Palm Sunday
March 20, 2016
Zechariah 9:9-10
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.” (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!” I don’t know about you, but I love singing that hymn! Do you know why? I love singing that hymn because it reminds me of the songs of praise that the angels and the saints sing before the throne of our holy God in heaven above! (See Isaiah 6:1-4; Revelation 4:6-11) But did you perhaps wonder why we sang that particular hymn today? If you remember, we sang that very same hymn just five weeks ago on the First Sunday in Lent. Why did we sing it again today? The reason we sang that hymn today, my friends, is because as you and I gather together here in God’s house to celebrate Palm Sunday we are wrapping up our Lenten sermon series entitled Holy! Holy! Holy! On each of the Sundays in Lent we have been focusing our attention on things that are “holy”— “Holy Nation,” “Holy Destruction,” Holy Ground,” “Holy Water.” Today, as we conclude this sermon series it seemed only appropriate that we once again sing “Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!” as we use these words of the prophet Zechariah to focus our attention on: “Holy Praise!” There are two things we want to see today. First, let’s see that we are to bring holy praise to our King for who He is. Then let’s see that we are to bring holy praise to our King because of the Kingdom He has established.
Our text for this morning takes us back to a time when God’s people did not feel much like praising. The Lord God had fulfilled His promise and allowed His people to return home to Jerusalem after having lived as captives in Babylon for 70 years. But when the people of God returned home to the city of God they found nothing but ruin and destruction. Nebuchadnezzar and his army had done a very thorough job of destroying Jerusalem. The wall that once protected and defended the city against her enemies now lay on the ground in heaps of rubble. The homes of the people were now piles of trash. And most heart-breaking of all, the Temple of the Living God, the Temple that was built by wise King Solomon, the Temple that once glistened with gold and silver and precious jewels, the Temple in which the “Glory of the Lord” once visibly dwelt among God’s people— the Temple was looted, destroyed, burned. No, from a purely human perspective the exiles who returned home to Jerusalem had no reason to lift up their praises.
The glorious task that the Lord gave to His servant Zechariah was to “lift up” the people of God! (See Zechariah 1:16-17) Zechariah was to encourage God’s people to learn from the mistakes of the past and remain faithful to their Lord. He was to motivate God’s people to rebuild the Temple so that they could once again worship the Lord their God and bring both their sacrifices and their offerings to their King. He was to show God’s people that they did indeed have a reason to rejoice! And why could God’s people rejoice? Look once again at the glorious promise that God gives to His people in the opening verse of our text for today: “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
You and I, my friends, can not read these words— words that were written some 500 years before Jesus was born— we simply can not read these words without seeing how this Messianic prophecy was fulfilled on the day Jesus the Christ victoriously rode into the city of Jerusalem, the day that we now call Palm Sunday. (See our Gospel lesson for today, Luke 19:28-40) Whether it was the people of God in the days of Zechariah, or the people of God on that first Palm Sunday some 2,000 years ago, or us, the people of God today, we always have a reason to bring our holy praise to our King! One of those reasons centers on who our King is.
Who exactly is our King? Zechariah reminds us that our King is “righteous and having salvation.” These words automatically reveal to us that our King is no ordinary king. Our King is no ordinary human being. An ordinary human being is rebellious in God’s eyes not “righteous.” An ordinary human being possesses only condemnation not “salvation.” Therefore, the King that Zechariah points to here in our text, the King that Luke pointed to in our Gospel reading for today (Luke 19:28-40), the King that Paul pointed to in our Epistle Lesson for today (Philippians 2:5-11), is indeed a true human being, but at the very same time He is infinitely more than just an “ordinary” human being! Our King is the holy righteous Son of God who came into this world “having salvation” with Him! Our King is the only Source of salvation. Our King is the only Source of forgiveness and hope. And so— Yes! Our King deserves to receive our holy praise simply because of who He is! But there is more!
