Cursed is Everyone Who is Hanged on a Tree

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.

The Humble King Entering Jerusalem

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 21st chapter. Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethpage, the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples saying to them, go into the village in front of you and immediately you'll find a donkey tight 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. 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 and 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 on them their cloaks and sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road and others cut branches from the 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. And when he had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up saying, who is this?

And the crowd said, this is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Behold, your king is coming to you humble. Humble, that's our big word today.

Humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden. If you were paying attention to two different readings here, our Old Testament reading and our gospel text, you'll note that our Old Testament text is specifically talking about Christ's second advent.

And so you'll note that as we begin the new church year, there's a little bit of overlap, if you would. There's some eschatological residue, things pointing to the second coming of Christ, that in the latter days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains.

We learn from the prophet Daniel and the vision that God, or the dream that God had given to Nebuchadnezzar, that that mountain of the Lord is going to come out of nowhere and smash the kingdoms of the earth and then fill the whole earth.

Christ's Humility in the First Advent

That's the second advent of Christ. But in the first advent of Christ, you'll note that Jesus doesn't come to smash the kingdoms of the earth. He himself comes to be smashed, to be beaten down, to be trodden, to be, well, pierced for our transgressions.

And when we consider the humility of Christ, his humbleness, Christ still comes to us humble today. He comes to us humble through the preached word. He comes to us humble in the sacrament of the altar.

Christ still continues humbling himself. But I thought it would be kind of interesting, a study of scriptures, if you would, to compare two very different sons of David. Because Christ's humility really shines when it is, well, juxtaposed with the arrogance and the ambition of the other son of David, Absalom.

If you guys remember in the Old Testament, there was a son of David by the name of Absalom who basically planned a four-year-long coup d 'etat where he was going to steal the hearts of the people of Israel and that he was going to make himself the king and then do his father in.

I mean, what kind of person is that? You'll note that that particular son of David is, well, not a great one. In fact, he's the exact opposite of Jesus. Jesus is humble. Absalom, not so much. But it's in the details of that particular conspiracy and then what ended up happening to Absalom that we begin to see a little bit of an overlap between the two sons of David.

Jesus, the son of David, and Absalom, the son of David. If you would like to follow along, we'll do a little bit of survey work in the book of 2 Samuel, my apologies, 2 Samuel chapter 15, and we're going to look at Absalom's conspiracy.

Here's what it says in 2 Samuel chapter 15. After this, Absalom, he got himself a chariot and horses, fifty men to run before him, and Absalom used to rise early and stand before the way of the gate. And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say, from what city are you?

And when he said, well, your servant is of such and such of a tribe of Israel, Absalom would say to him, well, I see that your claims are good and right, but alas, there is no man designated by the king to hear you.

And here's what Absalom is up to. This is slander of the highest degree. He's maliciously accusing his father of not doing his duties as king. If you remember, here in the United States, we have three branches of government.

We have the executive, we have the legislative, and we have the judicial. But in monarchies of the ancient world, all three branches resided in the one monarch, in the king. And so not only did the king have to write laws, the king also had to execute those laws, but the king also had to judge those laws and hear cases, or at least designate somebody for the purpose of doing that.

And King David, of course, was following through on his duties, but what Absalom was doing was basically meeting people as they were coming into town and then slanderously accusing his dad without saying it.

Oh, my dad is a terrible king. He's not doing all the things he's supposed to be doing. He should have set somebody up to hear cases, but he's, well, he's too busy doing other things. But if I were king, alas, if I were the king of the forest, right?

If I were king, I would be doing things differently. And what he does here, then, is he sends folks away who have come into Jerusalem for the purpose of seeking a judgment, for them to receive justice in their complaints against their neighbors, and they leave without any justice at all.

And that's the kind of thing that festers and grows, and people begin to gossip and to slander, and their hearts are turned away from David towards the one who would do something if only, if only he were king.

It's a beautiful conspiracy, if you think about it. Utterly satanic. And this is the opposite of being humble. This particular son of David is ambitious. He is exalting himself. And by the way, what kind of narcissist has 50 men run before him, right?

Who does that? I need 50 men, what's your job? You're to run before me so that everybody in the streets knows that I'm approaching, right? Could you imagine if I hired 50 men to, you know, to, well, applaud me as I entered into Kongsvinger.

Way to go. Oh, pastor's here. You guys would get rid of me faster than you get rid of a flu, right? What a terrible, narcissistic, anti-humble person this is. So Absalom would say, oh, if I were judge in the land, then every man had a dispute, and might cause would come before me, and I would give him justice.

So whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, Absalom would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him. Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment, and Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

And then at the end of four years, Absalom does this for four years. At the end of four years, Absalom said to the king, please let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Yahweh in Hebron, for your servant vowed a vow while I lived at Gesher in Aram, saying, if Yahweh will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will worship, then I will offer worship to Yahweh.

And so he's now going to mask his coup d 'etat, his murderous attempt to depose his father in piety. I mean, wow, talk about having no conscience. I'm going to worship Yahweh. No, you're not. You're going to worship yourself, dude.

Right? So Absalom sent secret messengers throughout all the tribes of Israel saying, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then you are to say, Absalom is king in Hebron. And Absalom went 200 men from Jerusalem who were the invited guests, and they went in their innocence.

They knew nothing. And while Absalom was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, the Gileadite, David's counselor, and from his city, Gilo. And the conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.

A messenger came to David saying, the hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom. Then David said to his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, rise, let us flee, or else there will be no escape for us from Absalom.

And immediately upon hearing what this conspiracy was all about, Absalom now exalting himself as king, and that there's a vast number of people who've gone after Absalom, David realizes at this point, Jerusalem is not a defensible place for him to remain.

If he stays in Jerusalem, the armies of Absalom, all they need to do is arrive and set up a siege, and then it's just a matter of time. And so David has to leave, and what's really fascinating to me, over and again as I read this text, is that the route that David takes out of Jerusalem, the route that he takes, is the exact route that Jesus takes into Jerusalem.

It's very fascinating. We know from the details here that David is going to leave, he's going to exit out the golden gate of Jerusalem, which is well on the eastern wall there. He's going to descend down the Kidron Valley, and he's going to ascend up the slope of the Mount of Olives.

That is the exact route that Jesus took coming in on our gospel text. He came down the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, and entered into Jerusalem through the golden gate. That, I think, is significant.

I think it's so huge. It just is teeming with messianic overtones. But here we hear about David's leaving, his departure. So he said, go quickly, lest ye overtake us, quickly, and bring down ruin on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.

So the king's servant said to the king, behold, your servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king decides. So the king went out, and all of his household after him, and the king left ten concubines to keep the house.

And the king went out, and all the people after him, and they halted at the last house. And all of his servants passed by him, and all the Karathites, and all the Pelathites, and all the six hundred Gittites who had followed him from Gath passed on before the king.

Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, why do you also go with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home. You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, since I go I don't know where?

Go back and take your brothers with you, and may Yahweh show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. But Ittai answered the king, as Yahweh lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, there also will your servant be.

And David said to Ittai, go then, pass on. So Ittai the Gittite passed on with all of his men, and all the little ones who were with him, and the land wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king crossed the brook Kidron, and all the people passed on toward the wilderness.

And then I pick it up again in verse 30, David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot with his head covered. You'll note that David's departure from Jerusalem is, well, not something of rejoicing, but instead is something of lament.

It's a time of mourning, of weeping, and David's head is covered, he's penitent. And you'll note that David here is receiving one of the consequences of his sin that he committed when he went into Bathsheba, impregnated her, and then murdered her husband.

Nathan the prophet, although David received an absolution from Nathan the prophet, God made it very clear that one of David's own neighbors, one of his own sons, would try to kill him, and that was prophecy given by Nathan.

And now God is fulfilling this. This is all a consequence of David's sin. So all the people who were with him, they covered their heads, they went up weeping as they went, and it was told David, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom, and David said, O Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.

I'll fast forward a little bit, but, you know, suffice it to say that Absalom did enter Jerusalem. He then set himself up as king, and this was all to seize a kingdom which didn't rightfully belong to him.

It was something, you'll note that the kingdom of Israel is something that is given by God. God is the one who establishes kings. God is the one who calls them and puts them into place. And God had not called Absalom to be the king of Israel.

Nope, far from it. But you'll note, despite all of his sin and all of his ambition, which is what we all are like, by the way, by nature, because we are all alike, like the devil, in our ambition, in our desires to fulfill our own gratifications, Absalom is a lot like that.

He is nothing like Jesus, the son of David. So the text then continues that after some time they came up with a plan then to go to war with the forces of Absalom. David had an army, Absalom had an army, and they met in the north country up in Ephraim.

