Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Holy Gospel reading which has already been read.

Dear friends in Christ, though the world around us already looks a lot like Christmas, in the church, today is the First Sunday in Advent. Take this sermon as an opportunity to detach yourself briefly from the increasing busyness of the holidays. Tune out the world for a few minutes. It's not yet Christmas, but today's journey into our Advent Scripture readings explains why the first Christmas happened in the first place. Today we learn why Jesus came into the world; why He still comes to us today in the church in His Word and Sacraments; and why He will come again visibly on the Last Day of this world's existence.

Let's set the stage a bit. Our Gospel reading this morning is also read on Palm Sunday. So, as we begin Advent, we find ourselves just days away from Good Friday (cf. John 12:1, 12). You can tell that the Christian church year moves in a different sequence than the world's holiday calendar. We're not even to Christmas yet, and Jesus has less than a week to go before His crucifixion.

St. Paul was always adamant about what the church should preach: "We preach Christ crucified," he wrote. Can you see how the church year helps reinforce St. Paul's theme? Advent greets us in December with no warm sentimentality and cuddly emotionalism, just Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And that's just how Jesus would have it. Many times before He drew near the outskirts of Jerusalem, He had predicted that in Jerusalem He would be rejected by the Jewish leaders, die, and rise on the third day (Luke 9:21-22; 44-45). He was on a lifelong journey to the cross, and the final and most important leg of His journey had now arrived: Holy Week.

The feast of Passover was approaching, when the Passover lambs would be sacrificed-and Jesus, the Passover Lamb would be sacrificed-so Jerusalem and its surroundings would have been crowded and chaotic. That time of year, Jerusalem would have been like the malls on the day after Thanksgiving, and the outskirts of the city would have been like shopping center parking lots. Most people near the city would have been walking, so a person on a donkey would have been noticed, like a motorcyclist driving on a sidewalk.

Jesus and His disciples were staying in the Bethany area, two miles east of Jerusalem. That day Jesus did something out of character. He had always walked everywhere, but today Jesus commissions a donkey. He shows His divine omniscience by orchestrating the acquisition of this beast. He tells two disciples to go into the village and lay claim to a donkey and her colt. Sure enough, they were there, just like He had told them. But what's most remarkable is what Jesus would have the disciples say to anyone who asked why they were taking them. He said their explanation should be, "The Lord needs them," and the owner of the beasts would send them on their way.

Why is that so remarkable? Because the Man Jesus identified Himself as the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel, the one true God who revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush. That's who wanted to use the donkey. So the disciples put their humble cloaks on the donkey and her colt, and Jesus climbed on to ride. Then, "Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road." And all the crowd around Him was shouting, over and over again, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" After Jesus got into the city, the buzz on the street was about Him. People wondered who He might be, and the story closes with the crowds of His disciples saying, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

So that's the story of Jesus' ride up to Jerusalem on a donkey. I'm sure the fanfare surrounding that event was quite exciting, but we can't go back in time and experience the magic of the moment. Then what's the big deal? Why did He come to Jerusalem riding that way; why did the crowd roll out the red carpets; and why should we care?

Here's where knowing some Old Testament history makes everything clearer. You just won't understand Jesus' ride to Jerusalem without digging into the Bible a bit. St. Matthew gives us the clues we need. First, he says that this whole event took place to fulfill what the prophet Zechariah had written over 500 years beforehand. The whole passage from the Old Testament is this: "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" (Zechariah 9:9).

Sounds like a pretty accurate prediction, doesn't it? And do you think Christ's disciples in Jerusalem got it? Well, sort of. They knew their Bible history, too. King Solomon had ridden a mule for his enthronement (1 Kings 1:38-40). By riding the colt Jesus was signaling to His disciples that He was publicly announcing Himself as a king in Jerusalem, which is the city of the Great King (Matthew 5:35). And they gave Him a king's welcome by rolling out the red carpet (cf. 2 Kings 9:13) and with their cheers. They shouted the words of Psalm 118, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Those words are part of an Old Testament prediction about the coming of God's Messiah, or Christ, the long-promised Savior of God's People (cf. 2 Samuel 7:12-16, Zechariah 9:9). The crowd was hailing Jesus as the King of Jerusalem and also God's Messiah, or Christ, and Jesus did not contradict them or tell them to be quiet (cf. Luke 19:40).

But did the crowds understand what kind of King and Messiah Jesus was? Did they really understand why He had come? Apparently not. We find out after Jesus rose from the dead (cf. Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6) that His disciples expected Him to restore Israel to great political power, and they were disappointed that He had not exercised His power that way. They kept asking Him, "When are you going to really shake things up, make some big changes in the political world?" Jesus repeatedly brushed aside their requests.

Do you remember how, after Jesus fed the five thousand, the people came and wanted to make Him king by force (cf. John 6)? They wanted a bread king, someone who would fill their bellies and keep them happy. They wanted a powerful ruler who would make life easy. Jesus would have none of that. On Palm Sunday, the crowds were excited because they thought Jesus was about to become a powerful, worldly ruler, who would whip the Romans and put Israel back on the world's political map. But Jesus would have none of that on Palm Sunday. He would not be the kind of king the crowd expected, but the kind of King the people really needed.

