Jeremiah 23:5-8/Romans 13:8-14/St Matthew 21:1-9
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In the days of Saul and David the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. They had seized it in battle and held in the temple of Dagon of Ashdod, setting is next to the idol. The following morning Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. The pagan priests set it back up, only to find their idol prostrate once more the next day. They stood it up again. On the third day his hands and head had been cut off and set on the threshold of the pagan temple. The false god bowed before the symbol of the presence of the true, living God!
The Philistines then continuously moved the Ark for seven months, plagues and death following in its wake. Finally, terrified by the hand of the Lord which was heavy upon them, the Philistines returned the Ark of the Lord to Israel.
Now David had been anointed king and reigned after the death of Saul. Taking 30,000 fighting men of Israel he prepared to meet the Philistines and receive the Ark at Beth-Shemesh. With music and song and dance, all of Israel rejoiced at the return of the Ark of the Lord. Yet when Uzzah was struck dead by the Lord for grasping the Ark before fell off the ox cart, David feared the power and judgment of the Lord and turned aside from taking the Ark to Jerusalem. He housed the Ark at the home of Obed-edom the Gittite (2 Sam 6). It remained there for three months and the Lord blessed Obed and all his household.
Three months. A time of preparation not unlike Advent. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was wishing the borders of Israel, yet it was kept at a distance. Waiting. As the people properly prepared to receive it. For all of Israel had heard of the Lord’s anger kindled against Uzzah and so they rightly feared His Name. The Ark, the physical presence of the Lord God among His people, was both a sign of His mercy and salvation for them, yet it also served as a solemn warning, a call to repentance.
When it had been told David that the house of Obed had been blessed he went down in order to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem. So he returned the Ark to the Holy City with rejoicing. And when those who bore the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod (1 Sam 5; 2 Sam 6). And while the Ark of the Lord ascended Mount Zion, traveling up to the Tabernacle, David composed Psalm 24, singing, Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory! (Ps 24:7-8, 10).
The great mystery of the faith, at which we bow or bend the knee, is our Lord’s Incarnation; the Son of God coming in our flesh. And this is the mystery that Jesus is sacramentalizing by riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. This is His παρουσια, His coming, His advent. Greater than Solomon who rode into Jerusalem atop his father’s donkey while a pretender had enthroned himself, so now does Jesus the Christ, David’s Son and David’s Lord, come as King in peace and as Judge in vindication. Had He come as a King to make war or as a Judge to settle scores, He would have come on horseback; mounted stead with the train of His entourage; riding with the aggressive intention of a warrior up to the Herodian palace. But He doesn’t. He rides in on donkey and goes to the Temple.
And even though He made His peaceable disposition clear, even though His choice of a donkey and her colt was, as St Matthew points out, a fulfillment of the irenic prophecy - Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden - still the sacramental significance of His action was lost on the crowd that acclaimed Him.
They expected, even wanted, an interventionist. A warrior Messiah. They hailed Him as such. They assumed Him to be the One who would right then and there by right-handed power bring the kingdom of our father David. They forget the rest of the Psalm from which they sing: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And then, The Lord is God, and He has made His Light to shine on us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! (Ps 118:25-27). He comes not as Magistrate and Warrior, but as Servant King and Sacrifice. He comes not to rout the Herodians and Pilate, but to overturn the rule of the devil and destroy death! But this is lost on them.
But upon you, O daughter of Zion, it ought not be lost. Yet so often it is.
Let us learn from Moses to pray, Teach us to number our days O Lord, that we may get a heart of wisdom (PS 90:12). For we ought not so earnestly rush headlong into Christmas that we loose sight and significance of Advent-tide. Yet so often we do. We pine for the feast, neglecting the fast. We refuse to wait. More than we dare to admit we are similar to those fickle crowds who greeted out Lord on Sunday only to despise and reject Him by Friday. It sounds like out typical week. We know neither the Scriptures nor the power therein. We do not listen to our fathers of old, the prophets. We are ignorant of the Old Covenant and so the deep significance of Advent, of pious waiting, is lost on us.
Long before the Church even had an annual celebration of Christmas, Advent was set aside as a season of preparation, “to prepare the royal highway,” leveling the hills of our pride and arrogance by His Law, raising us up from the valley of repentance in His Gospel. You heard the solemn warning of the night’s watchmen last Sunday, how the cry went out at midnight: Behold the Bridegroom comes! Even as you prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Now here He is! The last Sundays of the Church year move right into the first - getting you ready for getting ready. His coming is immanent. Beside this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. Prepare your hearts and minds for the arrival of your Lord and King!
He comes not to annihilate you nor ride you underfoot. He is well aware of the weakness of your corruption by sin, but He does not come to punish, but to forgive you. He comes to wipe away your sins, to throw them into the depth of the sea, to loose you from them by the Absolution of your Pastor, even as He sent His disciples to loose the donkey. He knows the trouble your are in. He knows your plight. The tears you secretly shed and the enemies that oppress you.
