Palm Sunday - 9 April - Matthew 21:1-11

Intro: Do you like going to Adelaide? Not everyone may like going in to Adelaide, but we all have to admit it makes a difference whether we're going there in an ambulance, in the back of a police car, or in a limo to receive an award or attend a party. Which was it for Jesus going to Jerusalem? If we take this reading out of context, we might not know. But here's some context from back in Matthew ch 16: “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And he does it again in ch 17, and a third time in ch 20. And the disciples didn't understand.  And now, when Jesus goes to Jerusalem, the whole city looks at his entrance, and says, “who is this?”

1. Who is this? This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.
   
   
   1. That's the response of the crowd that enters with him. It's a conversation between those of the crowds and those of the city. Who are the crowds? They are the great crowd who had been following Jesus into Jerusalem ever since he had passed through Jericho at the end of ch 20. It's not far, but it's a few k's. And so who is the city? The people who live in Jerusalem. But not just them, because when it was Passover time, the city grew a lot with visitors who had come to celebrate the Passover. That's the city.
      
   2. Jesus enters the city like no other, and is identified as no other.
      
      
      1. We know the governor of Judea entered Jerusalem for the Passover – Pontius Pilate. And Herod, ruler of Galilee, also was in Jerusalem for the Passover. But they were expected, and any big entrances they had would have also been expected.
         
      2. But seeing the palm branches and the cloaks spread, the city is surprised and says, “who is this?” And the response is also unique – only Jesus enters Jerusalem as a prophet of God, and not just a prophet, but the prophet – the Messiah.
         
   3. This is the Jesus who entered on a donkey to fulfill the Scriptures. This is all about the Scriptures.
      
      
      1. Jesus enters Jerusalem, and goes straight to the Temple. He must be in his Father's house.  "Open to me the gates of righteousness", as we heard in Psalm 118 - only Jesus can say this because of his own righteousness.
         
      2. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey because that was how Israelite kings entered for their coronation. He enteres as a humble and gentle king – on a humble donkey, and on the colt of a donkey, one that had never been ridden and was unbroken.
         
      3. He enters Jerusalem to fulfill the Scriptures, which Matthew quotes from the prophet Zechariah. The Scriptures must be fulfilled. This is how God had promised the Messiah would do things, and so he does.  And with the Messiah comes big big things for the world.
         
   4. Who is this who enters? This is the question that still must receive an answer from the Scriptures.
      
      
      1. Who is this? How can we even try and answer that without and apart from the Scriptures? Well, here's one way we do: for what kind of answer do we give in our sin? When we sin, what answer are we giving to this question? “Who is this? Nobody that important. No one whose word is death and life. No one whom I should trust in so that my life is marked by his truth, his love, calling upon him in trouble or holding his word to be sacred. He is no one, not when compared with my own personal comfort.”
         
      2. Who is this? This is Jesus. Not some empty lifeless thing, but the Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Every other god or god substitute is empty and lifeless because it offers nothing but emptiness and death. But here is the Christ. Here he is! You have no god worth anything unless you have the God who is revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ (the only begotten Son of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God). And he is entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday (in humility) to be crowned Lord of his Church at his death. This is the answer of the Scriptures.
         

Transition: And the city asks, “who is this?” because when Jesus enters, the whole city is shaken up (and not just the city).

2. The whole city was stirred up.
   
   
   1. This goes beyond the stir that the Beatles made (but includes it). When the Beatles landed in Australia that first time, everybody was talking. And everybody agrees, “that was a pretty big deal.” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, everybody was talking. And in the case of Jesus, it really was a very big deal – undeniably. We're still talking about it today.
      
      
      
      1. So how do we want to mark Holy Week this year? Is the big stir that shook the whole city of Jerusalem just a small ripple in the pond of our lives now? If what Jesus did during Holy Week was a big deal, then what he delivers to you as this Word of his Passion is proclaimed and delivered, is a big deal. For we bring nothing to God, that he should save us. But he brings himself to Jerusalem, to the cross, for you.
         
