Text: Matthew 21:1-9
In
the name of Jesus: Amen.
Within
American Christianity, many thousands upon thousands, and quite possibly
millions, of Christians see Christianity as an individualized journey of trying
to get to the goal of God. To them, God
is off in the distance; He is passive, unresponsive, and stagnant, which means
that it is up to the Christian to somehow and someway either get God’s attention
or get closer to Him. Since God is this immovable and uncaring goal to be reached, the task of trying to get closer to
Him can take all sorts of forms.
Regardless of the method or technique or strategy of getting closer to
God, one thing is for sure, it demands a tremendous amount of effort and
religious zeal on behalf of the individual Christian.
More
specifically let me give you an example.
According to this way of thinking, all of us Christians are stranded on
a deserted island – called earth. We are
surrounded by miles upon miles of deep dark water, which means that we are
trapped. The goal though is for us to escape
this island. We can escape this island –
earth – by building some sort of raft and then paddling with all our might to
the goal, that goal being God. Only
those who have enough faith and are strong enough for the journey, really have
a chance, for one would have to paddle hard enough and long enough through the
treacherous waters. Yes, if you have
enough faith and are strong enough, you may then possibly escape the deserted
island and reach the goal, which is the heavenly dwelling of God. In other words, if we Christians ever stand a
chance of getting off the deserted island (earth), we must set our sights
towards the goal of heaven and get their by our own strenuous efforts.
Now,
if Christianity is all about us Christians setting out on our heavenly
pilgrimages by our own strength and cleverly devised plans, then the church must
become a rallying place for all of us to encourage one and another in our
heavenly pursuits. Yes, church services
will become large pep rallies where we can talk about the challenges set before
us and try to convince each other that we can make the journey off the
island. Furthermore, the sermons of the
church become simply pep talks or messages that are meant to give pointers on
how to build a raft, that is to say, ways to get from earth to heaven.
Dear
friends, is this why we gather here at this church today? Are we here to encourage each other in our
heavenly pursuit of working to get from this life to the next? Should I be giving you pointers on how to
build your metaphoric rafts and how to paddle off of this island towards the
goal?
You
and I might be tempted to believe this way, since so many Christian Churches
teach this; however, our Gospel from the Gospel of Matthew undoes all of
this. Yes, our church service this
morning actually overthrows this whole notion of us having to get off of the
island by our own tireless and vigorous efforts.
Today,
my friends, is Palm Sunday – it is the day our Lord Jesus Christ rode ‘into’
Jerusalem on a donkey. It is the day
that they waved palm branches and shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of
the Lord.” It is a day that serves as a
gateway to Holy Week. It is a day that
we get to hear the story about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, the
same story that we heard the first Sunday of Advent.
Now,
let us just pause here for a moment.
Do
you realize what is going on here?
The
story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem on a donkey is the exact same story that
we heard during the first Sunday in Advent, right before Christmas. In other words, within the church’s calendar,
we focus on this story of Jesus riding on the donkey, each Easter Season (at
the beginning of Holy Week) and we also focus on this story at the beginning of
the Advent Season (right before Christmas).
But why do we hear this story of Jesus on the donkey two times a year
and why do we hear it during the Christmas and Easter seasons? Why is it significant to hear right before
Jesus birth and Jesus’ death? Why should
we Christians learn and treasure this story?
The answer is this: this story is really at the heart of the Christian
faith.
Dear
friends, consider this, at Christmas time we hear about the Lord Jesus Christ,
“Very God of Very God,” coming down from heaven and being born of the Virgin
Mary. In other words, Advent and
Christmas are all about the Lord coming to earth – coming to this island for
you and for me. Indeed, Advent and
Christmas are all about the God of the universe not being content to leave us
helpless and alone in our sins, but rather about the Lord God pursuing us and
coming right into our very midst. It is
about the Light coming into darkness – into the world. And today’s Palm Sunday Service is about that
same Lord coming for humanity’s sin. The
Lord came down from heaven and plunged Himself into a manger; the Lord came to
Jerusalem and plunged Himself into suffering and death. We do not have a stagnant, uncaring, and
passive Lord, but quite the opposite.
