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INJ
St Matthew 21:1-9
'No Ordinary King'
Divine Service
Palm Sunday | April 1st, 2007
Dear Sydney, family and Friends of the Newly Baptized,
Dear Friends of Jesus,
I had never seen so many donkeys in my life as I did last weekend in Botswana. They were all over the place, in the fields, by the homes, out in the bushes, and especially in the road, right in front of our car. The first donkey I saw off in the bush, and I thought it was a rhinoceros or hippopotamus or something exotic, but as we got closer you could see those ridiculous ears, “Oh, just a donkey.” There's something very not exciting about a donkey, especially when you're expecting something else.
When we were sitting at night on the porch of Pastor Weber, the Lutheran missionary and pastor in Serowe, Botswana, you could hear the donkeys bray over the hills. I think I had made some joke about wrestling a lion to another man in our group, so every time we would hear a donkey he would say, “Hey, Bryan, there's your lion.” I've never heard a lion roar, but is suspect that you would sit up straight and pay attention, but this, this was just a donkey. Again, there's just something very not exciting about a donkey.
And that's why Jesus is riding one, it's just not that exciting. Donkeys are kind of boring, a little silly looking. Sure, they carry quite a bit of weight, but really they are not that impressive. If you want to make an impression, a really grand entrance, you would ride an elephant, or a warhorse, or a chariot pulled with a team of horses, or at least a camel, not a donkey. That is why the texts before us speak of Jesus' triumphal entry as “lowly”.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey...” [Zechariah 9:9] If you are hearing this for the first time, you would say, “A what!? Zechariah, run that by me one more time. I'm rejoicing greatly because my King is coming, He is righteous and bringing salvation, and He's riding a what?” Riding a donkey is not the type of thing a king does, but look at your Jesus, He is no ordinary king.
In fact, Palm Sunday and Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem is just the beginning of a week filled with things that no ordinary king would do.
No ordinary king would ride a donkey, (and one that he had to borrow).
No ordinary king would busy himself teaching his enemies.
No ordinary king would take off his robe, wrap himself with a towel, and, on his knees, wash the feet of his followers.
No ordinary king would hand down in his will as his greatest treasure bread and wine.
No ordinary king would stand for it if his servants slept on the job, and at the most critical time, rather than standing on guard.
No ordinary king would knowingly let himself be betrayed by one of his friends.
No ordinary king would tell his followers to put away their swords rather than fighting to save them.
No ordinary king would remain silent as he is unjustly accused of crimes that he did not commit.
No ordinary king would allow himself to be handed over to his enemies to be mocked and abused.
No ordinary king would be crowned with thorns, wrapped with the robes of mockery, put to death in the most shameful and horrible way, death on a cross. “A what?!” A cross.
Dear saints, your Jesus is no ordinary king. Your King comes to you righteous, having, salvation, lowly, riding on a donkey. That's how Jesus comes to you, to me, to all: lowly, humble, meek, in shocking degradation. He is no ordinary king, with donkey sweat and soldier spit and shame and splinters and sin and blood and nails and tears and agony and dirt and shouts and thorns and grave. That's how He comes, how your King comes to you, how He wins and brings His righteousness and salvation.
“We preach Christ crucified.” This is what St Paul is talking about. It is the donkey-riding cross-bearing suffering dead and buried Jesus who we look to, who we cling to. It is not pretty; your salvation, what it took, it is not pretty, nothing lowly is pretty, but, dear saints, I hope you know how beautiful it is, for behind Jesus' donkey ride to death is the very love of God for you. It's shocking, it's meant to be, His complete desire to have you as His own child. We see in this holy week how far He will go for us and for our salvation.
Pastor Weber, the missionary whose porch I was telling you about earlier, the porch where we heard the lions that sounded just like donkeys, Pastor Weber told us about how he began to preach to the Bushmen on the cattle posts in the Kalahari Desert. Here's how I remember his reflections... The Bushmen had never seen a Bible or heard the name of Jesus. He began in the beginning of the Scriptures, teaching the history of the Old Testament and the law of God. Every time the Messiah was mentioned He was simply called “the Coming One.”
When they got to the New Testament they learned the name of Jesus, heard of His life and His teaching, and then they heard, for the first time, the story of the Lord's suffering and death, and, said Pastor Weber, they were angry, upset, shocked and stunned, maybe disgusted. “Why is He doing that? Why is He suffering like that?” Then they heard that Jesus is doing all this to cover their sin and guilt, and they believed and were glad to know Jesus' forgiveness.
But this shock, this surprise, this stunned awe at what happens to Jesus this week, may God grant it to us, for this is good. The donkey and cross are not what we expect, and they are not what Jesus deserves, but by these the Lord Jesus comes to us with His righteousness and salvation.
And He still comes. Not riding a donkey, but riding on His word and the promise of the forgiveness of all sin. He comes in bread and wine with His true body and blood. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation.” Amen.
And the peace of God which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO