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Date: 1st Sunday in Advent Text: Matthew 21:1-9
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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.
And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according.
To St. Matthew, the 21st chapter. When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, The Lord needs them, and he will send them at once. And this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them and sat on them. And most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest. This is the gospel of the Lord.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. Here again our gospel text. Prophecy fulfilled on that Palm Sunday. Say to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.
I find it fascinating. Last week it was the end of the world, and you all survived. You did pretty well through it. This week we begin to look at the season of Advent, and I love how the second Advent of Christ and the first Advent of Christ oftentimes overlap in our readings during this season.
But in order to understand what's going on here, let me kind of frame it this way. I don't know if you guys have noticed, but Republicans and Democrats don't get along. Have you noticed that? They don't seem to converse well with each other.
And I think we've hit the point now where people are absolutely panic-stricken. They have anxiety, and they loathe the idea of actually going to holiday meals, especially if somebody from the other political party is going to be there because you know what's going to happen.
You have a couple of glasses of wine, and somebody says the word Trump, and then it's, well, an all-no-holds-barred brawl, right? This is how this goes. Have you noticed that in the political one-upmanship that takes place in our country, there's a time-honored tradition?
Now, remember when Trump was inaugurated. There he was. He'd been elected. He's now being inaugurated. It's January, and what does Trump do? He says that his inauguration was the most attended in all of U .S. history.
This is how he talked. And of course, CNN has their helicopters up, and they're going, no, it's not that big. We've had bigger crowds here. So Biden, at his inauguration, what did they say? Oh, man, big crowds.
It shows a big show of support. And so they're kind of basically looking at whether or not they're valid or whatever, based upon how many people show up to the inauguration, as if somehow this says anything.
Well, I can do you one better, but let me kind of do it in reverse. If you remember a few weeks ago, there was Jesus going through Jericho, heading towards Jerusalem, and there was that fellow, Blind Bartimaeus.
Blind Bartimaeus happens to be in this crowd, because it says in the gospel that we read that he left everything and followed Jesus. So Blind Bartimaeus is in that group of people, but I want to note something here.
It is the Passover season. Christ is coming into Jerusalem for the Passover, and to go and be our Passover lamb, to die in our place, so that when his blood is over us, the destroyer passes over us. If you think of the Passover themes here, they're very important.
But here's the thing. There are hundreds of thousands of people streaming in to Jerusalem for the Passover. This is where it's supposed to take place. Big throngs, large crowds. Well, let's just say that finding a place to stay is going to be tricky and challenging.
Where to eat at night, there's going to be long lines, and things like this. You get the idea. And here comes how many people? Maybe 120. How are they dressed? Well, you know, Galilean fishermen, how they dress, they're not really impressive.
Is there a military parade here? 21 guns salute? Did the military do a flyover? Was Jesus wearing a crown? No, a lot of those things are missing. Hang on a second here. There we go. A lot of those things are missing.
In fact, none of them are there. So we have a motley crew, a former blind guy, we've got some Galilean fishermen, we have pretty basic, smelly Judeans after having walked on a...they need a shower. And what's Jesus riding on, by the way?
A white horse? Kings usually have horses and stuff. Does this sound impressive to you guys? It doesn't sound impressive at all. That's the point. That's really the point. And this is mucho importante.
A little Spanish there just to help out. It's really important because we have to sort this all out. Christ has two admins. This is his first, and you can think of this as Jesus' triumphal entry, his inauguration as the king of Israel.
As our king, your king, my king. And this is most certainly true, but then Christ has a second coming, a second advent. And usually when we think of power and might and kings, this is along the lines of what we're thinking of.
If we were to fast forward to the near end of the New Testament, Revelation chapter 19, it says this regarding Christ. Verse 11, I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. Ah, this sounds about right.
The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. Oh, you bet you he is. In righteousness he judges and he makes war. That's what we want. We want him to, yeah, war, yeah. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems.
Ah, there it is, the crown jewels. There they are. And he has a name written that no one knows except for himself. He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood. I bet it's the blood of his enemies. Yeah. Right?
And the name on which he is called, for you Greek guys out there, halagos, the word of God. And the armies of heaven, they are arrayed in fine linen, white, pure, following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.
He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Now that's what we expect. Crown jewels, white horse, military, oh, and he even has designer clothes.
King of Kings, Lord of Lords. No doubting who this is, right? Well, this is what the Jews were expecting the Messiah to do, to come in. And Christ, this is not what he does. He fulfills a different prophecy altogether.
But here's the thing, had Christ ridden into Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday on this horse with that military and executed justice, where would you and I be? Oh, yeah, I see. That's kind of the issue, isn't it?
You see, all good stories, and I mean this, have you ever noticed that the best stories all tell the same story over and over and over again? Think back with me. I know I'm a little bit romantic here.
One of my favorite stories of all time, Cinderella. Wasn't there a prince involved? Yeah, there was a prince. Wasn't there a maiden? Wasn't she oppressed and stripped of any kind of dignity and she was abject poverty and all this kind of stuff?
Here's the thing, in all of the good stories like that, when you have a prince who rescues his love, even if she comes from humble birth, even if there's nothing about her that would make you say that she should be a princess, the king, the prince's eye falls on her and he loves her.
And so always in those stories, there's a rescuing of the princess and then finally a reconciling with the evil forces of darkness that were oppressing her in the first place. So when we think about Advent, you have to think along those lines.
Christ rides into Jerusalem, humble, on a colt, the foal of a donkey, and the prophecy being fulfilled says this, say to the daughter of Zion. Well, who's she? Who's the daughter of Zion? I'd like to meet her.
There you are. You're the daughter of Zion. I'm part of the daughter of Zion. You see, the daughter of Zion is the love of Christ. It's his church. It's his bride. And so in his triumphal entry, he comes in not bedazzled in diadems.
He comes in not riding a war horse. He comes in on a beast of burden, a borrowed donkey, and don't let these appearances fool you or to deceive you into thinking something bad about Jesus. Don't be scandalized by this.
Because what he is coming to do is to bleed and die for the sins of his bride, the daughter of Zion, those who have faith in him, to lay down his life so that she can be washed in his blood, so that she can have all of her sin and filth taken from her, and that she can be clothed in a bedazzled, dazzling, bright, white, pure wedding dress.
Important thing to be happening here. So you'll note in fulfilling this prophecy, the prophet announces to the daughter of Zion, those who trust in Christ, those whom Christ has washed away their sins so that they can be forgiven because he's going to the cross, not to, well, have the blood of his enemies spilled, but for his own blood to be spilled so that she can be forgiven and pardoned.
And so in the midst of this we learn from Philippians chapter 2 that even though Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, even though he is by nature equal with God, he humbles himself and takes on the form of a servant and became obedient to death, even death on the cross, so that you and I can be forgiven.
So say to the daughter of Zion, behold, your king is coming to you. How is he coming? Humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the full of a beast of burden, a borrowed one at that. So you'll note that even though Jesus at this point is in the form of a servant, a slave, don't think for a second that he's not King of kings because he is.
And don't think that because he's borrowing a donkey that he's poverty stricken. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. None of the billionaires of our time have anything on this guy. But he's put all of that aside in order to redeem and to save his love because God so loved the world.
He so loved you that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. And don't think for a second that despite the fact that he's not wearing diadems, that he isn't exactly who he claims to be and who the crowd recognizes him to be.
Hosanna to the son of David. They recognize him as king. The prophet has declared him to be king. Indeed he is. And although he's not wearing a crown, he will be in just a few days. And the crown he's chosen for himself is not bedazzled in diadems.
The crown he's chosen for himself is the crown of thorns. Where he takes your sin and my sin upon himself so that we can be forgiven and pardoned. He dies in our place so that we do not have to suffer the fate that we have so horribly earned.
And instead he does the greatest work of all, giving, laying down his life so that we can live. So say to the daughter of Zion, behold your king is coming to you, humble, mounted on a donkey. And what does this call for?
Faith. Everyone who believes these words, who can see past the poverty, see past the borrowed donkey, see past the scandal that he's not riding a white horse, everyone who has faith, they see what is happening here and their hearts leap and they rejoice and they with the crowd at that time now cry out Hosanna to the son of David blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
And with that we consider then in his first advent, Christ comes humble but we know in his second advent he will not come humble, he will finally come on that horse. And so we hear then the admonition, the exhortation of the apostle Paul in our epistle text.
So you know then, brothers and sisters, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. Remember we talked about sleep last week. Ah, sin. It just puts us all to sleep. And that's what it is. Sin is sleep.
Sin is darkness. There's nothing good in sin. It's slavery. And so you'll note that the time, the hour for us to wake from sleep, it is near at hand. It's just around the corner. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.
Didn't we just do advent a year ago? We're doing it again now. What? We do this every year. It's a good thing we do, right? But you'll note that last year we were that much closer to the end of this darkness and this sleep.
And our salvation was nearer to us then and now it's nearer to us than ever. It's never been closer. The night is far gone. The day is at hand. I've got to admit, I'm not a keen fan of just how little sunlight there is during this time of the year.
Have you guys noticed that? Even after the time change, it's like I'm sitting in my office working on the bulletins or whatever and it's almost 8 o 'clock and oh, the sun's decided to finally wake up.
Right? But one of the things I enjoy is that my office almost faces east. And so on those days when I'm up and it's dark in my office and I look out the window and always and again you can just see the very first.
Twinges, the slightest subtle color of.
Pink in the clouds, right? And you sit there and go, oh, the sun's about to come up. Give it just a little bit of time. And that tiny little faded bit of pink turns to something a little bit more vibrant.
And then you begin to see an orange or maybe even a yellow. And it starts to get brighter and brighter and brighter. And I'm thinking, dang it, where's my camera? And it's too cold. I don't want to go out there and do anything.
Right? So I sit there and I watch and finally, boom! It happens so suddenly. But you're going to note, brothers and sisters, as we anticipate and get ready to celebrate the first advent of Christ, who comes to us humble, born of a virgin, born in a barn, if you would, humble, laid in a manger, that the second coming that we're looking forward to is not something that we need to fear.
Just like we shouldn't fear him in his first advent, he's already come to us on a beast of burden, laying down his life so that we can be forgiven. Note then that the night is far spent. Have you noticed the world's going crazy?
Just look off into the east. You can already see those first faded colors of pink. The sun's about to rise. Ah, the night is far gone. The day is at hand. And because of this then, even before the sun comes up, let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, even now before the sun rises.
Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, but let us instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ now and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
The night is soon to give way to the rising son, Jesus Christ, when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. And he's going to lead us into a world without end. And we have nothing to fear from this Jesus.
He comes to us humble today. He comes to us next week in his body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins on the cross. He comes to comfort us. So, daughter of Zion, you who are in Christ, you bride of Christ, behold, your King is coming to you.
He loves you deeply, laid down his life for you. So repent, believe, and dare to hope. The day is at hand. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
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Amen.
