"The Sufficiency of Christ" First Sunday in Advent Ad te Levavi Commemoration of Andrew, Apostle November 30, 2014 Matthew 21:1-9
In the Collect today we pray for power. Stir up Your Power, O Lord! The Old Testament promised God would send the Savior: Rejoice! Your King is coming to you! So we pray for God to stir up His power. We pray for Him to come to us. We don't just pray that He comes to us, we pray that He comes to us in power. We pray for His powerful salvation. We pray that He shows us that He really is God and stronger than anything we face. What we get instead is sufficiency. We get just enough. We pray for power. God gives us a baby born in a stable. We pray for might. God sends a Savior who comes on a donkey and goes to a cross. It is enough. With Christ it is always enough. You may think you need more. But it is enough. On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished." That's enough. That's all you need. We want Him to come in power, He comes with just enough for what we need. In today's Gospel reading Mathew quotes Scripture. He quotes from Isaiah 62 and Zechariah 9: "say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'" Some king. The Old Testament promised the Savior would come and it promised that He would come in humility. It promised He would come on a donkey. The people of God waiting for centuries for their King and Savior to come were waiting for one who would come in a humble way. In specific point of fact, on a donkey. That seems a bit different than the prayer we prayed this morning, Stir up Your Power, O Lord! It seems a bit anticlimactic. Exactly what kind of King and Savior was God promising to send in the Old Testament? And since we're praying today for God to stir up His power, to come and save us by His mighty deliverance, what exactly are we praying for? Is it in line with what Matthew is doing here in saying that Jesus came in fulfillment of prophecy that God's Savior would come in humility? Matthew says in verse 4 of the Gospel reading that this took place in order to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet. What was it Matthew is referring to in saying that 'this took place'? It is Jesus and His disciples coming near to Jerusalem to the town of Bethpage and the Mount of Olives. When they got there Jesus sent two of His disciples to a village and there they would find a donkey tied up along with her foal. They were to untie the donkey and bring them to Jesus. He told them that if anyone were to say anything to them they simply had to say, "the Lord has need of them," and they would let them take the donkeys. That's it. That's the big fulfillment of the prophecy of "Daughter of Zion, rejoice! Your King is coming to you!" Matthew certainly was right that the prophecy was fulfilled in these things, because Jesus came in anything but power. Isaiah and Zechariah prophesied that He would come in humility, and He did. They prophesied that He would come mounted on a donkey, and so He did. The prophecy wasn't of something spectacular but of something very lowly. Okay, two of you disciples, I need you to go into that village and bring Me back a donkey. This is the big fulfillment of Scripture Matthew shows us. And you know what? It is enough. It's sufficient. Pray all you want for God to come to you in power. He will send you His Son in humility. Jesus will come to you in a lowly way. But it is sufficient. The sufficiency of Jesus is all you need. Who He is and what He does is enough. You don't need more. You need Him. You need what He gives you. You need who He is. We pray in the Collect for God to stir up His power; to save us by His mighty deliverance, and rightly so. In praying in this way we are taught that His answer to our prayer is His Son. In His Son we have our Savior. We have our mighty deliverance. It's that simple. Really. Everything God would desire to give you that you need He gives you in Jesus who came in humility. Look for more and you'll miss it. After saying all this took place in order to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah and Zechariah and then quoting that prophecy, Matthew says that the disciples went and did what Jesus had instructed them to do. That's it. Simple. No questions, no seeking an explanation, no wondering why on earth Jesus would want such a simple, perhaps strange, thing as a donkey. Jesus asked for a donkey, they got the donkey. We pray for God to stir up His power and save us by His mighty deliverance, let's be content with His answer, His answer is His Son. He comes not in majesty but humility. He comes mounted on the things of this earth, things that are very simple, much like a donkey. He comes in humility, mounted on the water of your Baptism. He comes riding in on the bread and wine of the Supper He invites you to be part of. He comes in and with the words that are proclaimed of the Gospel and the words that are spoken in the Absolution. It is sufficient for you. Water, bread, wine, and words. It is enough. Who Jesus is and what He does is enough. How He comes to you is enough. Who He is is your King and your Savior, coming to you in the Gospel, in your Baptism, in His Holy Supper. What He does is save you by His mighty deliverance, forgiving you your sins in those means of His grace. What He does is give you the comfort you need and the strength you need. What He does is give you enough; He gives you what you need. When they brought the donkey and her colt back to Jesus they laid garments on them. He sat on them. Jesus the glorious King is very comfortable sitting on a lowly donkey and on the coats of His people. This is how He comes to us. When we pour water into this font and then speak the words He has given us to speak in applying that water to the person being Baptized Jesus is right at home participating in that water to save that person. When we place bread and wine on this altar and then eat and drink of it having the words of Christ spoken over them Jesus is right where He wants to be, in and with that bread and wine to give us His body and blood. When Jesus entered into Jerusalem sitting on that donkey people also placed garments and branches on the road before Him. Those who went before Him and those who followed Him were crying out, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest!" What the crowds spoke was a quote from the Old Testament just like the other quote Matthew gave us. This one is from Psalm 118. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." Hosanna is a Hebrew word which means "Save us now!" Sounds a lot like our Collect we prayed. Over time this acclamation of the crowds had come to be just that, an acclamation, kind of like the acclamation, "God save the Queen!" The crowds rang out with the acclamation, "Hosanna to the Son of David, Hosanna in the highest!" This morning we entered the House of the Lord. Soon we will enter a new year. When Jesus returns in glory we will enter into the Kingdom our Lord has prepared for us. In our lives we enter into new transitions and new challenges. We face challenges at work, we struggle with illness, we get embroiled in family disagreements. We face a society increasingly full of distrust and anger. We have entered into a time in history not unlike other times in history where people do not see the need for worship, for God, and for salvation. In the midst of all of these things we have entered today into a new Church Year. As we have entered into these things and face these things we pray our God to stir up His power. We pray for His mighty deliverance. The Gospel we are met with today is Jesus entering into Jerusalem. This is sufficient for us. He has come into Jerusalem as the King, as the Son of David, as the one who comes in the name of the Lord. He has come in humility in order that He may humbly go to the cross. He has come in lowliness in order that He may be at the bottom rung and all the sin of the world be laid upon Him. This is the sufficiency of Christ. It is enough. It is what you need. It is why we take up the acclamation of the crowds in our liturgy before we celebrate the Supper of our Lord: Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth; heav'n and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, blessed is He, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. These have become our words. They are sufficient now and forever. Amen. SDG -- Pastor Paul L. Willweber Prince of Peace Lutheran Church [LCMS] 6801 Easton Ct., San Diego, California 92120 619.583.1436 princeofpeacesd.net three-taverns.net It is the spirit and genius of Lutheranism to be liberal in everything except where the marks of the Church are concerned. [Henry Hamann, On Being a Christian] _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list [email protected] http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
