Sermon
for Advent 1, December 1, 2024
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Luke
19:28-40 28After Jesus had said these
things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29As he came near to Bethphage and
Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples
ahead, 30saying, “Go to the village ahead of you. When you enter it, you will find a colt tied,
on which no one has ever sat. Untie it
and bring it here. 31And if
anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you will say this: ‘The Lord needs
it.’” 32Those who were sent
ahead went and found things just as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt,
its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs
it.” 35Then they brought the
colt to Jesus. They threw their robes on
the colt and set Jesus on it. 36As
he went along, people spread their robes on the road. 37As he was approaching the slope
of the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began to praise God
joyfully, with a loud voice, for all the miracles they had seen, 38saying,
“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the
highest!” 39Some of the
Pharisees from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke
your disciples!” 40He
replied, “I tell you, if these people would be silent,
the stones would cry out.” (EHV)
From the beginning to the end, Christ is King.
Dear fellow redeemed,
With Advent, we begin a new year in the worship services of
the Church. We follow this annual cycle
so that the Word of our God is proclaimed in its fullness and purity and the
faith of God’s people will be properly nourished for their spiritual growth and
eternal health. We begin the year by training
our hearts to prepare to celebrate the coming of God’s Son to earth in Jesus’
birth, and at the same time we prepare for His return to judge the world and to
take us home to eternal glory.
This
morning, our sermon text might seem like a strange choice for the Advent season
because we hear the Palm Sunday account of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem at
the beginning of Holy Week, the week leading up to His crucifixion, death, and
resurrection. Thus, some may wonder, why
is it read again here at the beginning of Advent? While the text chosen may be the same for
both days, I believe it serves a slightly different purpose in each case. On the first Sunday in Advent, this reading
helps us understand that From the beginning to the end, Christ is King.
From the
beginning to the end: the point of this is that Jesus has been part of our
world since God created it. As John
notes in his gospel, Jesus was active in the Father’s creation. Furthermore, the Son of God was active
throughout the Old Testament world, especially evident in His appearing as the
Angel of the Lord. He visited Noah,
Abraham, Jacob, and Moses. The Lord led
His people out of slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness to the promised
land, and His care for them continued throughout the generations and the
centuries, even during the time when He was silent. The Bible confirms this was God’s Son for it
says, “You make him the ruler over the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet.” (Psalm
8:6) Furthermore, Jesus affirmed His
God-given authority when He says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)
Thus,
throughout all those times, the Lord our God was directing the events of the
world so that at the proper time, every event prophesied throughout the Old
Testament would take place exactly as planned in the exact time God
intended. We see the omniscience of our
Lord in our text as Jesus tells His disciples exactly what to look for, where
and how they will find the colt, what the owners will say, and what explanation
to give that will satisfy them so that the colt would carry Jesus on to His
destination for our salvation.
Every
step in this progression is intended to fulfill the prophecies that the Lord
had given so that His people, you and I included, might recognize His Son as
the prophesied Savior and Redeemer. From
the welcome Jesus received that day, we can be confident that the people had
heard the prophesies given through Zechariah some fine hundred years earlier: “Rejoice
greatly, Daughter of Zion! Shout,
Daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey, on a
colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9) This is sure confirmation that God’s Word is
true, and we must believe that all the Scripture given by God is reliable and effective
for our salvation.
From the
writings of the prophets, the people were expecting a King who would restore
David’s kingdom. They understood that He
would be sent by God to save His people.
However, as we all know and would soon see, most of the people didn’t
understand the ultimate reality of how this King would save them. Still, at that point in time, they rejoiced
and were glad to see Him entering the holy city, Jerusalem.
Of
course, the reality is that Jesus had already been living among them physically
for over thirty years, and while many considered Him a prophet and great
healer, many others, perhaps, most people of Jesus’ day were not ready to
recognize Him as the Son of God. You can
say the same thing today. The difference
being that though Jesus doesn’t dwell among us physically, He is with us every
second of our lives spiritually. Since
you and I were brought into His kingdom through Baptism and the hearing of the
Gospel, Jesus has been with us just as He promised His disciples before His
ascension to His Father’s side in heaven: “Surely I am with you always until
the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
Like many
of the people that followed Jesus at that time, we too often fail to recognize
Jesus in our lives, but He never abandons us, never forgets us, and never
leaves us to the whims of the devil, for Jesus has already conquered that Liar,
Deceiver, and Accuser. Truly, that is
what we are beginning to celebrate as we begin the new year in Advent. Every moment, event, healing, word, and
prophecy of Jesus’ life, brought to us in person or through His appointed
messengers, is given to bring us new life.
