Woodlawn Evangelical Lutheran Church           

His accomplishment was recognized by shouts and cheers, by fist pumps and thunderous applause.  For the second year in a row Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament by making the last putt on the last hole to win by one stroke.  It capped a comeback after major knee surgery and solidified his position as the greatest golfer of our time and perhaps, even of all time.

As citizens in a country that is crazy with sports, we are used to seeing the cheering and celebrations during major championship games, like this weekend’s college basketball finals or the World Series or the Olympic Games.  That’s what fans do when their team wins or when an individual achieves a major accomplishment.  But others will do the same at a political rally for their favorite candidate, or when heroes are honored with a ticker tape parade.  Or some here today might remember seeing in person or else on news footage from when the troops came home after WWII.  There was unbridled enthusiasm and joy.

That certainly must have been the way things played out on the first Palm Sunday.  We have relived the events once again in our gospel reading today – the shouts of the crowd, the spreading of palm branches on the roadway at Jesus’ feet, the cries of “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”  Those events that we remember today were foretold five centuries earlier by God’s prophet Zechariah.  It’s as those he was watching the Palm Sunday procession pass before him.  The picture he paints, his invitation to join the celebration puts us right into that crowd as well.  Their reaction should be our reaction too…

SHOUT FOR JOY BECAUSE YOUR KING IS COMING

We have every reason to shout for joy because he is a different kind of king and his is a different kind of kingdom.

I.

            The OT is full of talk about the kingdom of God.  It’s a concept every believing Jew was aware of and looking forward to.  We heard the crowds express it in their words of praise when Jesus entered Jerusalem, “Hosanna!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”  The promises of a great king who would deliver his people from their slavery, who would drive away their enemies and establish a kingdom that would last forever, who would bring perfect justice and would rule with wisdom and understanding – all those ideas were wrapped up in their ideas of the coming king, the great Messiah.  Those OT promises and prophecies, those the people cherished and clung to, waiting patiently, but also anxiously for those days to unfold, for that Messiah-King to come and do what was promised.  When he finally arrives on the scene, Zechariah describes the reaction he would receive, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion (that was one of the hills on which Jerusalem was built)!  Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation! 

            The only problem was that over the years the people had so attached themselves to the promises that the king would be a great deliverer, that they overlooked many of the other prophecies about him.  They so desperately wanted deliverance from their earthly enemies, the hated Romans at Jesus’ time, craved earthly freedom, were looking for someone who would bring earthly peace, provide for all their physical needs, that when Jesus didn’t fulfill all those things in the way they were expecting, these cheering crowds were replaced by those calling for his crucifixion and death.

            You see, Jesus is a different kind of king because he takes care of our real enemies – sin, death, Satan and hell.  Jesus is the real fulfillment of the OT prophecies because, as Zechariah says here, He comes gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  The coming Messiah would not be all caught up in earthly grandeur, power and glory.  Yes, he would be righteous, perfect in all his ways and his judgments.  Yes, he would bring deliverance, dispense all kinds of blessings on his people.  But, in contrast to earthly kings, he would be humble in origin and appearance.

            Jesus is that king in every respect.  And for that we owe him our best measure of devotion, our most heart-felt praise, our shouts of joy.  Let’s start with his humble origins.  He was born in a stable, in a little village, in a country that was the backwaters of world politics and power.  He was raised in the home of a carpenter and we hear precious little about his childhood, which would indicate that it was nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary.  During his three years of ministry he displayed miraculous powers as he dealt with the physical needs of the people, healing the blind and deaf and lame, even raising three people from the dead.  But he especially focused on the spiritual needs of the people, showing them that the kingdom of God was not like any earthly kingdom and he was not like any earthly king.  Many had flocked to him early in his ministry, but most had walked away.  He didn’t seem to fit in with their misguided notions of what the Messiah-King was supposed to be like.  He antagonized the religious leaders because he even called on them to repent of their sins, to produce fruits of faith that reflected a trust in Jesus as the Messiah.

            So when he comes riding into Jerusalem on this little donkey, just as Zechariah had prophesied, the people thought, maybe now Jesus is going to do what we expect.  All these people were there, streaming into the capital city because it was the start of one of the great festival weeks on the Jewish religious calendar, the feast of Unleavened Bread with the celebration of the Passover, many people thought that Jesus was finally going to accomplish the things they believed the messiah would do – drive out the Romans and re-establish the monarchy in Israel as it had been under the great king, David.  Thus their shouts and praises, their adulation and acts of devotion that we heard in our gospel reading.

            But that’s not what God’s plan was all about.  Yes, Jesus came humbly, in all lowliness and humility.  But it wasn’t just humble origins on earth that we’re talking about.  Paul, in our epistle reading, brings out what the real humiliation was all about.  Jesus was the very Son of God who had left behind the majesty of heaven, who came to this earth willingly, obedient to his Father’s plan.  The humble earthly life was just a foreshadowing of what was to come – that agonizing, humiliating death on the cross. 

