Luke 19:28-40
As He Promised!
It has been almost a month since our country held elections to fill the various offices of our government. We, thankfully, knew pretty quickly who was going to hold each office because enough of the votes were counted to tell us who won. Now, I don’t endorse nor support either party from this pulpit, but I wanted to bring up this one fact about the nature of elections and their corresponding results. The day after the election when the winners were announced, it’s inevitable that those who won and those who voted for them feel hopeful and enthusiastic about the result. But there’s a somewhat weird feature about the transfer of power in the United States. For you see, there’s a big difference between election day and inauguration day. There’s a waiting period between these two significant days in our country. We all wait for the new administration to take over and see what changes occur, hoping for the best for ourselves and our country. Now, today begins a new year for us here in the church. It’s a new season. A season of waiting, of expectation, and hope. We’re reminded that we live in this in-between time between the “election” and “inauguration” of our Lord and King. We know he’s coming. He just hasn’t taken the throne yet. He hasn’t come into his power and authority yet.
In this season of Advent, we begin with hearing again our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He comes to reign as our righteous King, the one whom the crowds cheer, and the people praise. But we’re left waiting with a promise. A promise that he will come and finally take up his throne and bring about the change that we all yearn for. In this season of Advent, let us learn to say:
COME, LORD, AND BRING YOUR KINGDOM AMONG US!
I.
If you tore this story out of the bible and read it completely detached from everything else, there would be little in this story that would bare much discussion. There’s no pizzaz to it. There’s not much significance of a guy riding a donkey into a city on its own. But of course, we know the story is much more than that. This isn’t just any guy. And this isn’t just any city. And these details that we’re given are given for a very particular reason. It was all promised to happen several hundred years before. Let’s start with the words of Jeremiah, as we read, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land,” Jeremiah 33:14-15. God had promised his people of old to send a Messiah. God would send a king in the image of David to rule over his people. These promises of a coming king were like the election of a new president. When God promised a messiah, the people knew he would come. They just had to wait for inauguration day. They had to wait for the king to actually come and take up his throne.
Why were the people so excited? Why were the crowds cheering for one so humble? They were looking for the one to bring justice, as Jeremiah mentioned. The needed a king who would rule justly according to God’s standard and not our human standard. God’s people prayed and waited for hundreds of years just for Jesus to come. But the more they waited, the more they suffered. Suffering injustice from the Pharisees. Suffering injustice from the rich and powerful. Suffering injustice even from one another. They wanted justice. Yet, here is where we must understand what justice means for God. It’s not just a punishing of evil. To God, justice means a complete reordering. Justice means flipping our sin-stained world on its head. God’s justice doesn’t just target the rich and powerful. It comes for us all. God so seeks to reorder our lives according to his ways so that he may align our will to his. This is why we pray for our Lord to come. Come, Lord, and bring your justice to our sin-stained land.
II.
And that’s the amazing thing that we read about today in the triumphal entry. Jesus came. He came just as God had promised so long ago. He came to bring justice to our world and reorder it as was prophesied. Only, it didn’t quite happen how people thought it would. Yes, Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He came to be a king… only he didn’t come to sit on a throne or in a palace built of stone. No, Jesus came to fulfill another promise which God had made. Jesus came to bring God’s righteousness to his people. And righteousness is so much more than not breaking the law. Righteousness is a complete upholding of the law in every regard. It means serving your neighbor as the very hands of God. That’s what the righteousness of the law was meant to do. For not only do we not steal from our neighbor, but we help protect and defend his property. Nor do we hurt our neighbor, but we also give him aid when he requires it. For this is what was lacking in the world also. This is also why the people cheer, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Luke 19:38. The king was coming to “instruct sinners in his way”, to “teach the humble”, and “show steadfast love and faithfulness to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Ps 25:8-10).
How, then, does Jesus instruct sinners? How does Jesus bring righteousness to us? It’s simple. He comes. He comes to Jerusalem riding on a donkey. He comes to be our suffering servant. He comes humble and lowly that he may reign, not on some human throne, but upon the cross. There, Jesus flips our world upon its head. Power becomes weakness, wisdom become folly, and death becomes life! This is our Lord’s justice. He has so reordered our world by his death upon the cross, forgiving sinners their transgressions, and teaching righteousness through his all-atoning sacrifice! And this is the righteousness of God, that Jesus should so become servant of all mankind in his death on our behalf! Indeed, blessed is our King who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is Jesus who comes to us. For Advent reminds us that just as Jesus came in the flesh to die on the cross, so too does Jesus promise to come to us in his Word and his Sacrament. He promises to be present with us, coming through the means of his Church and above all promised to come again on the last day. Even now, Jesus is still the one who comes to us so that he may execute his justice and righteousness in our world and in our lives. Thus, we say, Come, Lord, and bring your righteousness into our lives!
For all these promises of God, let us see how he has fulfilled everything through Jesus’ death and resurrection so that we may even more trust and hope in his coming. The Lord will come to us just as He has promised and will fulfill his every word. So, may we finally pray, Come, Lord, and bring your kingdom among us! In Jesus’ name! Amen!