Grace Lutheran Church in Tulsa



Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Tulsa, OK

Sermon for Nov 28, 2010 – 1st Sunday in Advent

Jer 23:5-8 Rom 13:11-14 Mt 21:1-9

“The Triumphal Entry”

Rev. Christian C. Tiews, Associate Pastor

Grace to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“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!’” (Mt 21:9)

***

Three days ago we celebrated the official start of the Christmas season.

Already, many homes and businesses are decorated with Christmas lights, Santa is popping up all over, and radio stations are playing Christmas carols.

And so, we begin this first Sunday of the Church Year—with the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem?

Wouldn’t this Gospel reading be more appropriate for Palm Sunday?

Yet ever since the days of the Early Church, this section of Matthew 21 has been the pericope for the first Sunday in Advent.

The Latin word “advent” means “coming”—quite appropriate because at the beginning of each Church Year we await the first coming of the Messiah—as the baby in the manger.

He is the incarnate Son of David, the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!

The crowds on Palm Sunday see Jesus the Messiah humbly riding into the City of David and call out to Him, “Hosanna,” a Hebrew word which means “Save us now!”

This indicates that for them thousands of years of waiting are finally over.

The Messiah who will save and redeem God’s people has finally arrived.

Yet every Advent season God’s people also await the Second Coming of the Savior, when Jesus Christ will return to raise every human being since Adam and Eve from the dead.

Unbelievers will be sent to eternal punishment, while all believers in Jesus Christ will begin glorious lives in the New Jerusalem, the physical place also known as heaven.

Yet before the Messiah can redeem His people,

Before He can reign as king,”

before He can “deal wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the land…”[1]

...Our Lord must face the Jewish religious leaders who are plotting His destruction.

***

As we await our Lord’s First and Second Coming, as we contemplate His triumphal entry into the city in which He is destined to die, we ask ourselves…

“Why did God the Father permit those evil men to destroy Jesus in the first place?”

After all, couldn’t Jesus just have snapped His fingers and the Father would have sent more than twelve legions of angels to His Son’s rescue?[2]

Why in the world did this tragedy occur?

Staying closer to home, why does tragedy occur in our own lives?

Why do we experience relational problems, why do we hurt and suffer, why do people break our trust?

On the other hand, why do we hurt and cause pain to other people, why do we break their trust?

***

Our society often tells us that we are “victims”—victims of too little education, victims of a dysfunctional family, or perhaps that we are victims of chemical imbalances inside our brains which leads to all kinds of emotional imbalances.

But while poor education, broken homes, and chemical imbalances may indeed by contributing factors for many of life’s difficulties, our real problem lies much deeper.

Is there anyone on this planet who is able to keep the “First Table of the Law”?

“You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

Is there anyone on this planet who is able to keep the “Second Table of the Law”?

These are the seven remaining commandments, which describe how our relationships with fellow human beings ought to be—honor your father and your mother, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, etc.

In other words, is anyone able to keep the Ten Commandments? No.

Scripture confirms our sorrow state of affairs when it teaches in Romans 3 that “No one is righteous, no not one.”

In fact, even if we were able to keep almost all of these commandments but missed only one—one single time—you and I would still be condemned.

Because the Bible clearly states in James 2 that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.”[3]

And, according to Romans 6, the price for breaking the Law is death.

Sin lies at the root of all this evil and it has been part of our DNA ever since Adam and Eve, whose descendents we are.

And because we cannot solve this sin problem on our own, every one of us needs a Savior to repair our broken relationship with God the Father.

We need a Savior who can forgive us our sins.

Hosanna! – Save us!

***

The men plotting the death of Jesus had a radical goal.

They wanted a Messiah who would be a powerful military leader to liberate them from the Roman occupation army—not some poor prophet riding on a borrowed donkey.

They were jealous of this man who had attracted the love of countless people.

Ironically, as part of God’s overarching plan, these religious leaders triggered something radical—even unwittingly—but not in the way they had intended.

You see, five days later the triumph of Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem appeared to end in tragedy when He died on a hill named Golgatha.

Yet shortly thereafter, Christ’s tragedy would transform into triumph.

And those days changed the world.

So why did God the Father permit that group of men to destroy Jesus?

Because being one hundred percent human, Christ fulfilled the Law for you and me because He led a sinless life and transferred His perfect score, as it were, to all who believe in Him.

And also because Jesus was one hundred percent divine and His death as the ultimate sacrificial Lamb would repair the broken relationship between God the Father and mankind.

On the cross of Calvary Jesus took our punishment upon Himself and forgave us for our sins.

He paid the price for our broken relational problems, for the hurt we cause, for the pain we inflict, and for the fact that you and I break other people’s trust.

And in this way Jesus Christ redeemed you and me, lost and condemned persons, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil.

Not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death…

That we may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, and blessedness.

His death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day changed the course of history and spawned the largest religion this planet has ever known.

But how does this Hosanna! –Save us now!—become personal for you and me, some two thousand years later?

In our Baptism, you and I receive His gifts of forgiveness, eternal life, salvation, faith, and the Holy Spirit, when we and all other believers are ushered into fellowship with Him and thus become God’s children.

And every Sunday this faith is regenerated when we receive His gifts of Word and Sacrament.

Because the words, ‘Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,’ show us that in the sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words.

For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

Jesus Christ—one hundred percent man… and one hundred percent God—is our Savior.

He alone has come to save us, something no human or thing can ever do.

“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 so it is the First and the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—the One who worked these wonders—which we joyfully await this morning and this Advent Season.

Let us keep these miracles in mind as we see the many homes and businesses decorated with Christmas lights, as we see Santa popping up all over, and as we hear all our favorite Christmas carols.

In the name of the Father Almighty, the risen and ascended Son, and the sanctifying Holy Spirit,

Amen.

-----------------------

[1] Jer 23:5-6

[2] Mt 26:53

[3] Jas 2:10

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