You see, the crowds forgot one simple word from Zechariah's prophecy about the future king of Jerusalem: humble. Powerful worldly kings arrive proudly, on mighty stallions with spears, swords, and armor; this King Jesus came on a humble donkey that would have been bareback except for the garments loaned from His disciples. The form of His arrival is perfectly suited to His way of saving us. But how could any King save humbly? I mean, Zechariah's prophecy did say the King would come humble, righteous, and having salvation, but how can you save if you're weak and humble?

My friends, this is where God confounds the wisdom of the world and dashes to pieces all manmade ideas of strength. God's righteousness and salvation come in exactly the opposite way the world expects: not by a violent king taking rule by force, but by Jesus, the King of peace being violently taken by force up to a criminal's cross. The King comes weaponless, defenseless, to rule from the cross with His gentle grace and self-giving love. He is no cruel, domineering false god like Allah; He is the Lord, Yahweh, who is steadfast in showing love and mercy, and lays down His life to reconcile His enemies to Himself.

The true nature of Jesus' kingship would be shown on the cross as He wore a crown of thorns with the words "King of the Jews" above His head. "The Christ reigns from the Tree." He takes God's wrath against human sin into His own flesh and dies for our sins, accomplishing an eternal spiritual victory far greater than any worldly ruler could accomplish. He dies to knock the teeth out of death; He disembowels the devil; He uproots sin and casts it into the fire. He mounts up out of the grave and ascends to His Father's right hand to rule for eternity. He rides into hell and proclaims victory over all the forces of evil. Behold, dear Christians, that is how your King came! Righteous, and having salvation is He, though the world did not recognize His kingship.

Yet many stumbled at the sight of this King. Many were put off by His lowliness, and by His failure to quench their thirst for political power. Many on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday were scandalized by this humble Man who claimed to be true God in the flesh. He wasn't the sort of King they were looking for. That's why the rulers in Jerusalem put Him to death, and that's why so many rejected His kingship, choosing instead to worship Caesar or the false gods of the Greeks and Romans.

But does the rejection of Jesus by some diminish His Lordship and Kingship? Not at all. He did not pause outside Jerusalem to take a straw poll and try to gauge His chances of becoming King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He just did it, in His own way, on His own terms, for the salvation of the world. That was His agenda then, and His agenda today. He came to save His people from their sins.

And that is why He still comes to us today. Still today, though our King has ascended to the Father and we cannot see Him, He continues to reign by grace and love in the church. He comes to us by His Spirit-filled Word, by the water with the Word, by His true body and blood in humble bread and wine, and in these gifts He comes to save us from our sins by applying His death for sins to each of us personally, individually.

And like He came before, He still comes humbly, weakly, in ways easy to reject, just as it would have been easy to reject a shabby looking Man riding a donkey. He forces no one into His kingdom. He compels no one. He lets Himself be rejected. If someone is given the eternal righteousness and salvation of King Jesus and then says, "No thanks. Don't need it. I'll go it alone," He will not force them. That's not the way of this humble King.

That's why King Jesus will always be a disappointment to those looking for lots of money or influence or worldly power. In this life, we will find Jesus only in His humility, in His grace and self-giving love. He comes to us in Words, water, bread, and wine. His Word and Sacraments are lowly in appearance, just as His entry into Jerusalem was. But He came to Jerusalem righteous and having salvation, and He comes to us righteous and having salvation. He comes to each of you in Baptism, granting you the eternal righteousness and salvation He won on the cross. He delivers comfort and assurance into your ears through the preaching of His Word. And He seals your righteousness and salvation when He comes to you with His true body and blood in the Lord's Supper.

But just as Jesus wasn't impressive on Palm Sunday, neither are the sacraments and preaching impressive to the world. Baptism appears to be nothing but ordinary water and a few words. The Lord's Supper appears to be just bread and wine and a few pious memories. The preacher's words seem like just a bunch of hot air. But because the Lord has promised to come to us through these humble means, then we can be sure that true riches, righteousness, and salvation come through them. Don't trust your eyes. Just listen to God's Word and trust what He promises. Our King's Word does what it says, it saves us eternally, while the words of earthly rulers are mostly lies and empty promises.

Have you ever noticed how politicians speak of their work in almost messianic terms, as if the election of just the right ones would save the world? I know the political work must be done, but let's remember that no earthly ruler has even the slightest bit of power over sin and eternal death. Let us flee from the temptation to obsess about earthly rulers and in doing so to forget the great King, who can raise the dead and grant eternal life with just a Word.

That King soon will come again and put an end to all elections, all politicking, all worldly powers. They are nothing before Him. King Jesus sits at the right hand of His Father and awaits that day when He will return to judge the living and the dead. On that Day He will not appear humble and lowly, but with divine power as the world has never seen. On that Day He will bring our salvation to complete fulfillment, and we will no longer have to see through faith alone, but will be able to see Him face to face.

Also on that Day, all who rejected Him in this life will be brought to their knees and will be forced to acknowledge Him as King, though for them He will not be the King who saves, but the King who judges them unworthy of His presence. And they will spend an eternity of regret and sorrow that they rejected the King who had mercifully come to save the world at Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter, the same King who kept on coming to save them in this life with forgiveness offered through the Word and Sacraments here in the Church.

But for you, dear Christians, who today bow your knees and hearts before the Lord as He comes in His Word, and in His body and blood under the bread and wine, the Last Day is not dreadful, but cause for great rejoicing. What else can we say but these words from Palm Sunday and from the Communion liturgy: "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"? Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly! In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.