   2. This stir joins together Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter. On Palm Sunday the whole city is shaken up. On Good Friday the very earth shakes. And on Easter morning, the soldiers guarding the tomb shake and fall over, because the earth quakes when an angel of the Lord rolls back the stone from the tomb and sits on it. These are the events that must lead to one another – if Christ enters Jerusalem, he must go to his death on the cross. If he dies on the cross, he must rise again on the third day with an empty tomb that is open for all to see. It's for all to see that he alone can forgive all your sins, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And every year, the Church marks Holy Week in this way. For truly,
      
   3. We don't know what's a big deal. We hear about an earthquake over in this or that country, and it makes us stop and pause. We know it's a big deal when the earth shakes in one area, but we don't know that it's a big deal when all is shaken away on the last day. Long ago, the Lord promised through the prophet Haggai that he would shake the heavens and the earth. This happened at the cross of Christ, and continues to take place through the preaching of the Word, until the Last Day when all will be fulfilled. And about that, we don't pause and take little notice. We don't know that it's a big deal where Christ's Gospel is preached and his Sacrament is administered. But,
      
   4. When Christ shakes the world, it's a big deal. When God shakes something it is of significance to the world. Why is this? Because it deals with the fulfillment of all things – the world will pass away, but the reign of sin and death are already passing away where the Gospel of Jesus is preached and believed, because in those places the Church stands firm. How about that – the cross of Christ shakes the world so that the Church may stand firm. In all things the Church stands firm – her Lord stands crucified and risen, and sinners from all nations look to him. And looking to him they are kept firm in the faith until the end.
      

Conclusion: On Palm Sunday,

Who shook the town but the One who shook the world?

Going to Jerusalem was for Jesus his suffering, which is his glory – all his work as the Christ, our Savior. Christ's going to Jerusalem is for you the greatest comfort and treasure, when he forgives you all your sins. He does this because he is the Savior who shakes the world wherever his Word is heard (and until the Last Day). May the Lord bless and keep his Church through this Holy Week. Amen.

Lent 5 - April 2, 2017 Romans 8:6-11

Intro: The litany, that precious prayer of the Church, asks our Triune God to deliver us from (among other things) “lightning and tempest, from all calamity by fire and water; and from everlasting death”. And it is the heart that can pray this than can hear and cling to the words of today's Epistle reading from Romans ch 8.

1. The flesh is death, and the Spirit is life, so since we're talking about life and death, and either one or the other, it's best to be clear on these words.
   1. The way of the flesh is death, or as Paul says it “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” – so it's probably a good idea to know what Paul means when he says flesh.
   2. “Flesh” is often used by Paul to mean “the sinful nature” as inherited from our parents. The fallen human nature has self-seeking desires that oppose God. Paul does not mean that our physical bodies or the physical world are inherently evil, since they have been created by God though they are now fallen into sin. But Paul is talking about the mindset of the sinful nature, a mindset which is in agreement with sin and in line with sin, and therefore against God. That's a mindset that is death. But,
      
   3. The mindset of the Spirit is life and peace – so it's probably a good idea to know how we receive the Holy Spirit.
      1. See, by talking of the mindset of the Spirit, Paul isn't talking about some spiritual power that we have on the inside. He's talking about the Holy Spirit who brings life by faith in Jesus Christ. Can we receive the Holy Spirit by sitting around until we feel on the inside that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us? No. Can we do enough to earn the Holy Spirit? No. Can we demand the Holy Spirit because we say so? No. God gives the Holy Spirit out of love that we may live by receiving Christ's own holiness by the Holy Spirit's life-giving work. That's just what was foretold in our OT reading: “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live”. That sounds like a gift, and an important one, because the alternative is death as the wages of sin.
      2. How do we receive the Holy Spirit? Well, the dry bones in the valley received the Word of the Lord by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, and lived. Jesus spoke to Lazarus, “Lazarus, come out”, and he lived. So when we are brought to life by the gift of the Holy Spirit from Christ Jesus our Lord, it pleases him to do so by his Holy Word. So where there is the Word of God and the gift of life through that Word, there the Holy Spirit is given. This applies to the visible Word, that is the Sacraments, which are the physical means of the Holy Spirit. Confessing these things, we may rejoice in the receiving of the Holy Spirit, which for the Christian is lifelong, as long as we are alive by faith.
         
