Sermon Audio

Dear people of God, “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Your King is coming to you humble.

On that first Palm Sunday, that is exactly how the King of kings entered into Jerusalem—humble. This is no way for a king to enter into the city. Of course, a week later, we find the King crowned in a way that no king should be crowned or enthroned in a way that no king should be enthroned. But here is the King of kings’ chariot: a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. And there is the King of kings’ crown: thorns. And there is the King of kings’ throne: a cross. This King is executed as a common criminal after He had entered into the city as a common peasant. His coming then was humble...lowly.

This is how the King of kings still comes to you: humble, lowly. A bit of water is poured over a baptisand’s head, but this is no ordinary bath—it is a washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit by which God saves us. (cf. Titus 3:5) Mere words are spoken to you, but these are no mere words—this is the Word of God, Jesus the Christ, the King of kings, and to you and into you is spoken the forgiveness of your sins, life, and salvation. (cf. John 20:23) Simple, unleavened bread is given to you to eat and a small sip of wine to drink, but this is no ordinary meal—they are the body and blood of Jesus given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins (cf. Matthew 26:28), and where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Humble and lowly means which Jesus has given to His Church by which He comes to Her—comes to you—to gift you with His great blessings.

And it’s a good thing, too, that Jesus comes, still, humble and lowly. For when He comes in glory, the saving is over, and the Day of Judgment is upon us. It is a day that we look forward to and rejoice at with all of God’s people, for we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (cf 1 John 3:2) But, for now, Jesus comes to us and to all, humble and lowly, in order that He might save all, for “God our Savior wants all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:3b-4)

And that is why He came humble and lowly in the first place. I’m not talking about Palm Sunday with a donkey as a chariot, but when He took on flesh and was born of a lowly maiden of the house of David. That when the fullness of time had come, He was born in a stable and laid in a manger for a crib. That the first visitors to see the infant King of kings were shepherds who otherwise made use of the stable in which He was born and the trough in which He was laid.

There was no pomp and circumstance among men at His birth. The angels of heaven rejoiced and sang in the presence of the frightened and bewildered shepherds. The kings and nobility, scribes and priests, however, did not flock to the countryside to see God-in-the-flesh born for them. To visit such a dingy place would have been beneath them—lowly and humble. In fact, it was about two years later when a king sought to take the life of the King of kings whom he did not know, had no intention to see, and cared nothing about.

A stumbling block...that’s what Jesus’ humble coming is to this sinful world. Old Adam seeks after glory; if God is going to come at all, it would be glorious and triumphant. And so, Old Adam says:

The King would not be born in a stable. He would not be placed in a feeding trough to sleep. He would not be baptized in the wilderness by a wild-looking man. He would not be traveling throughout the country side, on foot, in rags, teaching the masses with fishermen and tax collectors as His “body guards.” He would not enter into the capital with a donkey as His chariot. The King does not stand before the Sanhedrin, bound and speechless. The King does not die an ordinary criminal’s death! This is not how the King looks, so Jesus cannot be the King. No God would take on human flesh, and if He even dared to, He wouldn’t ride on a donkey!

Foolishness...that’s what Jesus’ humble coming is to this sinful world. Old Adam’s wisdom would proclaim to us that we are special and above reproach. Old Adam’s approach is self-centered:

Oh, the rest of the universe is fallen and corrupt and generally bad. But, as for me, I’m above all of that. Humble? I don’t need to be humble; look at me—look at how good I am, how hard I try, how much better I am than everything and everyone else. And I’m supposed to believe that some kid born in a stable is the King? I’m supposed to believe that some man crucified is the King. A king would be better, higher, more noble than me; how foolish this heavenly wisdom is. This is not how a king looks, so Jesus cannot be King. No God would take on human flesh, and if He even dared to, He wouldn’t ride on a donkey!

But Jesus is no ordinary King. He is the Creator of the universe and its Savior. He comes humbly, in flesh and blood like yours, in order to die for you. He is speechless in His trial before the Sanhedrin and Herod and Pilate, because He accepts their accusations in your place, not that He has done what they blame Him for, but that you have. He dies a criminal’s death because He dies in the place of criminals—those who have committed crimes against God, disobeying His Law, sinning against Him—and He does so as the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sin—He dies in your place, taking your sin and guilt upon Himself, humbly and lowly, without complaint, as a sheep before it’s shearer’s is silent. (Isaiah 53:7d)

So, yeah, Old Adam. Look at you. You are sin, and the same illness infects the rest of creation. Therefore, gaze upon the humble Son of God in the flesh, see in Him your King and Conqueror. Dear hearers, see in yourself that boastful and hubristic Old Adam—you are he! Then, “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Your King is come to you, your Redeemer and Savior. He is come to rescue you from death and bring you into life.

In this, the Son of God makes known to you the love of the Father. That God would send His Son to die in your place, receive the wrath due you on your behalf, and then give you the life He deserves speaks to the love of the Father for you. Jesus did not come humble and lowly in order to receive anything from you, but in order to take from you that which kills you, which separates you from His Father, and destroy it, thereby reconciling you to Himself. “For God...loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17) “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly...”

“...[S]itting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.” Gregory of Nazianzus, a 4th century Bishop of Constantinople, once remarked, or so I have heard, that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, He was not alone—He had a passenger. You were on the donkey with Him. Your humble King rides on into Jerusalem to die for you, and He bore you with Him on that ride as He bore you on the cross. Likewise, then, it could be said that when the infant King was laid in the manger, you were there with Him, too. You are united to Christ by way of Baptism, for there at the font you were given the sign of the cross upon forehead and heart, to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified. As St. Paul wrote, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27) You are His, and you have been placed into Him by way of His cross and your Baptism.

Dear Baptized, dare I say that you are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone? You are a part of the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the Church for whom Christ died. You are the one for whom the Son left His Father and took on human flesh and blood, in order to be joined to you. St. Paul gives us the beautiful image of husband and wife, relating them to Jesus and the Church, respectively, and says quite bluntly, “’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32)

Therefore, as He is born, as He rides into Jerusalem, Jesus has taken you into Himself and made His way to a hill outside of Jerusalem to die—you both died on Golgotha: Him for you, and you with Him. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” (Romans 6:3) From birth to death to resurrection, you are in Christ, Baptized into His life, death, and resurrection—for you have been united into His likeness, yes, you bear the likeness of Christ the King of kings! For now, in time, you bear the likeness of His humility.

But, the resurrection of Jesus was most glorious, for the King of kings could not be held in death. He is, after all, the King of life, and so He rose again from the dead to seal to you eternal life that is yours by way of His humble coming, life, and death for you. His resurrection is for you as much as His life and death were. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection...” (Romans 6:4-5) And of your resurrection from the dead it is said that it, too, like His, will be glorious:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)

There, in eternity, you will bear the likeness of His glory. “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory,” St. Paul wrote. (Colossians 3:4)

Until that great and dreadful day, however, “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly...” See Him in the font, where He first revealed Himself to you as your Savior, joining Himself to you, and giving you the merits of His death and resurrection. See Him in His Word read and proclaimed to you and into you, and in that you receive Him and His gifts. See Him in the bread and wine given to you for you to eat and to drink, as He gives you His body and blood to strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting. “Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly,” to forgive you for all of your sins.