Advent 1 2020
Matthew 21:1-9
November 29, 2020
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
As the time for Jesus’ passion grew ever closer, He wanted to draw closer to the place of His suffering. So a week before His resurrection, He left Bethany, where He had raised Lazarus from the dead, and went toward Jerusalem, a trip of only about 2 miles. However, when He came to Bethphage He did something unusual. He didn’t take the usual route over the brook of Kidron that He normally did. This time, instead, He went toward the door of the temple. When He arrived at the mount of Olives, He had two of His disciples make preparations, telling them to go to the village up ahead and bring back a donkey and its colt, in fulfillment of the prophecy in Zechariah. From this we learn a few things.
First, that Christ is our king, for Matthew highlights the fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy. In the first chapter of 1 Kings, we hear of the installation and royal entry of King Solomon. At the direction of David, he was set on the king’s mule, anointed with the sacred oil by the priest Zaddok, the prophet Nathan, and Benaiah, the captain of David’s bodyguard went with him. As he entered the city of Jerusalem, trumpet blasts greeted him along with the cheer, “Long live King Solomon.” He entered the city to sit upon the throne of Israel and Judah, for the Lord would make his throne greater than the throne of King David. And people went up after him, stirring up the anger of those who wanted a different kind of king and a different kind of kingdom.
Here, Solomon foreshadows Jesus. Solomon’s name means “prince of peace,” however, Christ is the true Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). As Solomon was anointed to sit on the throne, so too Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism. As Solomon entered Jerusalem with humility riding upon a mule, so too would Jesus come into Jerusalem. As Solomon the son of David was greeted by the crowds as their king, so too was Jesus son of David greeted by the crowds as the King with the Messianic words of Psalm 118, a Psalm of celebration used as thanksgiving for national deliverance, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” As the crowds were stirred up and went after Solomon angering his adversaries, so too after Jesus, aggravating the Pharisees, who wanted a different King and Messiah and kingdom. As Solomon offered up a sacrifice and then sat upon the throne of Israel, so too Jesus offered up a sacrifice upon the cross and at His ascension sat down at the heavenly throne at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
If Christ is the King, then He will also have a kingdom. So this kingdom of the Lord Christ is that He rules all things in heaven and on earth. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). In the Kingdom of His grace, He gathers to Himself citizens through His Word and Spirit, protects them against all enemies and finally leads them to His eternal kingdom. As such, His kingdom is not bound to a certain place, but is an inward spiritual kingdom which is to be found where the Spirit uses His Word to guide and direct the lives of His people.
At the same time, this kingdom of grace is not as complete as it will be someday, for in this life the sinful flesh still remains within resisting the Spirt and the reign of Christ (Galatians 5:17). This is why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” If we pray for His kingdom to come, then we immediately add to it that His will be done to us, by us, through us. While the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak and so it must be daily be subjected to the reign of Christ. The Christian life lived in this kingdom is a life of daily submitting ourselves to the will of God, a daily struggle against the sinful flesh, of repentance and faith. The king is humble and gentle, meek and lowly, one who was rich yet made Himself poor so that He could make us rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). He bears our weaknesses and does not quickly shove us away but daily improves us.
Because Christ’s kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, we do not primarily hope for earthly goods and prosperity from the King. This is portrayed clearly in this Jesus’ triumphal entry. For He doesn’t come into Jerusalem how worldly kings would. He takes the detour through the temple gate to indicated that He is not coming to conquer or to establish a worldly kingdom like David and Solomon, but that His entry has to do with the temple. This is why His first stop after entering the city is the temple itself, to cleanse it for His Divine sacrifice upon the altar of the cross. After a few days, no longer carried by a beast of burden, He placed the burden of the sinful world upon His shoulders, bearing the cross that He might pay for our sin and win for us an eternal kingdom, as Isaiah 9 speaks “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder… Of the increase of His government and of peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isaiah 9:6-7).
This fails to serve the purpose of the Jews. They hoped for the kind of King that would have earthly power and make them into a great nation. So many were hoping for either societal reform or to gain earthly freedom from the Roman Empire. And so when Jesus continued to teach and preach that the freedom He brought was not this, but one from sin and the brokenness of the world, many were disappointed or angered.
Jesus entry into Jerusalem humbly and riding upon a donkey also fails to serve the purpose of our own worldly desires. So often we seek prominence in this life and world, to establish the kingdom of God by our own efforts to serve our own purposes. We cannot treat God’s kingdom the "best of" the kingdoms of this world. Our vocation is therefore not to attempt to create or control Christ’s kingdom. This is idolatry. This is the sin of Babel. Rather, our vocation as Christians is to receive the King as He comes ushering His kingdom to us. As we do this, the spiritual geography of the Kingdom of Christ is more and more revealed in the physical geography of this world and in your lives. So as we begin the season of Advent this year, let us make preparations in humble repentance and faith to receive Christ the King as He comes by means of His Word and Sacraments unto His coming again on the Last Day.