And it says in chapter 18 that David mustered the men who were with him, set over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. This is civil war now. And David sent out the army, one-third under the command of Joab, one-third under the command of Abishai, the son of Zariah, Joab's brother, and one-third under the command of Ittai, the Gittite.

And the king said to the men, I myself also will go out with you. But the men said, you shall not go out, for if we flee, they will not care about us. If half of us die, they will not care about us. But you are worth 10 ,000 of us, therefore it is better that you send us help from the city.

So the king said to them, whatever seems best to you I will do. So the king stood at the side of the gate, and while all the army marched out by hundreds and by thousands, the king ordered Joab and Abishai and Ittai, please deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom.

It's very interesting. This will actually come back to bite David in the behind. His kindness, his desire to show mercy to Absalom rather than Absalom be treated like a treasonous traitor that he is, and that he be executed and put to death.

He wants his own son to be taken alive. And all the people, they heard when the king gave the orders to all the commanders about Absalom. So the army went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was fought in the forest of Ephraim.

And the men of Israel were defeated there by the servants of David, and the loss there was great on that day, 20 ,000 men. The battle spread over the face of all of the country. The forest devoured more people that day than the sword.

And you'll note here that the ambition, the arrogance, the pride, the hubris of Absalom results in 20 ,000 men perishing on the battlefield for his sin, for his arrogance, for his pride. And I must ask this question of us all, how many people have suffered because of your sin?

We can all say that others have. Thankfully, I could say that no one's died because of mine, at least not that I'm aware of. But still, that doesn't make it right. In this particular case, the arrogance and the pride of Absalom resulted in the loss of 20 ,000 men.

How many women lost their husbands that day? How many children lost their fathers that day? For what? One man's arrogance, one man's hubris, one man's ambition. How did they not see that Absalom was breaking the eighth commandment and bearing false witness against his father?

How did they not see that this son of David was nothing like God? He wasn't a man after God's own heart. Absalom was a man after Absalom's own heart and his own ambitions, and they went along with it, and 20 ,000 men paid the ultimate price for Absalom's sin.

Christ Cursed for Us on the Tree

But then the text says something interesting. Absalom was riding on his mule. Prophetic note here, Absalom on a mule, on a beast of burden? Why isn't he on a war horse? Okay, the connections to Christ begin to show up here.

He was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth while the mule under him went on.

Suspended between heaven and earth. The son of David suspended between heaven and earth? Now, let me read a text for you, okay? From Galatians chapter 3, it is written, now it is evident that no one is justified or declared righteous before God by the law.

For the righteous shall live by faith, but the law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

And here Paul in Galatians 3 is quoting from Deuteronomy 21 verse 23, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. What can we definitively say then of Absalom the arrogant, Absalom the prideful, Absalom the usurper?

He was cursed. God himself intervened and cursed him, and he hung between heaven and earth on a tree. Hmm. So, a certain man then saw Absalom and told Joab, one of the commanders, behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.

Joab said to the man who told him, what, you saw him? Why then did you not strike him there to the ground? I would have been glad to give you ten pieces of silver and a belt. But the man said to Joab, even if I had felt in my hand the weight of a thousand pieces of silver, I would not reach out my hand against the king's son, for in hearing the king commanded you in Abishai and Ittai, for my sake, protect the young man Absalom.

On the other hand, if I had dealt treacherously against his life, and there's nothing hidden from the king, then you yourself would have stood aloof. Joab said, I will not waste time like this with you.

And he took three javelins in his hand, and he thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak. And the ten young men, Joab's armor bearers, surrounded Absalom, struck him, and killed him.

Thus perished Absalom, cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. And here's where things no longer compare. It is true that Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey, on a beast of burden.

And this was to fulfill what was written in the prophet Zechariah. But the prophet Zechariah made it very clear that our king is coming to us humble, mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

One week later is Christ's resurrection. And less than a week from Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, following the exact route of his father David, but in reverse. David left Jerusalem in mourning and in weeping, and he was suffering the consequences of his sin.

Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, and everybody there is rejoicing. They are laying down their cloaks in front of him, and the crowds were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And people were wondering, who is this? This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee. He truly is the son of David. But coming down the ascent of the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, into the Golden Gate into Jerusalem, Jesus was not coming to establish an earthly kingdom.

Instead, Jesus was coming to be cursed in a very similar way that Absalom was cursed. Because in less than a week, on the very Friday of the week that Jesus had come into Jerusalem, Jesus was suspended between heaven and earth, bearing your sins and mine.

