesus is worth it. Jesus deserves better than this. Jesus should be seen as great and glorious. Faith thinks these sorts of things in honor of the Lord. Jesus welcomes such thoughts and acts of faith and commends them. But we aren’t always quite as noble as that. Jesus says to His closest disciples, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Mt. 26:38). Jesus is worth that. Faith wants to do what Jesus says. Jesus comes back and finds them sleeping. “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mt. 26:41). Jesus was worth it. But it didn’t happen. The band of men comes to arrest Jesus. It was easy to see, Jesus deserves better than this. And yet, instead of treating Jesus as He deserved, the disciples did something entirely undeserved: they forsook Jesus. Peter had said, “Though they all fall away because of You, I will never fall away” (Mt. 26:33). But when questioned whether he was a disciple of Jesus, “he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know the man’” (Mt. 26:74). Jesus should be seen as great and glorious. His name and honor should be upheld. Instead one of the apostles invoked the name of the Lord to tell a lie, and portrayed Jesus as low and little.
We’re no better. Sometimes faith is shining brightly and thinks noble, grand thoughts and is focused on the honor of Christ. Sometimes the sinful flesh gets the better of you. You put your coat between Jesus and a dirty donkey, because He shouldn’t have to sit on a dirty donkey. And then you sin such filth that you really have to wonder whether Jesus has been spared anything by sitting on your coat rather than the donkey. Nothing we touch is fit for the King of Heaven. All our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment (Is. 64:6).
Fortunately Jesus isn’t looking to be spared anything. He’s not afraid of dirt, that’s clear enough from every account of His Passion. He’ll let filthy men smear Him with accusations and not breathe a word. He’ll let wretched sinners strike Him and spit on Him. He’ll let unclean hands seize Him and nail Him to the cross. He’ll dirty Himself with your load of dirty sins, and He won’t ask for your garments. There were garments on Palm Sunday: garments on the donkey, garments on the road, garments that man put there to honor his Lord. But there is no garment on the cross. Jesus was stripped of all garments to show that your salvation depends entirely on Him and not on anything that you contribute. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
And here we come to the higher worship of faith. It is certainly good for faith to think of honoring the Lord, to think of His worth and what He deserves and act accordingly. But the higher worship of faith is to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Faith honors the Lord, certainly. But that’s because faith clings to the Lord for dear life and knows that He alone forgives sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation. There is no greater worship than to come before Jesus as a poor, sinful wretch with nothing to offer, and to say, “God, have mercy on me a sinner,” and to know that Jesus has died on the cross to forgive your sins. It’s like it says in our Lutheran Confessions, “God wants Himself to be known, He wants Himself to be worshiped, in such a way that we receive benefits from Him and receive them because of His mercy, not because of our merits. This is the richest consolation in all afflictions” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article IV.60). This is faith’s true worship.
Faith has received great things from the Lord, and that’s why faith wants to honor the Lord. Faith cries out, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for He has visited and redeemed His people” (Lk. 1:68). “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” (Rev. 5:12). Faith stands by the road as Jesus passes by and throws everything it has before Him: offers it to Him, subjects it to Him, puts it at His disposal. If Jesus has granted us time, then we cast our time before Jesus by coming to church together, by reading our Bibles and praying and singing at home, by taking time for our fellow Christians. If Jesus has granted us money, then we cast our money before Jesus by supporting the proclamation of the Gospel here in Casper, by caring for those among us who are in need, by supporting our Lutheran schools. If Jesus has given us food or goods, talents, abilities, we cast them before Him by using them to love and serve one another and by making ourselves useful to our neighbor. Since Christ has granted us His name in Holy Baptism, we seek to do honor to that name by believing and speaking rightly according to His Word and by leading holy lives according to His Word. The fact remains that Jesus needs nothing from us, yet also does not despise our offering. It’s like we sing, “But worthless is my sacrifice, I own it; / Yet, Lord, for love’s sake Thou wilt not disown it; / Thou wilt accept my gift in Thy great meekness / Nor shame my weakness” (LSB 439:14).
Every Sunday faith feasts on the Holy Absolution, the reading of the Scriptures the preaching of the Gospel, and the Sacrament of the Altar. During the course of this week the feast is especially rich as we commemorate the institution of the Lord’s Supper and remember even more pointedly than usual the precious suffering and death of our Lord. And we look forward to celebrating the resurrection of our Lord next Sunday. May the Lord strengthen your faith this week to cling ever more tightly to Him for salvation and to honor Him in all things; to Him be the honor and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.