The First Sunday in Advent – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 21:1-9

In Christ Jesus, who comes to you today bringing His peace and comfort, meeting you in whatever sorrow, pain, or struggle you are experiencing, dear fellow redeemed:

In today’s text, which we hear both at the beginning of the Church Year and at the beginning of Holy Week, we see Jesus with a definite plan. He is full of purpose. He knows just how He wants everything to play out. “Go into that village. Find a donkey and a colt. Untie and bring them. Tell anyone, ‘The Lord needs them.’” Jesus is giving orders. He is acting like a king. He is a king.

But these directions of Jesus were about more than the moment. He gave these directions in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Nearly 500 years before this, Zechariah had prophesied about a king coming to Jerusalem on a donkey. How do we know that Jesus was this king? Anyone could have ridden to Jerusalem on a donkey, and other kings like David and Solomon had used mules before this for royal purposes (1Ki. 1:33).

What made Jesus unique was that He came speaking about a different kind of kingdom. He had not come to overthrow the Romans and set up an earthly throne. He had come to establish an eternal kingdom. This is what the prophet Zechariah described. He wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “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” (9:9).

This king would be “righteous and having salvation.” Many kings, rulers, and presidents are viewed that way when they first come to power. They are viewed as ones who will right the wrongs of the past, who will lead the people into a new era of peace and prosperity. But it often isn’t long before we see gaps in their armor. They aren’t as righteous as we thought. They aren’t really capable of delivering on all the promises they made.

The king who comes to Jerusalem does not come with empty promises. He comes to make good on His promises. He comes to make good on all of God’s promises given since the beginning of time. He comes to bring salvation. The salvation He brings is not salvation from inflation, from high gas prices and high food costs. It is not salvation from community conflict or partisan politics. He comes to bring salvation from sin, salvation from death, salvation from the devil and all the powers of darkness.

Jesus faced these enemies all by Himself. He was not a selfish king, worried only about protecting His own comfortable way of life. He was not a ruthless king, ordering His people to march out against an overwhelming force. He was a Savior King, one who comes to give, to sacrifice Himself for the good of the people, to die so that they would live.

His humble approach to His kingship is hard to understand. How can a king conquer by suffering? How can He win by appearing to lose? How can He reign without a physical fortress? The world views Jesus as a nice guy, as a friendly person. But the world does not view Him as a king. In fact, the world laughs at this idea.

We have our doubts too. It’s hard to believe that Jesus “is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty” (Apostles’ Creed). It’s hard to believe what Jesus says, that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Mat. 28:18). If He is reigning over all things, why doesn’t He destroy the wicked plans of wicked people? Why does He let harm come to His own people who trust in Him? Why doesn’t His Church make a greater impact in the world?

These doubts lead to questions about His kingly rule in our lives as well. If He really does reign on high, where is He when I am distressed, mistreated, in pain, struggling, tempted? It is easy for us to list the things we think Jesus should be doing differently right now. What we are really thinking is, “This is what I would be doing if I were king.”

If you or I were king, it is true that we would not be doing what Jesus did. If we had the powers He had, we would not ride meekly into Jerusalem. We would not bow to any mob in the Garden of Gethsemane. We would not let Pilate’s men scourge and mock us. And we certainly wouldn’t submit to the cross and nails. We would lead a righteous cleansing of all the positions of power filled with schemers, deceivers, and murderers. We would establish a kingdom of justice and good.

Wherever that has been tried—and it has been tried over and over again—it is not righteousness that reigns, but selfishness. Peace does not rule the day, but violence. We do not know better than Jesus what His kingdom needs. We could never rule better than He does. He came meekly and humbly to Jerusalem because the world didn’t need another dictator—no matter how well-intentioned. The world needed a Savior.

That’s what you need too. You don’t need a carefree, trouble-free, pain-free life. That may be what you want, but it isn’t what you need. What you need is forgiveness for your sins, which is yours because Jesus offered up His holy life in your place on the cross. What you need is victory over death and the devil, which is yours because Jesus did not stay in the grave but rose to life in triumph.

You can live with pain; you can live with anguish; you can live with sorrow. But you can’t live without Jesus. He brings comfort; He brings help; He brings joy. How does He bring these things? He brings them through His Word of peace. After Zechariah describes a king coming with righteousness and salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, he writes that the king “shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth” (9:10).

The King will use His power and authority for peace. He “shall speak peace to the nations.” When Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the Jewish religious leaders prepared for war; the Roman soldiers prepared for war. Jesus came to make peace—peace by the blood of His cross, peace between God and mankind.

The peace that He won at the end of Holy Week, He still distributes now through His Word and Sacraments. These are the marching orders our Savior King has given His Church. “Go!” He says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mat. 28:19-20). “Do!” He says, “Take, eat; drink of it, all of you. Do this, in remembrance of Me.”

Jesus has a definite plan. He is full of purpose. He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven. He wants you to know that the devil’s grounds for accusation have been eliminated. He wants you to know that your death is effectively dead and buried. To assure you of these things, Your Savior King Comes to You. We can’t understand how He could enter so humbly into Jerusalem. And we certainly can’t understand how He so willingly and humbly enters our lives and our hearts.

This King—Our King—who reigns at the right hand of God, cares about each one of us. He comes to serve each one of us. Our sins do not cause Him to turn back. Our doubts do not cause Him to second-guess His mission. Our ingratitude does not cause Him to stop loving us. He comes definitely, constantly, relentlessly through His powerful Word of peace.

He does not have an earthly fortress with high walls and formidable defenses. The outposts of His kingdom, the places of His presence, look a lot like He does. The churches where His Word is purely preached and His Sacraments are rightly administered are meek and humble places. They are often characterized by suffering and defeat. The world laughs at them and expects them to be easily overcome.

But the all-powerful King of the universe is here. His throne is on the altar. His decrees go forth from the pulpit. His kingdom forcefully advances from the font. The devil knows what the world does not. Nothing threatens his dark kingdom more than Jesus’ Word and Sacraments. This church is on the front lines. So is your home, where you and your family gather around the Word. But as formidable as the devil is, he is nothing compared to your Savior King. The devil has already lost; his kingdom will not prevail.

Jesus prevails. He comes to you. He comes to save.

No care nor effort either
Is needed day or night,
How ye may draw Him hither
In your own strength and might.
He comes, He comes with gladness,
Moved by His love alone,
To calm your fear and sadness,
To Him they well are known.

Why should the wicked move you?
Heed not their craft and spite!
Your Savior who doth love you
Will scatter all their might.
He comes, a King most glorious,
And all His earthly foes
In vain His course victorious
Endeavor to oppose.

He comes to judge the nations,
A terror to His foes,
A Light of consolations
And blessed Hope to those
Who love the Lord’s appearing.
O glorious Sun, now come,
Send forth Thy beams so cheering,
And guide us safely home! Amen.
(Paul Gerhardt, ELH #94, vv. 7,9,10)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from “Entry of Christ into Jerusalem” by Pietro Lorenzetti, 1320)