Sermon - Ad Te Levavi 2021 - Matthew 21:1-9

Entry Into Jerusalem, Giotto, 1266-1337

Happy new year! The world celebrates the new year on December 31st and January 1st by eating junk food and getting drunk, but the Chrsitian church celebrates the new year at the beginning of Advent by preparing for the second coming of Christ. The world hopes to make the next year better by making resolutions. The church looks ahead to the next year and hopes in the Lord; during this new year of grace we prepare to meet the King who comes to save us.

Whenever we look ahead and come to something new, there’s bound to be fear in the unknown. None of us know what the next year will bring, let alone what this very day will bring! Many European countries have been reimplementing their strict covid restrictions about where people can go and who they can gather with. Will those restrictions come back here in Iowa? I don’t know. On December 1st the Supreme Court is scheduled to begin hearing arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and how they will rule has the potential to overturn Roe v. Wade. Will we finally rid our country of abortion soon? I don’t know. 

There are a lot of unknowns in the coming year. Some possibly very good and some possibly very bad. Nevertheless we have hope in the Lord. When our service began with the Introit, we prayed: “To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed. Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. For You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.” So as we enter into this new year, we know that this is a year of grace and God’s favor, since our whole year shall be shaped by God.

We may not know everything that’s coming our way this year, but we do know One who is coming our way. The prophets have spoken it loud and clear: “Behold, your King is coming to you!” It’s not just that our King came to us in the past, but He’s currently coming to us. In a few weeks we’re going to celebrate Christmas; we’ll commemorate that historical fact that God took on flesh in the womb of Mary and was made man for us so that He could die in the flesh upon the cross and redeem us poor sinners from death. Our faith is based in historical reality, in events which truly happened here on earth. However, our faith is not only historic, but it’s an ongoing reality for us even today.

God is still coming to us, even now! This is why the new year begins with the Triumphal Entry, with Palm Sunday, because Jesus is coming to be with His people. How does He come? “Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey.” Our King comes to us in great humility. In Holy Week He came mounted on a donkey, today He comes mounted upon His Word and Sacrament.

God’s Word has been despised for centuries, and no less today. In the Old Testament the Israelites themselves despised God’s Word, as they regularly forgot it and worshipped false gods. In the early centuries of the New Testament people didn’t want to believe that Jesus is either truly God or truly man. By the middle ages people began to put human teachings above God’s word. Today, many so-called Christians are ashamed of God's Word because of the strict and unpopular ethical teachings contained therein.

Yet, regardless of how despised and lowly God’s Word may be, Jesus still comes to us in His Word. Just as Jesus came to His people on a humble donkey, so does Jesus come to us today in His humble Word. In spite of His lowly coming to Jerusalem, the people perceived through the eyes of faith that He is their King, and so they greeted Him as a King. They spread cloaks and branches on the road, while they blessed their King as the promised Messiah, the Son of David. 

Likewise, through the eyes of faith we perceive that Jesus comes to us through His Word which is read in our midst. The Bible holds a place of prominence in our homes, located in a place where it is easily read daily. The Word of God sprinkles our language and shapes our conduct with one another. In our churches we have fixed pieces of furniture solely for reading and preaching the Word of God. We stand in respect for the Gospel reading, and throughout the liturgy we adorn God’s Word by singing it. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

Most magnificently, yet humbly, Jesus comes to us through His Word in the lowly forms of water, bread, and wine. In these sacraments God’s Word is quite literally poured on us, poured into us, and placed in our bodies. This means that Jesus comes to us today by dwelling among us and within us. Through God’s Word and Sacraments Jesus dwells within our bodies and our bodies become the living temples of the Lord. 

So when we look ahead to this new year, we call it a year of grace because it really is a grace filled year. All this year Christ is coming to us in order to fill us with all the fruits of His crucifixion and resurrection; He comes to fill us with His grace! St. Paul says that “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” That’s not an exaggeration, since salvation is found in Jesus and Jesus dwells among us and within us mounted on His humble Word.

Since our King is coming to us even now, Advent is a time for us to refocus on preparing for our King who comes. Now is the time to wake from sleep. “The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” 

To see how we are to live, look to the example of the apostles who went and brought their Lord a donkey at His bidding. Can you imagine being told to go and take two donkeys, who belong to someone else, and if you’re challenged by the owner you simply say “The Lord needs them”? It’s such an unusual and awkward request. But, “The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.” Likewise, we are to live our lives following Jesus and doing as He has instructed us in His Word. Even when it makes us feel awkward and look unusual, we are to do as the Lord directs us. 

The disciples may have walked with Jesus and listened to Him preach, but so have you! You actually have something the disciples didn’t yet have during Holy Week, you have Jesus dwelling in you bodily and the power of the Holy Spirit giving you strength! God has given you the strength and power to live a new life this year. Jesus lives inside of you and therefore you walk in Christ.

Preparing for Jesus’ coming is something that we have the strength to do because we have put on the Lord Jesus Christ. “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” 

Let us enter into this new year as the people of God who are filled with God. As we approach a year of unknowns and uncertainty, let us go forward with joy and confidence in the Gospel. While the world stresses about shopping for Christmas parties and navigating government restrictions, let us be filled with the peace of the Lord lifted in triumph over us. May we live out this year as faithful, bold, and courageous Christians preparing for the coming of our King. Our Lord comes to save us, and so we enter this year without trepidation or fear, but with hope and peace. Happy New year!