MATTHEW 21:1-9 – MARCH 28, 2021 – PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Christ.

1 Now when they drew near to and came to , to the , then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "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. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 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!"

Everyone loves a parade; although, I’m not quite sure why! We haven’t had occasion to have the 4th of July parade or a homecoming parade this past year, due to COVID; thanks be to God that it seems they’re going to try this year, I think. We held a different kind of a parade last year on Easter for those who were homebound here at Our Savior – it kind of combined the procession of Palm Sunday along with the celebration of Easter morning, all from our cars because of the restrictions. We’ve lived in towns small enough that the parade wouldn’t take too long; in Claremont, for example, there were only three east-west streets, and it would only take about 10-15 minutes for all of the groups (including every fire truck and ambulance they could find); someone had the great idea to “Do it again!” So, they

1 did – if you sat outside the church, you could see the various entries pass two or three times, then if you stayed in your seats long enough, they’d come by again. The kids loved it – they got twice as much candy! Those who are the more grouchy among us cast a dark cloud over the whole affair by saying a parade is nothing more than a rolling advertisement session for the community; these folks might be regarded as overly cranky, but they do have a point, I guess!

Parades are common in the church; we have a processional once in a while for special events.

We processed with palm branches this morning, to commemorate the scene coming into Jerusalem for

Jesus’ entry into the city. We will have a processional on Easter morning, to mark it as the highest feast in the church year. We mark these extra-ordinary days in the church year with a processional and recessional hymn, accompanied by the processional crucifix, at a minimum. If you go to the chapel at our seminary, they’ll add torches on either side of the cross, and maybe even someone carrying the special Book of the . Just think of how it added order to the house churches, or even the first centralized churches of the First or Fourth Centuries – you had somewhere around 30 or

40 people milling about a large house, or hundreds in a grand cathedral, waiting to begin the Divine

Service. When the celebrant entered the space, he needed to have some way to clear a path to get to the front. The “cross on a stick” served as a reminder, a marker, a herald at the front of the procession, that signaled to the people that it was time to begin.

From our text for this morning, we have a parade of sorts beginning on the edge of the city of

Jerusalem. Instead of a cross on a stick, we have our Savior riding on a donkey, and the people trying to make the road smoother for His proceeding. The people remembered (at least this crowd, of whom many would join the jeers of “crucify Him” later on that week) that it was foretold from of old in the Old

Testament that He would enter in this way. He would come in humility, not in the royal stature that He deserves as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He would set aside some of His divine powers, so that people wouldn’t gaze upon Him and be destroyed immediately because of their sinfulness. He would

2 come to do what no one else was qualified to do, that is, fulfill the Law of God perfectly, have that perfect obedience be credited to us, and have His death count for the death that our rebellion against

God deserved. Let’s look at some of the details of this palm-strewn entry of Jesus, and what we can learn from it as we journey through Holy Week this year.

II: Just to show us how predictive and accurate the prophesies of the Old Testament were, let’s just look at a couple of them. Jesus coming in, riding on a donkey – not exactly the most dignified of entries. I haven’t ridden to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, but I’ve been told it’s just about as strenuous to ride a donkey as it is to hike. While I don’t think that’s exactly true, I’m not under the 180 pound limit to find out – besides, I’d feel sorry for the poor donkey that was asked to tote me around!

Riding a donkey is not nearly as luxurious as riding a horse, and certainly not as posh as the chariots that were intended for kings and royalty

Why did Jesus come this way? It was foretold – Zechariah chapter 9 – “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.” It was part of His humility, that we see in Philippians 2 – “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in

Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” He came in this undignified way so that they would not think that He was coming to set up an earthly kingdom, or establish His rule over the nations here on earth. Rather, in response to

Pilate’s questioning, He was King, over all, but not of this world.

The people spread cloaks and palm branches on the road – to “make His way straight” – what does this mean? The route into Jerusalem didn’t change – it was still the same road, after all. But, the cloaks, the palms, and everything else that they put in the road, filled in some of the potholes, and

3 covered over some of the detritus that occurred from animals walking on the road – the poo, to be more specific! For them to do all this to prepare the royal highway for Jesus, indicates to us that they knew

Who He was, and what He had come to do – to journey to Jerusalem for their sakes. That’s why they cried out, “Hosanna!” or, “Lord, save us!”