And so He rides into the City of Peace with one thing in mind: to make peace by His death. He knows this in His bones. He was born to die. He comes in as the new Ark and the Temple made without hands. He comes as the Lamb and the scapegoat who takes all of your sins into His person, and binds Himself as the festal sacrifice up to the horns of His Cross. He comes to establish a new and everlasting covenant, not with the blood of oxen and sheep, but by His own precious Blood, poured out for you. He is the Mercy-Seat and the very instantiation of the reigning Kingdom of the Anointed One!
As David prophesied in Psalm 24: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up His soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully (24:3-4). Christ alone ascends the Temple Mount in the cleanness and purity of our Great High Priest. He is dressed not in the linen ephod of the sons of Aaron, but is clothed in His own righteousness, bearing the sin of the world inscribed on His flesh like the twelve jewels bearing the names of the tribes of Israel.
His hands are clean and His heart is pure, meaning He has fulfilled the Law, both outwardly and inwardly, in active obedience to its demands and in passive obedience to His Father’s will. He is, in His person, the summation of the Law: Love. He loves His Father perfectly and He loves you to the end.
The triumphal entry, the only Gospel lesson repeated twice in the Church Year - on the First Sunday in Advent and again on Palm Sunday - strikes both the cord of grace and of judgment. The judgment of this humble Servant King descends only on those who refuse His grace. He enters peaceably into this city of war to shouts of Hosanna, “Save us now, we pray!” And He does. He comes to make peace by His death and resurrection. He comes to make peace between you and the Father, peace between you and your neighbor; peace not as the world gives And though the crowds are unwilling to receive Him, He will absolve their rejection from the cross: Father, forgive them. That is His final word on the subject.
People loved by God, you live in the shadow of Mount Zion, O daughter; that is, under the banner of His Cross by which He embraces you in love. And behold, our Lord is within the walls; yet we await His advent in with repentant joy and preparation. For He who once came upon the donkey and in the manger, will come again on the clouds of heaven; His Second Advent, His παρουσια . The night is far gone; the Day is at hand. So then, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ who has even now clothed you with His own perfection and righteousness. In Holy Baptism He draped His cloak upon you and claimed you as His own, for the need of the Lord. Thus do you await His coming. And you prepare by receiving.
For even while you wait, the cry goes out: Lift up your heads and your hearts O Christians! Lift them up unto the Lord! For the King of glory comes in, His Advent is nigh. Behold, dear daughter of Zion, rejoice, O Bride of Christ, for your King is coming to you, humble, lowly, in and under bread and wine. From the Zion of His Altar He delivers to you the mystery of His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins, rescue from death, and a clean conscience. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
In the days of Saul and David the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines. They had seized it in battle and held in the temple of Dagon of Ashdod, setting is next to the idol. The following morning Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. The pagan priests set it back up, only to find their idol prostrate once more the next day. They stood it up again. On the third day his hands and head had been cut off and set on the threshold of the pagan temple. The false god bowed before the symbol of the presence of the true, living God!
The Philistines then continuously moved the Ark for seven months, plagues and death following in its wake. Finally, terrified by the hand of the Lord which was heavy upon them, the Philistines returned the Ark of the Lord to Israel.
Now David had been anointed king and reigned after the death of Saul. Taking 30,000 fighting men of Israel he prepared to meet the Philistines and receive the Ark at Beth-Shemesh. With music and song and dance, all of Israel rejoiced at the return of the Ark of the Lord. Yet when Uzzah was struck dead by the Lord for grasping the Ark before fell off the ox cart, David feared the power and judgment of the Lord and turned aside from taking the Ark to Jerusalem. He housed the Ark at the home of Obed-edom the Gittite (2 Sam 6). It remained there for three months and the Lord blessed Obed and all his household.
Three months. A time of preparation not unlike Advent. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was wishing the borders of Israel, yet it was kept at a distance. Waiting. As the people properly prepared to receive it. For all of Israel had heard of the Lord’s anger kindled against Uzzah and so they rightly feared His Name. The Ark, the physical presence of the Lord God among His people, was both a sign of His mercy and salvation for them, yet it also served as a solemn warning, a call to repentance.
When it had been told David that the house of Obed had been blessed he went down in order to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem. So he returned the Ark to the Holy City with rejoicing. And when those who bore the Ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod (1 Sam 5; 2 Sam 6). And while the Ark of the Lord ascended Mount Zion, traveling up to the Tabernacle, David composed Psalm 24, singing, Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle! The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory! (Ps 24:7-8, 10).
The great mystery of the faith, at which we bow or bend the knee, is our Lord’s Incarnation; the Son of God coming in our flesh. And this is the mystery that Jesus is sacramentalizing by riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. This is His παρουσια, His coming, His advent. Greater than Solomon who rode into Jerusalem atop his father’s donkey while a pretender had enthroned himself, so now does Jesus the Christ, David’s Son and David’s Lord, come as King in peace and as Judge in vindication. Had He come as a King to make war or as a Judge to settle scores, He would have come on horseback; mounted stead with the train of His entourage; riding with the aggressive intention of a warrior up to the Herodian palace. But He doesn’t. He rides in on donkey and goes to the Temple.
