The Humble King

If you were visiting a European country and you heard someone say, “Look, the king!” we would all expect to see the same thing. 

We would expect to see someone dressed in a military uniform, with a sword by their side and medals on their chest.  He might be on top of a brilliant white horse or riding in an ornate carriage.  But there would be no doubt in our minds when we saw him:  this is the king!

Our expectations regarding royalty are no different than people in the ancient world.  If you lived in ancient Rome and ever caught a glimpse of Caesar there would be no doubt in your mind that you had seen the king. 

All of the earthly trappings of power and position made it clear to everyone looking on that this was a person of wealth and influence and power.  How different then is the humble king who rode into Jerusalem this day.  The Bible says of him:

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.

            During his earthly ministry and especially during Holy Week we hear the religious and political power of the day trying to get a handle on just exactly who Jesus was. 

He freely admitted being a king but he said that his kingdom was not of this world --and for those whose hearts and mind were fixed on earthly things, this was beyond their understanding.

But Jesus was just exactly the king that God promised he would raise up for his people.  One who was gentle and kind and humble.  It is especially his humility that is the focus on Palm Sunday.

We hear this prophecy from Zechariah that the King of God’s people would be humble- and we hear Matthew’s confirmation that Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment of that promise- and we hear from the apostle Paul why his humility was so necessary.  Paul wrote that Jesus:

Who was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but …he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The humble king who rode into Jerusalem came to bring salvation to his people by dying on the cross.  Even though he was God in the flesh, he came as a humble servant for the sake of our salvation.  Even though he was holy and righteous, he bore our sins in his body and died under the Father’s wrath.

It is right for us, and all of God’s people in every place and time, to rejoice greatly and shout aloud because our King’s great humility led him to become the servant of us all, so that we might have peace with God, and be delivered from the sorrows of this world.  The Bible says that this humble Savior King:

will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

            From the moment Cain murdered his brother Abel, violence and war and bloodshed has marred our life together in the family of man.  Throughout history, from individual acts of violence to world wars, to state sponsored terrorism, the world has been a violent place.  Right now there are more than 40 active military conflicts going on. 

And yet we have this wonderful promise that our gentle, humble king will bring this hatred and violence to an end.  How is that possible? 

It is BECAUSE he rode into Jerusalem, not as a man of war bent on destroying the lives of others --but as a humble king willing to lay down his life for others-- and make peace by his sacrifice.  The Bible says that Jesus:

is our peace…who has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…making peace, to reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.

            The war and hostility between us and God came to an end on Good Friday when the Father’s wrath fell upon his innocent son who humbled himself unto death.  But even more happened there that day. 

A foundation for peace between us and others was also laid so that we can build new and lasting and peaceful relationship with all kinds of different people through faith in Jesus. 

The old barriers of race and class and wealth and ethnicity and language that divide people into warring camps comes to an end when they understand the unity they have in Christ.

Of course we know that the vast, vast majority of people are still outside of Christ and so they are still at odds with one another.  Violence and hatred and war are still part of our fallen world.  But even that will come to an end under the righteous rule of our humble king.

On the Last Day Jesus will stand upon the earth and the weapons of war will be destroyed, and the peace he won for us at the cross will extend throughout a new heaven and a new earth, and we will be set free once for all time from sin and death and evil.  The Bible says that:

For you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

            Throughout the Bible we hear about God’s people being thrown into pits:  Joseph and Jeremiah and Daniel—places where they were helpless--dark, lonely places where they were hidden from others, places where they had to be rescued.

One of these days, unless the Lord comes first, each of us will be placed into our own waterless pit--a grave covered with earth while those we love will return to daily life.

What the Holy Spirit wants us to know today is that our humble King is so powerful, and his saving work so complete, that his people will be set free from the grave by his saving work on the cross where he shed his life’s blood for them in a new covenant of life and peace and forgiveness.

Any time a solemn promise was made between God and his people, the blood of a sacrifice was shed to mark the occasion.  So it was at the cross.  God said to the world:  my wrath is satisfied--your sins are forgiven—we are reconciled. 

That solemn promise that God made with the world was sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ—the blood of a new covenant of forgiven and forgotten sins.

That is the very thing we receive on this altar this morning—the blood of the new covenant of forgiveness and life.  That is why the sacrament of Holy Communion Christ instituted on Maundy Thursday is so important! 

It make us the recipients of our humble king’s saving work and it assures us, that such is his powerful love for us, that not even the waterless pit of the grave will have victory over us!  Rather than counting ourselves as prisoners of darkness and death we can count ourselves prisoners of hope.  The Bible says:

Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double.

I think that most of us have heard the old proverb:  To the victor goes the spoils—the idea that when there is a battle or conflict those who are victorious get the bounty and blessings that come with that victory.

So it is with our humble king.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem to do battle against sin, death, and the devil.  He did not possess the weapons of war, but he did win the victory by his humble, righteous death and resurrection. The Bible says that from his victory:  he ascended on high, leading a host of captives and he gave gifts to men.

And so he has!  He has given us the gift of forgiveness and salvation and eternal life.  There is even more to hope from on the day of his return. 

He will give us the gift of a new heaven and new earth.  He will destroy evil once and for all.  And he will raise our bodies from their resting places and bring us into our eternal home.

Yes, those gifts are still in the future and that is why, as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Zechariah calls us “prisoners of hope”-- but we can be confident that the days of our full freedom in Christ’s completed work will be accomplished for us, and that we will receive more blessings than we could have asked for or imagined.  That is what Zechariah is talking about when he says that the Lord will restore double to us. 

Much too often we look at our life in the kingdom as some kind of onerous burden rather than a blessing that gives meaning and purpose to our lives!

That said, there are hardships and difficulties and sacrifices that we are called upon to make as God’s people and Jesus was completely serious when he called us to take our cross and follow him.

But God wants us to know that our king did not come into this world to take from us-- but to give us blessings without number and without end. 

There is not one thing that we have ever lost from living in a broken world-- and there is not one thing that we have ever sacrificed out of obedience to our king-- that will not be restored to us twice over.

And so then, on this Palm Sunday we will welcome our humble king and we go with him this week one more time to the upper room and the cross and the empty tomb and we rejoice greatly and shout aloud our praises and thanksgiving to our humble king who comes to us, righteous and having salvation, mounted on a donkey.  Amen.