We see this today in the liturgy, don’t we? In the Sanctus – “Sing hosanna in the highest, sing hosanna to the Lord; truly blest is He who comes in the Name of the Lord”. We remember the

Triumphal entry every Sunday during the Divine Service. Why? He enters into the service every Sunday, and provides us with the fruits of His sacrifice on the cross – His Body and His Blood. We are in need of the same forgiveness of our sins as the folks that were there at the entry into Jerusalem – we receive it in the Sacrament, in the Absolution, in the Word that underpins both of them

How about in the closing hymn for this morning – “Hosanna, Loud Hosanna, the Little Children

Sang; through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang.” Look especially at verse 3 – “’Hosanna in the highest!’ That ancient song we sing; for Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven our King. Oh, may we ever praise Him With heart and life and voice And in His blissful presence Eternally rejoice.”

That’s right – the songs of thankfulness and praise will continue throughout this earthly sojourn, and will not end even beyond the grave – we have the hope of heaven, of learning from Him at His feet, forevermore. I would encourage you – even when we’re singing a hymn that you might not be as familiar with – either look at the hymnal for the tune and the music, or just read along with the other singers with the lyrics. We are so blessed with solid Lutheran hymnody, where the words actually mean something!

I also think it’s interesting, that the disciples asked Jesus for further direction, of how and where to find this donkey…it’s another case of God taking care of all the details! Find a man that has a donkey, which is tied with it’s colt. Go and untie it, and say, when he has objection, that “The Lord needs it.” I don’t think this would work very well today – walk up to a guy standing by his car, with the keys in it, get

4 in it and drive away. If he protests, just say that the Lord needs it, and be on your way. You’d probably be arrested! But, in this case, the Holy Spirit made a way for this to happen, solely by His almighty power. He acts in our lives to make a way – kind of like the phrase goes, “When God closes a door, sometimes He opens a window.” It might not be the easiest course of action, but He does make a way for some pretty fantastic things. Not that we should completely rely on this, and not set our face and our determination to get ahead in this life, but sometimes it’s completely beyond our ability to comprehend how God accomplishes His purposes. We spend our lives being obedient to His call, and

His leading, and His will

They started spreading their garments on the donkey – our English translation says cloaks, but it might have been other garments, we’re not sure – and the crowds followed suit. Where did they get this idea? From the Scripture that was foretold to them? From further instructions from Jesus that didn’t get recorded in the Gospel? Equally possible. Again, this was to make an uncomfortable ride more palatable – kind of like having chair cushions on metal folding chairs, or having pillows to support us in bed, making things softer than the back of a donkey would certainly make it easier and more preferable for Jesus

What happened next after the Triumphal Entry? Jesus went into the temple, and cleansed it of the moneychangers and those who were selling animals for the offering of the . He acted in a way that the people didn’t expect – much like riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He was giving fodder for the religious leaders to have a problem with Him – first by making a disturbance with His entry, then for making a disturbance in the temple, disrupting the money-making schemes that they had set up.

However, it was a fulfillment of prophesy, just the same, as well.

As we journey closer and closer to the joys of Easter, we must pass through the events of Holy

Week. This gives us perspective on why our Savior had to come, what He endured while He was here, and to reflect upon the sin within us that caused His coming to be the only way for our salvation. His

5 love for us, and the love of the Father for us His children, is unlike anything that we have ever known here on earth. A love that would allow Jesus to sacrifice His life for His friends. Him making us His friends, not His servants, even though we deserve to be the lowest of the low in the kingdom of God.

We are made His friends because He has told us His business, what He is up to, and why. We know that

His triumphal entry was a very short reprieve from the horrors of His Passion; however, the juxtaposition of honor and glory with demands for His crucifixion shows the fickleness of human nature, and the resolve and unchanging love of our Savior for us His children.

Even though this is kind of a disjointed service this morning, with the dual emphasis on the

Passion of Jesus and the Triumphal Entry, they do fit together. However, spending most of our time on

Palm Sunday, rather than Good Friday, allows us to make the services later on in Holy Week shine on their own merits. We’ll hear a lot more about the Passion on Good Friday, especially at the Tenebrae service, set within Vespers, and on Maundy Thursday, with the marking of the institution of the Lord’s

Supper. Please plan to join us for these special services, and prove the folks wrong that drew up the lectionary. They inserted the Passion reading because they didn’t think that folks would come out to special services during the week like they do for Sunday morning. I think that we can certainly benefit from coming to all of the services in the Lord’s House, especially those that mark special events in the life of the church. Just remember this day that Jesus came to die; that even though He was accorded high esteem on Palm Sunday, the work that He came to do was on Good Friday – to die in our place – and on Easter Day, when He rose from the dead, showing us what will happen to us when we die. We will be with God forever in heaven, the way paved by the Perfect One, Jesus the Christ. He has done everything for our salvation. Amen.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Now may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ

Jesus, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

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