Do
you see what is going on here? The Lord
comes to helpless and sinful humanity.
He comes to Bethlehem. He comes
to Jerusalem. He comes to the
cross.
Why
does this matter? It matters because there
could be no life for you and for me without the Lord coming to us. We cannot paddle hard enough and our rafts
are not sturdy enough. The water is too
deep; the waves are too big. There is no
way off the island – this earth – by our own reason or strength. We are too sinful and too spiritually sick to
arise to the challenge. Left to
ourselves the only option is death on the island – on this earth. Ashes to ashes; dust to dust. Therefore, there is only one option; the Lord
must come to us. He must come to this
earth and must come and meet our sin… which He has already done.
Jesus,
the promised Messiah came to pay that debt of sin. He came to us in His birth and He came to us
in His death. Riding on the donkey into
Jerusalem, Jesus was riding into death where the sins of the world would be
strapped to Himself – your sin and mine.
In Jerusalem, Jesus would be plunged into death – death on a cross.
There
is more though.
The
Christ who came to the manger during that Christmas Season long ago and the
Christ who came to the cross that Palm Sunday long ago, comes to you this day
as well.
You,
who have ears, hear this! His purpose of
coming long ago was to accomplish salvation for you; His purpose of coming
today to you in His Word is to deliver that very salvation to you.
Indeed,
the Christ who comes to you today and this week in the Word and Sacraments was
the same Christ who came to Bethlehem and was swaddled in cloths and laid in a
manger. The Christ who comes to you
today and this week in the Word and Sacraments was the same one who came on a
donkey into Jerusalem, so that He could sit with a “shabby, dirty, soldier’s
coat on His bleeding back and a crown of thorns set sideways on His head; with
a mock scepter in His hand and the spittle of drunken soldiers running down His
face.”[1]
Dear
friends, do not deceived, the Divine Services here at your Zion Lutheran Church
are not times for you to rally together and somehow paddle to heaven. We do not gather here to try and plot how to
get off of the island – off of earth by our own reason and strength and might
and power. But rather, these Divine
Services at your Zion Lutheran Church are times where the Lord comes to
you. This service today and the services
this week and the services for the upcoming months are times where the Lord
comes to be in the midst of His people – to be with you.
Oh,
the goodness of this news. We are not alone. He comes to be in the midst of our lives, our
pains, our struggles, and our deaths… He comes to give you and me faith that we
might not become weary or disheartened or fearful. The Lord promises to be with us to the very
end of the age.
Dear
blessed Baptized Saints, we are not left alone in this world to fend for
ourselves. We are not detached from the
Lord. He came and comes for you and for
me.
Yes,
the Lord came to you and joined you to Himself in your baptisms – you are
baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.
You are bound to Christ and He is bound to you.
The
Lord also comes to you in His Word to speak the powerful words of forgiveness –
you are forgiven; I will neither leave you nor forsake you.
Finally
the Lord comes to you in, with, and under the bread and the wine – take and
eat, take and drink, this is my body and my blood for the forgiveness of all of
your sins. You are partakers of a
heavenly meal.
Just
as the Lord did not hold back in coming to us in His birth and just as the Lord
did not hold back in coming to our sins in His death, He never tires of coming
to you and me today. He never tires coming.
Today
is Palm Sunday. The Savior came to Jerusalem
to save the world from sin. He comes
today to reign in our hearts and minds as well.
Let the cry of Hosanna loudly go forth.
Salvation belongs to our God, salvation that is delivered into our
hearts and minds and souls. Praise be to
the Christ, the Messiah, the Promised one, who came and comes for sinners with
forgiveness, life, and salvation.
In
the name of Jesus: Amen.
[1] Fred H. Lindemann, The Sermon and The Propers: Volume II (St.
Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 1958), 99.
No comments:
Post a Comment