JESUS IS THE RIGHT
KING FOR YOUR SALVATION.
In the name + of Jesus.
When Jesus healed people of various diseases and disabilities, he regularly told them not to tell anyone about it. I suppose we should not be surprised that they talked about it anyway. The blessings we have with medicine and surgery were unthinkable in Jesus’ day. So, they had a disease or disability, there was no hope of getting better. Jesus’ miracles were both beneficial and bewildering.
We often wonder why Jesus would have
discouraged spreading the news about the miraculous healings. Jesus’ own brothers were convinced not only
that Jesus’ miracles should get more press, but that he should take his miraculous
signs to Jerusalem to gain a larger audience.
They advised him, “Leave
here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be
known openly. If you do these
things, show yourself to the world” (John 7:3-4). If Jesus’ goal
was only popularity, this advice is perfect.
But Jesus did not want to be known for his miracles. He wanted to be known for his teaching. And he did not want his reputation to be miracle
worker, but Savior.
The crowds on Palm Sunday show us exactly why Jesus commanded people to
be silent about his miraculous healings.
Jesus was hailed by the crowds as a king. “Blessed is the King who comes in the
name of the Lord!” (Luke 20:38) the people cried out as they walked in
front of him and behind him. Why did they
hail Jesus so gladly? St. Luke records
the reason for their jubilant praise: “The whole multitude of his disciples
began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works
that they had seen” (Luke 20:37).
The wanted a king who would work miracles. Jesus was received as a king for the wrong
reasons. But Jesus is the right king for
your salvation.
Throughout his life, Jesus did not act like a king. He did gather followers, but it was for
teaching, not martial training. Jesus did
criticize the Pharisees and priests for their pride and hypocrisy, but he made
no effort to remove them from their offices.
And while he could have picked apart Herod, Pontius Pilate, and Caesar
Augustus for all their faults, Jesus never posed a threat to any of them. Jesus is a king, but Jesus’ goals were never political. Jesus is not a good king for worldly powers
and empires, but Jesus is the right king for your salvation.
We can’t fault the crowds completely for their misguided praise. What did they praise Jesus for? For doing what Isaiah had foretold: “‘Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the
recompense of God. He will come and save
you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man
leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy” (Isaiah 35:4-6). Who could not rejoice
that Jesus brought healing and relief to so many people? Every miraculous healing was cause for joy,
and we would rejoice the same.
That is the kind
of king they wanted. Sad to say, we also
want the same. If you don’t think so, consider
what you daydream about and even what you pray about. When you daydream, what do you wish for? Isn’t it that you are pampered with fortune and
fame? You are the hero in all of your
daydreams and receive all the glories a hero deserves. And when you pray, what do you ask for? You want God to fix the sickness, the broken
heart, or the broken home—either your own or for a loved one. This, of course, is not wicked. You are free to pray for anything because you
have a good and merciful Father in heaven who delights in your prayers and will
always give you what is best. But what
we think is best is usually what makes our life easy. Like the crowds in Jesus’ day, we want food
and health to be supplied, and tears and pain to be removed. If that is all you want Jesus for, you are
not receiving him as a Savior, but a miracle worker.
But Jesus may
not cure all your ills. Your greatest
good in this world is not a sound mind, a sound body, and a fat wallet. In fact, Jesus tells you through the Apostle
John: “Do not love the world or the things in
the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world—the
desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not
from the Father but is from the world. And the
world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God
abides forever” (1 John 3:15-17).
Jesus teaches you to detach yourself from a world that is corrupted by
sin and doomed to destruction. He
teaches you to take up your cross. Rather
than doing what brings comfort and ease in this world, Jesus tells us to set
our minds to doing what is right in God’s sight. Rather than build our own kingdom in this world,
we long for the kingdom of God which comforts, saves, and endures forever. Jesus is not the right king for worldly gain,
but he is the right king for your salvation.
Throughout
his life, lived and acted like any Jewish peasant. Jesus walked everywhere he went. But Palm Sunday was the one time Jesus acted
like a king. He mounted a donkey to ride
in Jerusalem. As Jesus rode into Jerusalem,
the crowds laid down in his path their garments. They also cut palm branches to lay down. Kings, you see, were not supposed to touch
the ground. They were regarded as too
high and mighty to be soiled by the dirt.
