The First Sunday in Advent – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Matthew 21:1-9 “The Coming King”
November 30, 2025 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
+ + +
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank You, we bless and praise You forever, that You sent Your Son to rule over us poor sinners, who for our transgressions justly deserved to remain in the bondage of sin and Satan, and that in Him You gave us a meek and righteous King, who by His death became our Savior from sin and eternal death. We beseech You so to enlighten, govern and direct us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may ever remain faithful to this righteous King and Savior, and not, after the manner of the world, be offended by His humble form and despised Word, but, firmly believing in Him, obtain eternal salvation; through the same, Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 147)
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:
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to 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 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.’”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who comes as your King, ruling over you with His heavenly peace, dear fellow redeemed:
During election season, there are some who do get excited for all the rallies and the visits by the politicians. As presidential candidates make the rounds, some well-known politicians will go out to prepare the way for them. As people will go and wait in line to see the main politician, these events are almost treated like a concert with music and comedians to warm up the crowd. the anticipation for someone like this is nothing new. People were excited when the Roman consuls came back from their battles and people would run the streets and sing their praises. Of course, there are some who don’t get excited over this and maybe they aren’t excited about any world leader, but there is a leader who will come, and everyone will have to pay attention to His coming. The leader will not be like all the rest. He will bring dread for those who reject Him. For those who follow Him, there is great anticipation waiting for His arrival. Jesus is the coming King, and when He comes, there will be great rejoicing.
Until that day of great rejoicing where we see our Savior in the flesh, here we are during the season of anticipation. While we are anticipating the holidays, we must remain strong in our anticipation for the great day. Our text reveals how anticipation can be right there in one moment and can disappear in the next. As the people were waiting in anticipation for the Christ for years and years, St. Matthew records how their anticipation was finally being fulfilled. 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.’” They are crying out to the Son of David. He is supposed to be the Anointed One, the Messiah, who was to come and liberate them and according to the prophet, the time is here. Jesus has been saying all the right things. Many did not understand what this liberation would look like, in fact, we know this, but this is still an exciting day. Jesus is having a parade like the kings of old.
Now, having the clarity of knowing why Jesus is processing into Jerusalem, lets compare Matthew to Zechariah. Zechariah prophesies, Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey (Zechariah 9:9). For the people, this certainly does look like a conquering and liberating king. Everyone should rejoice and be excited by this event. The King is coming! Jesus however, isn’t bringing any physical force for a physical liberation. It is a liberation the people can’t see. Matthew points this out. Jesus isn’t riding and acting like a great king. He is humbled, on this beast of burden. He is carrying the world’s burdens. The people will believe this great king as being weak, more like a sheep going to the slaughter instead of a great ruling King. If they would have listened to Jesus, they would have understood that this is the point.
Why is it hard for us to understand the work of Jesus? The Gospels point out so many prophecies Jesus is fulfilling before the people’s eyes. It is hard to look for a great King when even His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him (John 12:16). Though it took a little bit for them to fully understand, Jesus wasn’t happy with this. This is what His people were waiting for. They were waiting for the coming King, and the King was now there to rule over them and to save them. If it isn’t something we can visually see, even then, it doesn’t mean that we will believe what we see. The King didn’t do what they wanted so the people as they have always done, revolted and asked for the King’s death.
This cycle is a cycle we see in our lives all the time. We are either today all for the Lord, and tomorrow we turn from Him. We know the blessing is there for us who can’t see, but when life gets tough, it would just be so much better if we could just see Jesus’ work with our own eyes. This is what we tell ourselves. So, we start by praying, Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We bless you from the house of the LORD (Psalm 118:25-26). God is good, He is going to help. And when He helps us in a way we don’t see or understand, then we can quickly doubt that He is helping or going to help us at all. The King is going to come, and He is going to hold His subjects to account. He is going to search and see how good our trust is in Him. We know that He will see all of the times we decided to not trust Him with our lives. The King shoulders our failed trust. The King comes for a great event.
The King’s coming fits for each big event. The first one we look forward to in the season is the His coming into the world. The King had to come down from heaven to completely shoulder our troubles. And shouldering all our problems, He comes to Jerusalem, the seat of His Father David. There at the seat of His father David, instead of sitting on His earthly throne, He is raised on a wooden cross. As the people look on, Isaiah echoes, “Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him” (Isaiah 62:11). Coming into the world for the forgiveness of sins, now this great gift of salvation is there for the people as they wait once again for the coming King to be witnessed on His glorious heavenly throne. The anticipation will not be needed.
This can only happen if Jesus is the true King who comes to His people. If Jesus couldn’t be king then there would be a huge problem. St. Paul tells us we would still be in our sins. Our sins continue to try and make us see Jesus as someone who doesn’t listen to our pleas. He stays the course, coming into the world humbly, coming into the world to save His people. And it is through saving them, that He will rule them and care for them forever. Jesus reveals in this act the very reason for His mission. He marches to the shouts of salvation. A people who needs to be saved from their spiritual enemies. Those enemies have no chance against the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord’s.
The King of Kings receives such a great honor. For this moment, the throng is singing His praises for what He has come to do for them. 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!” The Anointed One, who has the power to save has arrived for His people. He arrives to rule over them as their loving King saving them from their sins. To do so, He knows that it will be hard, and it will hurt. Instead of doubting the Father’s plan, He goes to the mountain to be lifted. The King is revealed in a way that only He can be revealed. The humble King must give His life and die.
It is foreign for you to see a king, a leader, give up His life. This is a great sacrifice, especially for a people who will support His kingship in one breath and then can want it demolished in the next. You would think a king would get tired of dealing with this attitude. So many times, it can be poor. Yet, Jesus’ attitude never wavered. He understood what was needed for Him to be King. He knew He would suffer unjustly. Knowing His Father’s will, He would give the ultimate sacrifice of a leader. All the sins you committed ,He took them all away. Your King came to wear a crown of thorns. And as He hung His head, He revealed His great love. Your King died and your King lives. And you now have hope in your anticipation as you look ahead to your King coming to live and reign over you forever.
In anticipation, the crowds shouted Hosanna! “Save us!” Even though those shouts later in the week could turn into angry cries of Crucify, Jesus did in fact come to save. He put on flesh. Your flesh, so that He could be like you. So that this coming would be a victory parade. A parade that Jesus rightly deserves. You have a king who cared so much for you, He died for you. This is your comfort today. And He will come again, and it will be even better than this. Jesus will be coming on the clouds, with loud trumpets blaring. The nations will see him. All the earth will bow down and worship. This is your king. This is your Savior. He rode on, so that you can see Him when He comes again. When He comes to take you home. 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.
+ + +