And even though He made His peaceable disposition clear, even though His choice of a donkey and her colt was, as St Matthew points out, a fulfillment of the irenic prophecy - Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden - still the sacramental significance of His action was lost on the crowd that acclaimed Him.
They expected, even wanted, an interventionist. A warrior Messiah. They hailed Him as such. They assumed Him to be the One who would right then and there by right-handed power bring the kingdom of our father David. They forget the rest of the Psalm from which they sing: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! And then, The Lord is God, and He has made His Light to shine on us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! (Ps 118:25-27). He comes not as Magistrate and Warrior, but as Servant King and Sacrifice. He comes not to rout the Herodians and Pilate, but to overturn the rule of the devil and destroy death! But this is lost on them.
But upon you, O daughter of Zion, it ought not be lost. Yet so often it is.
Let us learn from Moses to pray, Teach us to number our days O Lord, that we may get a heart of wisdom (PS 90:12). For we ought not so earnestly rush headlong into Christmas that we loose sight and significance of Advent-tide. Yet so often we do. We pine for the feast, neglecting the fast. We refuse to wait. More than we dare to admit we are similar to those fickle crowds who greeted out Lord on Sunday only to despise and reject Him by Friday. It sounds like out typical week. We know neither the Scriptures nor the power therein. We do not listen to our fathers of old, the prophets. We are ignorant of the Old Covenant and so the deep significance of Advent, of pious waiting, is lost on us.
Long before the Church even had an annual celebration of Christmas, Advent was set aside as a season of preparation, “to prepare the royal highway,” leveling the hills of our pride and arrogance by His Law, raising us up from the valley of repentance in His Gospel. You heard the solemn warning of the night’s watchmen last Sunday, how the cry went out at midnight: Behold the Bridegroom comes! Even as you prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Now here He is! The last Sundays of the Church year move right into the first - getting you ready for getting ready. His coming is immanent. Beside this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. Prepare your hearts and minds for the arrival of your Lord and King!
He comes not to annihilate you nor ride you underfoot. He is well aware of the weakness of your corruption by sin, but He does not come to punish, but to forgive you. He comes to wipe away your sins, to throw them into the depth of the sea, to loose you from them by the Absolution of your Pastor, even as He sent His disciples to loose the donkey. He knows the trouble your are in. He knows your plight. The tears you secretly shed and the enemies that oppress you.
And so He rides into the City of Peace with one thing in mind: to make peace by His death. He knows this in His bones. He was born to die. He comes in as the new Ark and the Temple made without hands. He comes as the Lamb and the scapegoat who takes all of your sins into His person, and binds Himself as the festal sacrifice up to the horns of His Cross. He comes to establish a new and everlasting covenant, not with the blood of oxen and sheep, but by His own precious Blood, poured out for you. He is the Mercy-Seat and the very instantiation of the reigning Kingdom of the Anointed One!
As David prophesied in Psalm 24: Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His Holy Place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up His soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully (24:3-4). Christ alone ascends the Temple Mount in the cleanness and purity of our Great High Priest. He is dressed not in the linen ephod of the sons of Aaron, but is clothed in His own righteousness, bearing the sin of the world inscribed on His flesh like the twelve jewels bearing the names of the tribes of Israel.
His hands are clean and His heart is pure, meaning He has fulfilled the Law, both outwardly and inwardly, in active obedience to its demands and in passive obedience to His Father’s will. He is, in His person, the summation of the Law: Love. He loves His Father perfectly and He loves you to the end.
The triumphal entry, the only Gospel lesson repeated twice in the Church Year - on the First Sunday in Advent and again on Palm Sunday - strikes both the cord of grace and of judgment. The judgment of this humble Servant King descends only on those who refuse His grace. He enters peaceably into this city of war to shouts of Hosanna, “Save us now, we pray!” And He does. He comes to make peace by His death and resurrection. He comes to make peace between you and the Father, peace between you and your neighbor; peace not as the world gives And though the crowds are unwilling to receive Him, He will absolve their rejection from the cross: Father, forgive them. That is His final word on the subject.
People loved by God, you live in the shadow of Mount Zion, O daughter; that is, under the banner of His Cross by which He embraces you in love. And behold, our Lord is within the walls; yet we await His advent in with repentant joy and preparation. For He who once came upon the donkey and in the manger, will come again on the clouds of heaven; His Second Advent, His παρουσια . The night is far gone; the Day is at hand. So then, cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ who has even now clothed you with His own perfection and righteousness. In Holy Baptism He draped His cloak upon you and claimed you as His own, for the need of the Lord. Thus do you await His coming. And you prepare by receiving.
For even while you wait, the cry goes out: Lift up your heads and your hearts O Christians! Lift them up unto the Lord! For the King of glory comes in, His Advent is nigh. Behold, dear daughter of Zion, rejoice, O Bride of Christ, for your King is coming to you, humble, lowly, in and under bread and wine. From the Zion of His Altar He delivers to you the mystery of His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins, rescue from death, and a clean conscience. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
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