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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
A new Church Year begins today, the First Sunday in Advent, and so we have switched both the Setting of the Divine Service to Setting Two and the “year” of our series of appointed Readings to Series B, which series primarily uses the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. Reflected in our use of Setting Two and in some sense “dictated” by the appointed Readings, Advent is a season of repentant preparation—not only repentant preparation for us to celebrate our Lord’s having come the first time in the flesh of Jesus, but also repentant preparation for us to receive Him both as He comes to us now in His Word and Sacrament and as He will come a final time with glory to judge both the living and the dead (confer Stuckwisch, LSB:CttS, 206). Our Lord’s first coming in the flesh of Jesus is said to be the promise and guarantee of both His present comings and His final coming (Pfatteicher, Commentary, 207). So, today’s Gospel Reading’s telling of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem to die for our sins, which entry we normally associate with Palm Sunday, today is not wrong chronologically but is right thematically (Pfatteicher, Commentary, 207), emphasizing Jesus’s coming in general and the ways and means by which He comes in order to save His people from their sins (Stuckwisch, LSB:CttS, 207). Considering primarily today’s Gospel Reading, this morning we direct our thoughts to the theme, “The Coming One saves us in His coming Kingdom”.
With its vivid narrative of Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem to die for our sins, today’s Gospel Reading arguably contains St. Peter’s eyewitness details (perhaps as one of those disciples sent to bring the colt), details inspired by the Holy Spirit and recorded by St. Mark. Although St. Mark’s account of Jesus’s entry does not explicitly refer to Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’s entry, the account seems to implicitly refer to those prophecies by alluding to them. For example, when Jacob blessed Judah, referring to the scepter and ruler’s staff, Jacob spoke about a foal bound to a vine, a donkey’s colt to a choice vine (Genesis 49:10). And, Zechariah prophesied that the Coming King would be humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Then there are Old Testament and other historical precedents for Jesus’s entry. For example, part of Solomon’s succeeding David as king included Solomon’s riding David’s mule (1 Kings 1:38, 44). When Jehu became king, men took their garments and put them under Jehu on the bare steps (2 Kings 9:13). And, reportedly, when Simon Maccabaeus led the Jews back into Jerusalem, they entered with praise and palm branches (1 Maccabees 13:51).
In the Gospel Reading, the crowds who went before Jesus and those who followed Jesus were repeatedly shouting “Hosanna!”—a Hebrew interjection calling for salvation, an interjection that would have been familiar to every Jew. And, the crowds declared “blessed” by God both the One Coming in the Name of the Lord and the coming Kingdom, and they subjected themselves both to the Coming One and His coming Kingdom. Whatever those crowds might or might not have understood or thought, we have the benefit of the Holy Spirit’s working through a more‑complete revelation. We understand, as today’s Old Testament Reading said (Isaiah 64:1‑9), that in our sins we have been a long time, that we have all become like one who is unclean, and that all of what we think of as our righteous deeds are in fact like a polluted garment that cuts us off from God and His people now and for eternity, unless we repent. So, as God enables us, we repeatedly shout, “Hosanna!”, and God answers our calls for salvation by forgiving us our sinful nature and all our actual sins, forgiving us for Jesus’s sake.
Jesus is true God in human flesh. In today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus as true God appears to have known about and perhaps miraculously provided the colt, and Jesus as a human being in some sense needed the colt, and a colt particularly well-suited for His humble and holy use, a use similar to and yet different from those before Him (Voelz, ad loc Mark 11:2, pp.836-837, and ad loc Mark 11:7, p.838). While Jesus ordinarily walked about during His earthly ministry, He in this case chose to ride the colt. While Jesus ordinarily kept somewhat secret His identity as the Savior in and around Jerusalem, He in this case chose almost to prompt the crowds to acclaim Him as the Savior and thereby to provoke the Jewish leaders to crucify Him (CSSB, ad loc Mark 11:1-11, p.1524). Yet, out of God’s great love for even His fallen creation, including you and me, Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for all, including you and me (confer Mark 10:45). On the cross, Jesus died for us, in our place. As Zechariah prophesied, even now Jesus comes to us righteous and having salvation, and, as Zechariah prophesied, we rejoice and shout aloud. And, in answer to our shouted prayers, such as today’s Collect of the Day, the Lord, Who so came that first time, stirs up His power and comes again and again and again, that, by His protection, we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and be saved by His mighty deliverance.
As He came that first time humbly, so He comes again and again and again humbly: through the ministry of men sent not to untie a colt but sent to forgive sins through His Word read and preached to groups such as this group and applied to individuals with humble means of water, touch, and bread and wine. His ministers baptize us in the Lord’s Triune Name. In that same Triune Name, His ministers absolve those who privately confess the sins that particularly trouble them. And, as He gathers us in His Name and remembrance, He Himself is present both in bread that is His Body given for us and in wine that is His Blood shed for us. In all of these ways, He humbly comes to us in order to forgive us and so to give us life and salvation. In all of these ways, He, in the words of today’s Epistle Reading (1 Corinthians 1:3-9), sustains us to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
As the Divinely-inspired St. Paul also says in that Epistle Reading, God, by Whom we are called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. So, we are not lacking in any gift as we wait for the final revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He came the first time and comes now humbly, but then He will come in power and great glory (Matthew 24:30; Luke 21:27). Until then, we keep praying that His Kingdom comes (Matthew 6:10; Luke 11:2), especially that His Kingdom comes to us also, as when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity (Small Catechism III:7-8). We do not expect the United States to be a theocracy, much less to be the Kingdom of God on earth, nor do we attach any spiritual significance to any other nation, including the current State of Israel. As I wrote in my column for yesterday’s newspaper, “The Kingdom of David’s greatest Son Jesus Christ presently is not of this world and so is not concerned about territorial claims (for example, John 18:36), but, in the end, the kingdom of this world becomes the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, Who reigns not only for a literal millennium but forever (Revelation 11:15).”
This morning we have considered that “The Coming One saves us in His coming Kingdom.” With daily contrition and repentance we live in His forgiveness of sins, and we seriously and soberly expect His coming, but not without hope and joy (Stuckwisch, LSB:CttS, 206)—hope and joy this Sunday, this Advent season, this new Church Year, and always.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +