I rejoiced with those who said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Psalm 122:1

All Glory, Laud, and Honor to The Redeemer King

Palm Sunday – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 21:1-9 “All Glory, Laud, and Honor to The Redeemer King”
March 24, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church

In Nomine Iesu
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Almighty and everlasting God, who led Your dear Son Jesus Christ through sufferings and death to Your eternal glory, and exalted Him at Your right hand to be Lord of Lords and King of Kings, we humbly ask You, grant us Your good Spirit that with willing hearts we may receive Him as our King and follow His example of true humility, that, being made perfect through sufferings, we may enter into eternal glory; through Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, now and forever. Amen. (The Lutheran Liturgy, companion altar book for The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 94)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)

The sermon text for today is taken from the 21st chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and He sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)

In Christ Jesus, who leads the humble life of servitude, riding into Jerusalem for the Salvation of the world, dear fellow redeemed:

When a President has won the presidential race and becomes the new leader of the country, there is a great celebration that follows. There is a parade from the inauguration site where they were sworn in. The parade is interesting to watch as there are times the president will get out of the motorcade to walk and wave to the crowd. If he gets out, he will have a massive security presence to make sure that he stays safe. It is a joyous event for those who look forward to the new leader. As Jesus is riding into Jerusalem, the Jews think that they have their new leader. This man has helped them, and He has fed them with miracles. He is the perfect candidate to be the new leader. The leadership that the people are looking for is unfortunately not what this man is bringing. Jesus of course deserves all glory, laud, and honor as He parades into Jerusalem, but He is the Redeemer King. With lowly pomp, He rides on to die.

For Jesus’ followers, this day begins like an ordinary day. It is not the first time they have gone to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. As they are on their way, Jesus tells them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This seems like an odd request, but it is a request that has merit. Jesus is no longer hiding who He is. This is the beginning of the end for His public ministry. The events that are about to happen will change history forever and it starts as Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. As they head into the city, a crowd begins to form and soon a complete parade is happening for the man who has done many miracles. He looks like some of the rulers of old who marched into Jerusalem when they were crowned as
king.

Jesus is no ordinary king, and for the people, who are cheering, shouting, and singing, He will not be saving them from the current religious rulers or the Roman government. Jesus coming into Jerusalem was for a different reason. For people to find that reason, all they had to do was to look at the prophets. This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” Jesus’ plan has been laid out already, in fact His plan of salvation has been known since the first two people on earth sinned against God. The sins of those two run deep. As Jesus is given glory, laud, and honor on this ride, this crowd will reveal how quick they will go back to their sins and cling to them. These beautiful shouts that Jesus deserves, on Friday are shouts to kill Him where He stands. In one moment, they cry “Hosanna to the Son of David,” and another, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15).

The Old Testament Prophets and Jesus could not be clearer about what was going to happen. This is God’s plan of salvation being fulfilled, even in the procession of Jesus into Jerusalem. It is a humble ride as Jesus has only been a man of service. The religious leaders take this power that He wields as a threat to their own. The man that they want is not the man that they are getting in Jesus. He time and time again has pointed them to the Scriptures and the faith of their forefathers but it has only pushed on them to hold the line against Him harder. Instead of wanting this king that will bring them life, they create a huge plot to have this king put to death.

When we read and hear the plot of the religious leaders, we will always say that we are not part of their number. We can think that we are immune to such temptations especially wanting to kill Jesus. The devil wants us to think that we are more elite because we have Scripture. The devil wants to hide the fact that we are just like the crowd. We can rejoice and worship, give glory, laud, and honor when things are going well in life and then in a moment we can yell, “crucify, crucify Him” because we feel He has wronged us in some way. We continue to flip flop and we will our whole lives. We will flip flop with our praises when times are good and when we cave to sin, we would rather have Jesus die and disappear then give them up. Jesus knows all of this; He knows that He is not the king that the crowd wants. Well, He is done hiding so He rides in as the king that will save now.

This parade is followed by the roar of the crowd. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus is recognized as the Son of David. He is blessed as He comes in the name of the Lord. This king that was wanted and then discarded, did hear those cheers from the crowd. He knew the deeper meaning to those chants. These chants harken back to Israel long ago. They would cry for the Lord to save them and bring them relief. Their relief is found in this king who walks the way of the cross. He reveals Himself as the Messiah for all.

This is why Jesus receives all glory, laud, and honor because the king who was to come, who now has come, is the redeeming king. For this king to redeem His people, He can’t come and rule as an earthly king because it is not the earth that they need saving from. They need spiritual saving. Their sins have them condemned to hell. So as the people cry out Hosanna, the redeeming king looks to buy His people back. For Jesus to do that, He must be God and the cost to buy His people back will be His holy blood.

You can rejoice like the crowd for your king has heard your cries. You see how Jesus is different than any other king who has ever ruled. He is your redeemer king. To be your redeemer He had to give His perfect life. The devil tried to tempt Him away from this path. You see that Jesus does not flip flop from one side to the other. There will be times where the devil will tempt you and succeed. In your failings you have a constant in the man who is riding into Jerusalem to serve you. He comes to you with His body and blood for your forgiveness. He hears your shouts, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Save us now! He knew that you needed saving, and that is why He never wavered. He didn’t waver as He rode into the city with the crowd at His back wanting Him to be an earthly king. He didn’t waver as He stood bloody, beaten, unrecognizable, hearing the crowd shout for His crucifixion. He rides on with glory, laud, and honor as He does what you cannot. He suffers the pains of sin, death, and hell for you. In His death and resurrection, you are given sweet relief. You are protected from the evil one by the man who is true God and rode into Jerusalem to die so that you would live.

The enemies of Jesus looked to silence Him and all they did was help the promise of God be fulfilled. The enemies of Jesus today also look to silence Him and the message that He brings. There will always be those who will fight against the Gospel. It is the redeemer king who made Himself known to the nations as He went into Jerusalem. This was a joyous occasion for the people, and this is still a joyous occasion for the world today. The world hears how the redeemer, the Son of God went to Jerusalem to die for them so that they too can have life. He did not hold it back for only a certain group. He is king over all, as He died, was raised, and ascended to the right hand of His Father. His death was for the world. The world sees His resurrection, that His death did count for their sins. In repentance and forgiveness, there is life again. It is hard to get there when we are told by the devil to kill Him, to crucify Him, but that is what His death was for, so the world would be saved. We will struggle and find ourselves flipping from one side to the next, but Jesus doesn’t waver. He has all glory, laud, and honor for His work that counts as ours.

While we can be indecisive like the crowd and there will also be those who will try to get us to look past this day and this week, Jesus knew how important the week would be. He is not the president of the United States and this isn’t a victory parade. He is the promised Messiah who is not riding for His kingship but riding to die. He answers both cheers for His people. The reason He can answer the cheers is because He is the Savior. He suffers and dies, remaining the constant for all. This is the beginning of the week that is for all people. All glory, laud, and honor to the Redeemer king. Amen.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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