Zechariah also reveals to God’s people that their King will be characterized by gentleness and humility. The people who first heard these words of our text knew that the last time a “king” rode into the city of Jerusalem he was riding proudly on a strong stallion and he brought with him death and destruction. In sharp contrast, the Lord’s Messiah-King would enter the city of God in all gentleness and humility. The Lord’s Messiah –King would enter the city of Jerusalem “riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” Does that gentleness, does that humility in any way detract from the praise that our King deserves to receive? Absolutely not! The gentleness and the humility of the Lord’s Messiah-King give us even more reason to bring Him our praise! Why? Because His gentleness and His humility led Him to sacrifice Himself on the cross for our sins (See Isaiah 53:7). His gentleness and His humility lead Him to wrap His loving arms around us whenever we come to Him for forgiveness and protection. And so— Yes! Our King deserves to receive our praise! He deserves to receive our praise because of who He is— “righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
But how, my friends? How can we, how do we bring holy praise to our King today? The details of how we answer that question will vary from individual to individual. But, there are some common ways in which we can all bring holy praise to Jesus! Let me share four of them with you.
First, our King says to us in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” We bring holy praise to Jesus every day that we strive to follow in His humble and gentle footsteps. Instead of following in the steps of this world, instead of always and only looking out for what’s best for us, we “deny” ourselves, we “take up whatever “cross” the good Lord asks us to bear in this world and we humbly “follow” Him! (Pointing to the cross)
Second, our King says to us in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” We all know how many people today have very little respect for God’s holy Word. For the sake of being “politically correct” or for the sake of “science” or for the sake of mankind’s own limited human logic, God’s Word is being dissected and discarded by both individuals and by churches alike. We, however, make it a priority in our life and in our faith to give holy praise to Jesus by “obeying” His Word, by believing and confessing that what God says here in His Word “is truth” (John 17:17)
In John 13:34, 35 our King says to us, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” It may sound simple. It may even sound simplistic. But the way that we Christians “love one another” is one way for us to bring holy praise to Jesus! Even though we may not always agree with each other on worldly issues, our Christ-like love for each other as brothers and sisters in the faith is not only noticed by others, but it is also noticed by Him! (Pointing to the cross)
Finally, in Matthew 20:26-28 our King reminds us that the love that we have for each other cannot just be words. It also needs to be put into practice! Our King says, “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Yes, my friends, by willingly and humbly serving each other we are indeed bringing holy praise to Jesus, the One who served us so perfectly right there! (Pointing to the cross)
Now let’s turn to the second half of our text for today. The Lord’s prophet reminds us that we have every reason to praise our Lord and our King because of the Kingdom that He has established. The Lord says through His servant Zechariah, “I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
The Kingdom of our Lord and the Kingdom of His Christ is a Kingdom that can not be overthrown. It is a Kingdom of pure perfect peace. It is a Kingdom that blankets the entire world. Is this an earthly kingdom, my friends? No, it is not. Jesus Himself reminds us, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Jesus Himself told Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. (John 18:36). Martin Luther helps us to understand the Kingdom of the Lord’s Messiah when he says concerning the Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer (Thy Kingdom come), “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead a godly life now on earth and forever in heaven.”
How can we bring holy praise to Jesus for the Kingdom that He has established? Again, that is not a difficult question to answer. Let me point you to just two answers.
First, we bring holy praise to Jesus for the Kingdom He has established by openly professing that the only reason we are a member of Christ’s Kingdom is because of His power and His grace! In the Gospel of John Jesus says to us, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44), “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will last” (John 15:16). Every time we openly tell people that we are a Christian purely by the grace and power of God alone we are bringing holy praise to Jesus, our King!
And, of course, we bring holy praise to Jesus every time we follow His command, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19, 20). By simply sharing with others who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for them we are bringing holy praise to our Lord and our King.
“Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” May God grant that the words which God the Holy Spirit gave to Zechariah to proclaim to God’s people some 500 years before Jesus was born, words that were so beautifully fulfilled when Jesus rose into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, be words that fill our hearts and overflow with holy praise into our lives each and every day!
To God be the glory!
Amen