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 seized it in battle and held it in the temple of Dagon in Ashdod, setting it next to the idol. The following morning Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. The priests set it back up, only to find him 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 temple. The false god bowed before the symbol of the presence of the true, living God.
They 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 against them, the Philistines returned the Ark 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 it fell off the ox cart, David feared the power of the Lord and turned aside from taking the Ark to Jerusalem. He housed the Ark at the home of Obed-edom the Gittite. It remained there for three months, and the Lord blessed Oded and all his household.
Three months. A time of preparation not unlike Advent. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was within the borders of Israel, yet was kept at a distance, waiting, as the people properly prepared to receive it. 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 among His people, was both a sign of His salvation and mercy for them, yet it also served as a solemn warning, a call to repentance.
When it had been told to 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 ascended Mount Zion, traveling to the Temple, David composed Psalm 24, singing, Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
The great mystery of the faith is our Lord’s Incarnation; the Son of God coming in the form of our sinful flesh. This is the mystery that Jesus is sacramentalizing by riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. This is His parousia, His advent. He comes as a King in peace and as a Judge in vindication. Had He been coming 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.
Even though He made His peaceable disposition clear - even though His choice of a donkey 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 an interventionist, a plausible Messiah. They hailed Him as such. They assumed Him to be the One who would, right then and there, by right-handed power, bring in “the kingdom of our father David that is coming,” as St Mark records.
But to 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 the 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 the fickle crowds who greeted our Lord on Sunday, only to despise and reject Him by Friday. It sounds like our 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 is lost on us.
This time has ever been set aside by the Church 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 during the last three Sundays. Truly the final Sundays of the Church Year are “pre-Advent,” getting you ready for getting ready. Besides 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!
For Jesus rides into the city with but one thing in mind: His left-handed, implausible death. He knows it in His bones. He comes as the new Ark and the Temple made without hands. He is David’s Son and David’s Lord. 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 many upon the Altar of His Cross. That is the Mercy Seat and 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 would to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. It is Christ alone who ascends the Temple Mount in the cleanness and purity of our Great High Priest. He is not dressed 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 in Himself, both outwardly and inwardly, in active obedience to its demands and in passive obedience to His Father’s will. He is, in Himself, His person and being, the summation of the Law: Love. He loves His Father perfectly and He loves you to the end.
The Triumphal Entry, the only Gospel repeated twice in the Church Year - on the first Sunday of the Year 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 at war. He comes to make peace by His death and resurrection. And though the crowds are unwilling to accept Him, He will absolve their rejection from the cross: Father, forgive them. It will be His final word on the subject.
Our Lord is within the walls; yet we await His advent in penitent 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 parousia. 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.
For even while you wait, the cry goes out: Lift up your hearts, O Christians. Lift them up into the Lord! For the King of glory comes in, His Advent is nigh. Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, under the forms of 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. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 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 seized it in battle and held it in the temple of Dagon in Ashdod, setting it next to the idol. The following morning Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. The priests set it back up, only to find him 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 temple. The false god bowed before the symbol of the presence of the true, living God.
They 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 against them, the Philistines returned the Ark 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 it fell off the ox cart, David feared the power of the Lord and turned aside from taking the Ark to Jerusalem. He housed the Ark at the home of Obed-edom the Gittite. It remained there for three months, and the Lord blessed Oded and all his household.
Three months. A time of preparation not unlike Advent. The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was within the borders of Israel, yet was kept at a distance, waiting, as the people properly prepared to receive it. 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 among His people, was both a sign of His salvation and mercy for them, yet it also served as a solemn warning, a call to repentance.
When it had been told to 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 ascended Mount Zion, traveling to the Temple, David composed Psalm 24, singing, Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.
The great mystery of the faith is our Lord’s Incarnation; the Son of God coming in the form of our sinful flesh. This is the mystery that Jesus is sacramentalizing by riding triumphantly into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. This is His parousia, His advent. He comes as a King in peace and as a Judge in vindication. Had He been coming 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.
Even though He made His peaceable disposition clear - even though His choice of a donkey 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 an interventionist, a plausible Messiah. They hailed Him as such. They assumed Him to be the One who would, right then and there, by right-handed power, bring in “the kingdom of our father David that is coming,” as St Mark records.
But to 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 the 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 the fickle crowds who greeted our Lord on Sunday, only to despise and reject Him by Friday. It sounds like our 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 is lost on us.
This time has ever been set aside by the Church 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 during the last three Sundays. Truly the final Sundays of the Church Year are “pre-Advent,” getting you ready for getting ready. Besides 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!
For Jesus rides into the city with but one thing in mind: His left-handed, implausible death. He knows it in His bones. He comes as the new Ark and the Temple made without hands. He is David’s Son and David’s Lord. 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 many upon the Altar of His Cross. That is the Mercy Seat and 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 would to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. It is Christ alone who ascends the Temple Mount in the cleanness and purity of our Great High Priest. He is not dressed 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 in Himself, both outwardly and inwardly, in active obedience to its demands and in passive obedience to His Father’s will. He is, in Himself, His person and being, the summation of the Law: Love. He loves His Father perfectly and He loves you to the end.
The Triumphal Entry, the only Gospel repeated twice in the Church Year - on the first Sunday of the Year 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 at war. He comes to make peace by His death and resurrection. And though the crowds are unwilling to accept Him, He will absolve their rejection from the cross: Father, forgive them. It will be His final word on the subject.
Our Lord is within the walls; yet we await His advent in penitent 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 parousia. 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.
For even while you wait, the cry goes out: Lift up your hearts, O Christians. Lift them up into the Lord! For the King of glory comes in, His Advent is nigh. Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, under the forms of 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. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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