God had laid on him the iniquity of us all, and Jesus did not come to establish an earthly kingdom. We know this because when Jesus is on trial, Jesus doesn't even defend himself or lift up his voice in any way to make a defense.

Christ Before Pilate and the Crown of Thorns

In John chapter 19, we have the account of Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea at the time. Pilate took Jesus, and he had him flogged, the scriptures say. But before that, we have Pilate asking Jesus about who he is and where he's from and what they've done.

In the early part of chapter 18, it says they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters, and it was early morning, and they themselves did not enter the governor's headquarters so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.

Every time I read that text about how those who put Jesus on trial during the night, you know, the high priest and others, they didn't want to be defiled, yet they were defiled by the very fact that they were murdering their God, and they had found an innocent man guilty of a sin that he did not commit.

So Pilate went outside to them and said, what accusation do you bring against this man? They answered him, well, if this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you. Pilate said to them, well, take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.

The Jews said to him, it's not lawful for us to put anyone to death. This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to show what kind of death he was going to die. In other words, we want to murder this fellow, and we need you to be the guy to do it for us.

So Pilate enters his headquarters, and he called Jesus, and he said to him, are you the king of the Jews? Is Jesus not the king of the Jews? Yes, he is. He truly is the heir to the throne of David. So Jesus answered, do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?

Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting so that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world.

Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say that I'm a king, and for this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

Pilate said to him, what is truth? And after he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, I find no guilt in him, but you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover.

So do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? They cried out again, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. Pilate then flogged Jesus, and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe.

These are the items of Jesus's coronation. Jesus hasn't chosen for himself a crown of gold, nor has he chosen for him anything stately by the world's standards. Instead he has chosen to be mocked, and that his crown be a crown of thorns, a symbol of the curse that we are all under.

Because remember when Adam and Eve sinned against God, one of the curses that God inflicted on the entire planet was that we were going to have to bring forth our bread by the sweat of our brows, and that the earth would also produce thorns and thistles and weeds.

I know all about this, because I have a garden full of them every year, right? So they came up to Jesus saying, hail king of the Jews, struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, see I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no guilt in him.

So Jesus came out bearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, behold the man. And when the chief priests and the officers saw him they cried out, crucify him, crucify him.

Pilate said to them, take him yourselves and crucify him, I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, we have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he's made himself the son of God.

No he hasn't, he is truly the son of God. Pilate heard this statement and he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to him, where are you from? Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me, do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?

Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on Pilate sought to release Jesus, but the Jews cried out, if you release this man you are not Caesar's friend.

Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. But Jesus hasn't made himself a king, has he? The scripture is very clear in Philippians that Christ humbled himself. Even though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.

He humbled himself and came in the form of a servant, was born in human likeness, and was obedient even to the point of death, even death on a cross. You see Jesus comes into Jerusalem, yes he's the rightful heir of the throne of David, but Jesus also knows very well that one cannot put themselves forward for this kingdom as king, and he's not here to do that.

Instead Jesus dies. Jesus lays down his life. He comes in his first advent humble and a servant to bleed and to die for our sins so that he, by him being cursed, by being hung on a tree, we might be blessed with the forgiveness of our sins, blessed with eternal life, blessed by being reconciled to God.

It's the exact opposite of Absalom. Absalom was cursed for his sins. Christ was cursed for yours. It's painfully clear what is happening here. And so Jesus was nailed to the cross. Pilate did hand them over, and that's the reason why he came.

Living as Children of the Light in Advent

But brothers and sisters, as we begin this new church year, let us never forget that today still is the day of salvation. Today is not the day of Christ's second advent. We are still in the days of his first.

When Jesus returns, he will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. So let us repent of our sin. Let us cast aside our sin, which so easily entangles us. Let us renounce our sin. And well, as Paul says in our epistle text, that the day, the night is far spent.

That because salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed, we should cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light and live now as children of the light. Having been forgiven by Christ and reconciled, who became a curse so that we can be blessed, we then, it is appropriate for us to walk properly and to cast off all of our sins of the flesh, including drunkenness and sensuality and sexual immorality and quarreling and jealousy and make no provision for the flesh.

Because although it is still night and the dawning of the sun, his coming in glory is not yet today. It is appropriate to live as if it is already the day. That's what this penitential season is about.

So truly, we praise you, Lord Jesus, that you still come to us humble today in order to humble us so that we might be forgiven and reconciled and not be cursed with Absalom, but be blessed with the son of David who laid down his life for us so that we can live in the name of Jesus.

Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry.

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