      3. What comes with the mindset of the Spirit? Life and peace. This is a mindset that in agreement with the Holy Spirit and in line with the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit dwells in you, he brings you Christ's own righteousness, his own perfect life and sacrificial death which earns for you life and peace.
         The flesh is death, and the Spirit is life, but the Christian is both dead and alive.
         

2. The life in the Spirit is lived under a death sentence – thank God.
   1. Now most of the time we don't think it's good to live under a death sentence. Nobody wants to sit around waiting for the guillotine to drop. But for the Christian it is a good thing, because the Christian is both dead and alive. “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.”
   2. The body is dead because of sin – now this is why it is good to live under a death sentence. Because, in all honesty, I sin. It's not the mindset of the Spirit when we ignore the people who need our love and service (these are the people God has given us the special responsibility to care for according to our various callings), and it's not the mindset of the Spirit to turn around from ignoring to abuse either. It's not the mindset of the Spirit to gather in gossip so you can take pleasure because that person you don't like did something you don't like, and don't we all think so? It's not the mindset of the Spirit to put the Lord's Word or the Lord's house at the very very bottom of the priority list as if we have very little need for either. That sounds like the mindset of the flesh. And the mindset of the flesh is – death! But out of this despair comes this – the resurrection of Christ is life; the Holy Spirit dwelling within you is life because Christ Jesus is the one who declares you righeous and sends the Holy Spirit so that we may receive this great justification by faith alone; Christ's forgiveness is for me life and peace; plain and simple - the blood of Jesus is life!
      
   3. So hurray for living under a death sentence – my sinful nature lives under a death sentence that I may live. Death's dominion over me has been broken by the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and giver of life, as we rightly say in the Creed. That daily death sentence is for my sinful nature and it's mindset, not for the mindset of the Holy Spirit, which is the mindset of faith. So the sinful nature is put to death daily until it is finally put to death at our death. Then we're free of our sinful nature, because our bodies will come out of our graves, but not our sinful natures. That's life in the Spirit. And that means we can never say we're done with our bodies, but we'll be done only with our sinful nature as we dwell with Christ who is resurrected in the flesh and who is perfect and holy. And he gives a Holy Spirit who makes us to be perfect and holy at the resurrection.
      
      1. But we receive this Holy Spirit now, as we have again been reminded. We're never, ever done depending on Christ our Lord for all salvation. So we receive this death sentence for our sinful nature when we are brought to life by the Holy Spirit through the Word and Baptism. And that's daily carried out in a simple way (though the sinful world doesn't understand, and can't understand because it rejects the forgiveness of sins in Christ's name). This death sentence and gift of life is carried out in repentance and faith (in such simple things as our morning and evening prayer*, Lord's Prayer*, confession and absolution, hearing God's Word, and at the Sacrament).
         
      2. So take heart, dear saints - Christ lives and the Holy Spirit puts to death the flesh. So when the deeds of the flesh are put to death by the Holy Spirit, there are no other deeds than carrying out our God-given callings according to the 10 Commandments. This is never done perfectly, since the sinful nature remains daily until our death – but this is done, thank the Lord. That's the Christian life, the life that is lived because of the life that is received, as Christ lives now and forevermore. And so we pray and suffer. Oh yes, pray and suffer, this is how we carry out our God-given callings. That's Romans 8 v 15-17, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs-- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” And trusting in our Savior, we'd have it no other way. Amen.