Your King comes to you still in meekness

Sermon for Advent 1

Romans 13:11-14 + Matthew 21:1-9

Advent means arrival or coming. In less than four weeks we’ll celebrate the Advent of our King into the world when He was born in Bethlehem. But that’s what the Christmas season is for. During this 3-1/2 week Advent season, the Holy Spirit has much to teach us about the other ways in which our King comes to us. In today’s Gospel, you heard how the King of the Jews came to His people in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, five days before He would hang from a cross just outside the gates of the city. He came in meekness then. He came in humility. He came to give up His life as the payment for our sins. And until the day when He comes again in glory at the end of the age—the Advent we’ll focus on next Sunday—our King comes to us still in meekness, righteous, and having salvation.

Jesus had come and gone from the city of Jerusalem many times throughout His life. But this time was different, special. This time, Jesus chose to enter in a somewhat spectacular way, and yet, a way that was still humble. He sent His disciples to go fetch a donkey—two of them, actually, a mother and her colt, so that He could ride on them down the hill from the Mount of Olives, into the Kidron Valley, and up the hill again into Jerusalem.

Why this spectacle? It was all done to make the connection in people’s minds between this Jesus, who had been preaching, teaching, and performing great signs and miracles in Israel for the past three years or so, with the prophecy that the prophet Zechariah had written down some 500 years earlier: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The one who rides into Jerusalem on a donkey is the promised King of the Jews, the Son of David, the Son of God.

Rejoice greatly!, Zechariah said. God intended Jesus’ advent into Jerusalem to be a joyful occasion. And, for many, it was. You heard how the multitudes cut down branches from the trees and took off the cloaks from their backs and lined the road with them. You heard how they sang, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! Many did rejoice at Jesus’ Advent, because they recognized Him as the promised Christ, the Son of David, the King of the Jews, whose kingdom wouldn’t be restricted to Israel, but would extend to the ends of the earth, as the next verse from Zechariah’s prophecy says: I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’

What the crowds didn’t yet understand—what many today still fail to grasp—is that the King’s “dominion” or “reign” has two distinct stages, two different forms, for two different times. The first form of His reign, and of His salvation, and of His peace, would be spiritual. The King would earn salvation for all men during this first Advent, but would do it through meekness and the apparent “defeat” of the cross. He would reign powerfully in the hearts of men while still appearing weak on the outside. He would bring about salvation from sin and guilt before God, but He would not yet bring about salvation from earthly enemies. He would make peace between sinners and God, and among all who would believe in His name, from every nation, extending His dominion, that is, His Church, to the ends of the earth. But He would not yet bring peace to the warring nations of the earth or the violent societies of the earth. Not during the time of His first Advent. Yes, King Jesus will accomplish all those other things externally and fully when He comes again. But when He came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the King of the Jews entered in meekness, and, for now, He still comes to us in the same meekness, without setting up any sort of earthly kingdom or Christian society, without appearing in glory—and, crucially, without destroying anyone.

People like to blame God for not wiping out evil people from the earth. Ironically, the vast majority of people who want God to wipe out evil people would find, to their horror, that they are among those evil people. Evil and wickedness, as God defines them, aren’t restricted to things like violence or mass murder or extorsion or genocide. Evil and wickedness include every breaking of God’s holy law, even the lawbreaking people do in their hearts and with their tongues. Evil and wickedness include people’s failure to worship the true God, to serve Him and to love Him with their whole heart. Evil and wickedness include every failure to live according to the moral law revealed in the Ten Commandments. When He comes again, King Jesus will wipe out all the wicked, which means all the sinners on earth will be destroyed by the coming of the King.

But He has delayed that second Advent until now, and may still delay for a little while longer, so that during this time of His first Advent, He may still come to us in meekness, not with a sword of iron but with the sword of His Word, calling out to all men: “Look! I came the first time in humility, out of love for you, to die for your sins and to suffer your shame so that you wouldn’t have to be destroyed in your wickedness, to become your King and to bring you safely into My kingdom through Baptism and through faith. Repent and come in! Confess your wickedness, and all your lawbreaking, and believe in Me! And you will no longer be counted among the wicked and the sinners. And then, once you have come in, learn My ways and walk in them. Turn away from evil and wickedness, with My Spirit’s help. Gather together with the members of My Church, who are now your brothers and sisters in My Father’s family. Use the ministry of Word and Sacrament that I have provided. And wait eagerly for My second Advent, for behold, I am coming soon.”

See how meekly Christ comes to you still! Yes, He condemns mankind’s sins with His holy law, but for now, He still gives people time to hear, time to repent, time to turn away from evil before He comes in strength, with destruction. Most people mistake God’s patience, or His meekness, for weakness, or worse, for tolerance, or even approval of their sinful behaviors. Do not make that mistake! Just because God doesn’t strike down people with lightning, it doesn’t mean He approves of them. Just because God sometimes allows the wicked to prosper, it doesn’t mean He isn’t keeping score.

But now, during the closing days of this era of Christ’s first Advent, He still comes, for a little longer, in meekness, through the simple preaching of lowly preachers and through the humble gatherings of lowly church members in lowly settings. We may be ignored by the world and discarded by the big and glorious churches of the world, but here in this meek and lowly setting, in this meek and lowly gathering of Christians, the King Himself comes, though you cannot see Him. Behold, your King is coming to you, here and now. Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them, He says. Where lowly bread and wine are blessed and received in remembrance of Him, there is the King, giving His body and blood to His grateful subjects, righteous, and having salvation, and bringing salvation to all who believe.

And that’s why, again today, we will add our voices of praise to the voices of the multitudes who praised their King as He came to them in meekness, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And just as the King gladly accepted the praises of those who loved Him then, so now He will accept our praises, too. Your King comes to you still in meekness, though not in weakness. Your King is still powerful to save, and eager to come to you in your own meekness, too. Amen.