Advent 1 2019
Matthew 21:1-9
December 1, 2019
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
Jesus said, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them at once” (Matthew 21:2-3). This is our text.
It’s Palm Sunday. The pomp and circumstance with palm branches and shouts of joy are here. The temple is about to be cleansed. Betrayal is in the air. The cross is near, the sacrifice for sin is about to be made, and the tension is thick. Jesus is about to go to His death, to the grave, to the resurrection, and to the right hand of God in His ascension, with a few stops along the way to reveal Himself in His risen glory. The prophecy of Jeremiah 23 was being fulfilled, the days have come, when the righteous branch of David comes to His people. And as all of this is about to happen, the only thing that is missing is… a donkey.
Of all things! A donkey, really? But half of our Gospel reading from Matthew 21 is about how the Lord of heaven and earth needs a donkey! And this isn’t a new development, or a lack of planning by the Christ. He’s said He needed a donkey for a long time, since the time of Zechariah, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9). So that Jerusalem, and you, would know that Jesus is the Messiah, God speaks through Zechariah, that we would look for the King, the Lord who is our righteousness, on a donkey.
The crowd understands. They praise God and shout out the words of the magnificent messianic Psalm 118, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Hosanna, save us, Hosanna in the highest! Jesus is openly proclaimed as the promised Messiah as He comes in peace and humility, with life and salvation. Not a bad way to begin the church year.
The next time we hear “Hosanna” comes right after Jesus cleanses the temple and the children cry out this praise. And Jesus needs them. He needs these people to sing His praises. Not out of some narcissism or low self-esteem. But He needs them like He needs the donkey because this is how He declared His salvation will be spread. He puts His word into the mouths of His children. “Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babes, You have prepared praise” (Matthew 21:16; Psalm 8:2). He opens their lips and their mouths declare His praise. Others hear and through hearing this word of Christ, believe, and through believing, the Lord who is righteousness gives His righteousness. And the kingdom of heaven grows.
But the Pharisees are not amused. Their livelihood is all wrapped up in earning righteousness and is has no place for a humble king handing it out to anyone and everyone. They don’t want salvation riding on a donkey, (they want it riding on their own ass), they want to ride in on their own two legs. They soon question His authority and right to do such things as heal and teach God’s Word. Rather than rejoicing with the crowds, the Pharisees seek to stir them up with shouts of “crucify Him, crucify Him.”
Today’s world isn’t amused either. You’re stuck in between Pharisees and crowds of another sort. There are those who insist that the way to God is by keeping all the rules, and doing all that you can do, a variety of which you’ll find in Idaho and Utah particularly. Elsewhere in the world you might find a variety so violent as to murder Christians who fail to comply to their law. And then there’s the other sort, you’re daily surrounded by a culture who aren’t going to submit to any law other than what feels good in their own eyes at any particular time. A culture who seek to justify itself by its own works, seeks to save the world by limiting pollution or taxes or social justice guilt trips and virtue signaling. Here too, there is intolerance and even violence against Christians who fail to comply to their law of same sex marriage, fluid gender identity, and murder of the unborn. And what all these have in common is they want the children to be silent, the children of God to be quiet, the faithful crowds to stop their cries of Hosanna, the Messiah to be without a donkey.
The truth is, as we begin Advent this year and look to the coming of Christ, Jesus needs you. He needs children to sing out Hosanna and carry palm branches in their hands and celebrate Jesus. And He needs them, and you, just like He needs the donkey. Because He says so. Because He has placed His Word in your ear, in your heart, and upon your lips to declare His praise, to proclaim His Word so that others might hear and believe in Jesus. It is more of a wonder than choosing a donkey that He chooses sinful and broken people to gather to Himself and carry the Word of God into the world. Lest your ego grow larger than a beast of burden, or think that Jesus can’t go anywhere without you, remember that He also says that even if these crowds were silent, the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:40). Wander away from the faith and from Christ, and He will find someone else, or something else, to declare His praise.
Rather than think in your own ability or importance, rejoice that the Lord prefers you to donkeys and rocks. Jesus didn’t become a donkey to save donkeys. He became a man to save you. He came to ride into Jerusalem to die upon the cross for you. He came to rise three days later in the defeat of death for you. He comes today for you in His Word that brings His salvation, His body and blood that brings His forgiveness and His life. And the days are coming, when He will come again, for you, to raise you and all the dead, to redeem all of creation on that great and glorious day of the Lord. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Amen.