Then, through His Word and Spirit, our Savior remains with us to help
and direct us and inviting our prayers for His intervention.
Whether
the people along that road to the Mount of Olives truly understood the moment
or not, their words are true: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of
the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in
the highest!” Our King shall reign
as long as this earth exists. Blessings
upon our King should flow freely from our lips, not only in this life, but they
will ring out joyfully from our hearts forever in the life to come. Jesus is God’s chosen instrument to save us
from sin and death. Jesus entered that final
week of His earthly life with the same purpose He recognized as a
twelve-year-old boy at the temple. He
was about His Father’s business of redeeming the world from the most evil
kidnapper and murderer ever known.
Satan’s lies cause the death of every person on earth. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is God’s
cure for our ills and through faith in Jesus restores eternal life.
“Peace
in heaven and glory in the highest!” This is
the reward for us. We did nothing to
deserve or gain it, but Jesus grants this reward to us freely by faith. Since Jesus entered the battle for our lives,
we no longer hide in terror of our Creator.
Our God and Father in heaven has removed our sins from us and put them
on His Son so that we are counted righteous before God. Nothing more is needed for us to enjoy
eternal peace with God. It is already
yours through the work of His Son, beginning already the moment Adam and Eve
turned against God, but especially continuing in His personal interaction with
the world in human flesh as Jesus.
What
greater glory can be attributed to anyone but that he gave his life to save
another’s? Jesus assured us this was so
as He said, “No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his
life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Our world gives no greater honor than it does to a soldier who gave his
life to save another of his fellow countryman from death. How much more so the Son of God who
sacrificed His own perfectly holy and innocent life so that the guilty would be
set free? To God’s Son, all knees in
heaven and on earth will bow to praise our Savior, for the Lord, Himself, with
uplifted hand has sworn with an oath, “Indeed, to me every knee will bow,
and every tongue will swear allegiance.
‘Only in the Lord,’ they will say of me, ‘Only in the Lord is there true
righteousness and strength.’” (Isaiah 45:23-24) Whether believer or unbeliever, in the end
all will know that Jesus is Lord and King of all.
For you
and me who believe in Jesus as our Savior, this is music to our ears. Yes, we know that far too many times we have
fallen short of walking faithfully with Jesus.
Yes, we each must humbly bow with the desperate father, who “cried
out and said with tears, ‘I do believe.
Help me with my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:24) We know with great sorrow that we fall into
the category of sinful men described in the Word of our Lord, “There is no
one who is righteous, not even one.
There is no one who understands.
There is no one who searches for God.
They all turned away; together they became useless.” (Romans 3:10-12)
Again,
this morning, we bowed before the Lord confessing that we are unworthy
sinners. But yet again, our Lord has
assured us that we are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. That is our joy. Though we did nothing to deserve God’s grace,
He has poured it out upon us like a rushing torrent of pure mountain water
flowing down from the peaks of heaven.
Through faith God washes away all our imperfections, sin, and guilt, and
covers us with the righteousness of His Son, Jesus.
That Good
News had to go out to the world. Our God
and Savior would have it no other way.
As the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to put a stop to His followers
singing His praises, commanding our Savior, “Teacher, rebuke your
disciples!” To which in response
Jesus exclaimed, “I tell you, if these people would be silent, the stones
would cry out.” St. Paul wrote, “In
fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be
revealed.” (Romans 8:19)
Dear
friends, God gave His Son into the troubles of this world, into the grief and
pain of human life, and then into death on a cross so that you and I will live
and never die. God gave Jesus into the
putrid pool of our sinfulness so that we would be washed clean. God gave Jesus authority to see that His
sacrifice was not in vain but that many would hear His holy Word, believe it,
and live. God grant that this message
never be taken for granted among us for From the beginning to the end,
Christ is King. Amen.
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