Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Wednesday Easter VII - Luke 19:29-39

Wednesday Easter VII

Daily Lectionary Readings: Numbers 16:23-40; Luke 19:29-48; (Treatise 4-59)

Luke 19:29–48

[29] When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, [30] saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. [31] If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’” [32] So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. [33] And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” [34] And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” [35] And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. [36] And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. [37] As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, [38] saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” [39] And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” [40] He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” (ESV)

Palm Sunday. Here is the reason why God draws near to us in human flesh. Jesus intentionally, by His actions, claims to be the Christ. He enters on His own terms, humbly, upon the back of a donkey's colt. He comes to the accolades of His followers and the derision of His enemies. He is the One that comes to them. He does not wait to be asked or sought but actively arrives of His own accord in obedience to His Father. He makes everyone there and everyone of all time ask the same question, which must be at the forefront of our hearts and minds: "Who is this King?"

St. John Chrysostom said, “[Jesus] has often entered Jerusalem before, but never with so much at stake. Why were earlier visits different? They came… when he was not very well known. The time of his Passion has not drawn near. But by now he had given them sufficient proof of his miraculous power. The cross was at the door… He does not hesitate to do things that were likely to inflame them.”1 Everything Jesus says and does is intentional and is for you.

What kind of King is this? He did not send His disciples to plan a parade route or enlist the local constabulary for security. He did not send them to cordon off a press area for the paparazzi. He did not have them hire camels to ride or musicians to play ahead of His arrival to alert the world that a VIP was entering the city. No. He came mounted upon a young donkey's back with a saddle made of whatever dusty cloaks the disciples had at hand to make the ride a little more comfortable, such as it was.

Jesus intentionally fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, in which the prophet explained to the people that the Messiah would reveal Himself publicly in humility, "poor and riding on a donkey." As Luther pointed out, Jesus takes deliberate action to refute the Jew's notion of a conquerer arriving in great "public, worldly pomp and glory, as a King against their enemies."2 because they misinterpret the glorious things which had been written about the Messiah and His kingdom in Scripture.

Christ fulfills prophecy so there can be no doubt about His identity to the Jews, the first-century world, or us today. No man can deny the sign of the fulfilled promise and foolishly seek another. However, in their sinful condition, men of all ages do just that. False messiahs and false preachers abound to distract from the one thing certain, the truth of God's Word. They can bring out the worst in us: anger, greed, envy, anxiety instead of contentment, peace, and joy. Jesus says to you, "look how quietly and meekly I come to you." His disciples follow His direction and example. We need to repent and do the same.

Just who is this King? Is Jesus the King they were expecting? So many Christians even today think the answer to this question is the answer the crowd on Palm Sunday thought they knew. They all think Jesus is here to make their lives here on earth easier. Men of all times seek physical deliverance and comfort rather than the spiritual setting free obtained in the forgiveness of sins. We were told in the garden that, due to sin, physical death is an inevitability: “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”3 Physical death, but not eternal death for those who repent and believe. Yet humans continue to die in their trespasses to this day, clinging to what they think they know about what God wants instead of what God's Word actually says.

Hence the first promise of the Messiah: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”4 Therefore Zechariah declares the One is "righteous and having salvation," a far different and greater salvation than bodily comfort, power, or glory in this broken world. Thus, the evangelist records the fulfillment of this prophecy to dissuade all from such false notions and demonstrate clearly and precisely what kind of King Jesus is by deliberately and directly answering the question "Who is this King?" This is Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David, coming to us humbly on the back of the foal of a donkey. Here in the last week of His life, He enters Jerusalem as He entered our flesh, meekly in an animal's food trough, wrapped in rags. The humiliation of the cross awaits as His earthly throne, and the rags of the grave His royal robes. This is not the king we were expecting at all. Christ is an even better king!

His death is deliberate. His death is necessary for you. It was intentional that He become a human baby, grow from a human boy into a human man, and ride triumphantly into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. His death on the cross was intended to appear to be a bitter defeat when it was actually the greatest victory of all! The victory over sin, death, and the power of the Devil secures your own status as His eternally redeemed and royal child.

1NPNF 1 10:405. The Gospel of Matthew, Homily LXI.

2Martin Luther LW AE 75 Church Postil I p.48.

3Genesis 2:17 (ESV).

4Genesis 3:15 (ESV).