The crowds saw to it that not even Jesus’ mount would touch the ground. Jesus accepted such praise from the crowds who
surrounded him. Even if they received Jesus
for the wrong reasons, they hailed him correctly, “Blessed is the King
who comes in the name of the Lord” (Luke 20:38)!
He comes in the name of the Lord. That is, he comes to do the Lord’s work. The Lord sent Jesus to do the work to save
sinners. Jesus rode into Jerusalem to do
exactly that. He knew what he was going to
suffer there, but he dutifully went in order to establish his kingdom. Jesus’ kingdom delivers what the crowds sang
about, repeating the song of the angels at Christmas: “Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest” (Luke 20:38)!
The peace is from heaven to you. If God declares his peace to you, then there
is no hostility from God toward you. That
means that God has no reason to be angry with you. For that to be true, you must be pure and
without sin. So, Jesus comes to take
your sins away from you. Jesus does that
by taking your sins upon himself. He bore
God’s wrath instead of you. He was
curse, forsaken, and condemned so that you would not be. Jesus
also reveals the glory of God, which is that he loves sinners and saves them. Jesus is the right king for your salvation.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Passover
was still several days away. But the
crowds were already in town to prepare.
The Sunday before Passover was the day on which the people selected their
lambs for the slaughter. Jesus entered
Jerusalem as the Father’s Passover Lamb.
He was anointed for this very purpose—to be slain in order to deliver
all people. The blood of those first Passover
lambs was put on the doorposts of the people so that death would pass over
them. It is the blood of Jesus which was
shed for you. In your baptism, you were
marked with the blood of the Lamb so that death will pass over you. At the Lord’s Supper, you partake in the blood
the Lamb which cleanses you from sin. It
delivers you from the devil. It marks
you as the redeemed children of God. And
it brings you into a kingdom that is ruled by peace, mercy, and grace. If this is what you desire, then Jesus is the
right king for you and for your salvation.
Jesus may not grant the salvation of your
momentary problems and pains. His focus
is always for your eternal good. The
hope of those eternal joys will strengthen and sustain you through your
momentary trials. If you should suffer,
the sufferings of Jesus assure you that God loves you. If your mind is consumed with worry, you know
that Jesus’ mind was focused on fulfilling God’s will to make all things work
for your eternal good. If your body is
weak or sore or failing, Jesus bore in his body the wounds which will provide
everlasting healing at the resurrection.
If you are feeling alone or abandoned, you know that God does not
forsake his redeemed people. Life in
this world will not be perfect, but your perfect Savior has guaranteed your
place in his perfect, heavenly kingdom.
Jesus is the right king for your comfort now and your salvation
eternally.
Even though Jesus triumphant entrance into
Jerusalem was celebrated by many who were there, some were disgusted by the
praise Jesus was receiving. “Some of
the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples’” (Luke
19:39). In other words, “Jesus, tell
them to shut up!” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these
were silent, the very stones would cry out” (Luke 19:40).
The
reason the stones would cry out is because it is not just people which have
been affected by sin. All of creation has
fallen under the curse of sin. That’s
why we have tornado season, allergy season, and cold and flu season. St. Paul reminds us, “the creation was
subjected to futility … in hope that the creation itself will be set free
from its bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:20-21).
This is also why the Psalmists also call upon creation to praise the
Lord: “Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the
field exult, and everything in it! Then
shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord, for he comes, for he comes to judge
the earth” (Psalm 96:11-13). The creation rejoices that its Savior
comes, too. So, even if the people will
not sing the praise of the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the stones and
the trees and the fields will. Jesus is
the right king for the salvation of all things.
Jesus is the right king for your salvation. Even if he does not make everything right for you in this moment, he will make everything right for eternity. He has delivered you from the realms of sin, death, and the devil. He will bring you into a kingdom of uninterrupted peace and everlasting glory. Rejoice, O daughter of Zion. Rejoice, O disciples of Jesus. Rejoice, you too, O earth and seas and rocks and trees. Your king comes to you to bear the curse that has affected you, to deliver you from the wrath that would have destroyed you, to mark you with innocent blood so that judgment passes over you, and to bestow unlimited grace upon you. Jesus is the right king for your salvation. And his kingdom endures forever.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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