Advent 1 C
Not the King You’re Looking For
Luke 19:28-40
29 November 2015 – Redeemer
“Behold, your King is coming to you. Righteous and having salvation.” Now that’s the kind of Jesus we could really use – a King who is coming to set things right. A King who will burst into this world and do away with evil – wipe those terrorists off the face of the earth, do away with the abortionists, get rid of all the wicked folks who are out to destroy marriage and family and our children and America.
But that doesn’t seem to be the King that arrives in Jerusalem. The King who is going to set things right ought to have a weapon in His hand, but Jesus only has a word in His mouth. He ought to be riding on a war horse, or do a fly over in a fighter jet or be at the helm of a tank, but he’s on a donkey. He ought to enter the scene like a super hero, running to meet His enemies, standing boldly in the street, ready for a show down. But not Jesus. He ambles along on the back of a donkey as he rides into Jerusalem.
We want a Jesus who will make right all that is wrong out there – all those wicked and evil folks who are ruining this world. We want a Jesus who leaves us alone, but who gets into everybody else’s business and straightens them out. But God sends the King that He promised – the One who makes right what is really and truly wrong with the world – you.
You don’t want the God you think you want – that righteous and mighty King who storms into the world to do away with the bad guys. For that God do away with you. You need the King on that donkey, God wrapped up in human flesh and coming as a peaceful Savior, because apart from Him you could not see God and live. You don’t want Jesus on a war horse, dispatching his angel army to destroy the unrighteous, because they would destroy you. You need Him right where He is. You need Him humble and meek, hidden in human flesh, for then you can actually stand to see Him, then you can endure His coming.
You need this Jesus because Jesus is true God. He does things only God could do. He knows exactly where that donkey colt was tied up and by His Word He takes it, because all things are His. Don’t try that with your neighbor’s car – you’re not God. Jesus is true God. He accepts praise intended only for God. When the people were confessing, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” they were confessing that God’s Messiah had arrived on the scene. That’s why the Pharisees were so upset. The crowd was in essence saying, “Jesus is Lord. Jesus is God.” And that claim was considered blasphemy – taking the name of the Lord in vain. That’s some very serious 2nd commandment sin. No man could claim to be God, but Jesus did and He didn’t argue with the crowds or try to correct them. In fact, He told the Pharisees that creation itself would make the same confession of Him “If these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” And do you know what? The stones did cry out – exactly five days later – on black Friday. The earth shook, the stones in front of tombs cracked open, and dead people were raised – why? Because Jesus is God and God had died and sin was forgiven, death was undone, and eternal life was won.
You need this Jesus as Lord because as Jeremiah confesses, “The Lord is our righteousness.” He enters the womb of the Virgin Mary without a human father and therefore is righteous – He is born without sin. He never went through the terrible twos. He never pouted until Mother Mary bought him a bag of Skittles at Coborns in Nazareth. He never rolled His eyes when his mom asked him to clean His room. He didn’t do anything wild that He later regretted in his two years in the carpentry program at Galilee Community College. He was a righteous toddler, teen, and twenty-something – no sin, not one.
But then for you He became unrighteous. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us. Who’s the worst sinner in the world? Jesus is, because He became sin – He became your sin – not just the evil you do, but the evil you are. God incarnate somehow became sin incarnate. In His Son, God the Father made things right. He accomplished all righteousness – not by wiping out all the unrighteous people, but by wiping out His unrighteousness Son. Jesus took our unrighteousness. He became sin for us, that the Father might give us Jesus’ righteousness. In Jesus, and in Jesus only, everything is set right. He is damned with your sin, that you might be declared righteous before God.
What went wrong during Holy Week? Jesus enters the city to shouts of praise and prayers of thanksgiving and blessing and honor fit only for God in the flesh. But then, by the end of the week, the crowd seems to have done a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. They go from blessing to cursing, from welcoming to hostile, from thanking God to damning God. Jesus leaves town to the mocks and jeers and spit of these folks.
What went wrong? Well, the Pharisees expected a Messiah who would chum around with them and tell them how righteous they were. Jesus told them the truth – they needed Him more than the prostitutes and tax collectors. The Romans were fine with a Jewish Messiah unless He caused riots or incited the people – and Jesus brought a huge crowd together that Sunday and Monday He upset the temple business by chasing all the money changers out. Judas saw no future in this death of this Messiah, so he planned for his retirement by betraying Jesus. What went wrong? Nobody received the King they were hoping for. God sent them the wrong One, so they decided to send Him back – by killing Him.
On the other hand nothing went wrong. Everything went exactly as God the Father planned it. God used the evil and unbelief of the pharisees, the crowd, and the disciples for good. This Jesus may not be the Savior you’ve designed in your heart, but He is the Savior whom God sent. He did exactly what His Father commanded and what you needed. All that is wrong and wicked and evil that you see out there, has its source in here – in me and in you. And so Christ Jesus comes near to us – becoming one with us, bearing our sin, taking it away.
When Jesus comes near it isn’t always comfortable – He not only gets in your head He gets in your flesh. He isn’t afraid to dig around in your life with the scalpel of His Word to expose your sin to the light. But then by that same Word He declares you right – your sin excised, it is forgiven, your death is dead, your standing before the Father is favored child, your resurrection is certain. You might wish Jesus would work on those people causing you trouble, but He draws near to you, for you. In the waters of your baptism He comes to drown your sin in His death and raise you to new life in His resurrection. He draws near in confession so you tell the truth, “It’s not them, Jesus. It’s me. I’m a sinner.” And to that He says, “Do not be afraid. It’s not up to you to take care of your sins – I took care of them. All is right. I forgive you.” He draws near to you in the supper, not to fix the world’s problems with His dinner conversation, but to feed you with His body and blood to strengthen your faith in Him and your love toward your not so lovely neighbor. Behold Your King comes to you righteous and having salvation. He’s not the King you want, but He’s the King you need, for He’s the King who alone is your righteousness. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
28 November 2015 anno Domini