            In that way Jesus would show himself as the real king that we sinful human beings need.  We are all caught in the grips of slavery, shackled by an enemy worse than the Romans or any other earthly tyrant.  We were born in sin, slaves to God’s arch-enemy Satan.  He is called the prince of this world because he has so many people blinded to the fact that all he wants for them is eternal destruction in hell.  He dangles his carrots in front of people, the enticements of material pleasures and so-called sexual freedom, as the state of Iowa will now experience having struck down the laws against homosexual marriage.  He traps people into believing that there’s no such thing as God so go ahead and live this life any way you wish because that’s all there is.  The sad fact is that most people don’t realize this slavery that has them in its grip, that Satan is very real and that he’s working together with their sinful nature to blind them to Christ as the one who has their best interests at heart.

            But you and I rejoice and shout and celebrate because the Holy Spirit has gone to work in our hearts and opened our eyes to the fact that Jesus is our deliverer and king.  He is the one who secured salvation for us.  Through the preaching of the word we hear about all his accomplishments, the things he did to rescue us.  Our hearts have become the place where he rules with that gospel message, the good news that he has defeated our enemies, that Jesus earned the holiness we need in order to enter heaven, that by his perfect life and by his innocent death on the cross and by his triumphant resurrection from the grave on Easter morning he defeated our spiritual enemies and opened the door to our eternal home in heaven.

            That’s why we take time and make time for all the special services this week, why Palm Sunday kicks off what we call holy week.  These events that we remember on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and Easter Sunday, they are at the heart and core of our Christian religion.  Here’s where Jesus really puts his kingship on display, fulfilling all the OT prophecies of a king who delivers his people, but does it in a spiritual way, does it by humbly giving his life so that we can be free.  Maybe we won’t display fanatical behavior as the crowds at a Packer game or the Brewers’ home opener, but we will want to be here for all the special services as the loyal and devoted followers of our King.  We will display our enthusiasm in our worship, in our generous offerings, in leading lives of devotion and service and love.  We do it because Jesus is our King, a king like no other.

II.

            His is also a different kind of kingdom, unlike any other in this world.  We’ve kind of been talking about that already.  It’s different in that it was established in a unique way.  Earthly kingdoms come to power by conquering others, by military might, by deception and trickery, by force using the instruments of war.  But that’s not how this king operates.  Through Zechariah, our king says, I will take away the chariots from Ephraim (that was part of Israel) and the war-horses from Jerusalem and the battle bow will be broken.  It doesn’t matter how many tanks and planes, aircraft carriers or nuclear missiles a nation has.  That’s not what the Messiah uses to bring his kingdom into existence, not what he uses to defeat his enemies.  Yes, it’s a real war with a heavy toll taken.  It cost the Son of God his life.  But by his death on the cross the victory has been assured.  The kingdom of God has been established and will come out on top in the end.

            Peace and stability will reign supreme in this kingdom.  It’s not the kind of economic stability the leaders of the world are trying to establish in their meetings in London this week.  It’s not the kind of peace our forces are trying to bring in Iraq or Afghanistan.  It’s a peace between the holy God and sinful mankind, a peace that Jesus established by paying the price necessary, the price of his holy, precious blood.  That is what covered the price demanded to set us free from our sins. 

            And it is peace and freedom guaranteed by our King.  It’s not a potential thing, a maybe-if-you’re-good-enough thing.  It’s ours, as good as gold.  Our king HAS salvation.  It’s an accomplished fact, something that no one can take away from us if we don’t let them, something that is ours all the way into eternity, till we are carried from the kingdom of this world to the kingdom of glory in heaven.  That’s why this kingdom doesn’t have boundaries either.  It’s worked in the hearts of human beings who are brought to faith in Jesus as their king.  It’s a kingdom that comes through the gospel as it is preached and taught, as it is used in connection with baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  It’s a kingdom that is meant, not just for one race of people, but for people from every language, tribe and nation. 

            So again, we have every reason to shout for joy.  Our king has come and established his kingdom of grace.  He has brought peace and forgiveness, hope and eternal life.  His kingdom is a place of refuge and security, not just for the here and now, but for all people of all time.  That includes every single one of us here today.  So, dear friends, let us use our lives in service to him.  Let us work to spread the message of salvation through Jesus our King.  Let us be part of those celebrating crowds that will be gathered around his throne come Judgment Day and into eternity.  On that first Palm Sunday there were many who shouted and praised Jesus as the coming Messiah-King.  Sadly, not all of them understood correctly what Jesus’ mission was all about.  Thank God that you do, that you know your King has rescued you and given you a place in his heavenly kingdom.  Shout for joy because the king has come into your heart and that he is coming again to take you home to heaven where there will be unending celebration and joy.  AMEN.