Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning
comes from the Gospel reading, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
Part of the reason of the children being involved in this
morning’s service and the pomp and circumstance of the music and the
proclamation of the Gospel reading from the midst of the congregation is for us
to grab hold of what happened at this event. It’s not merely a wonderful
opportunity to bring out greenery and throw it around and sing praises, but to
proclaim Him to be the very one unto whom we sing and shout, “Hosanna,” which
means, “Save me.” But save me from what? Because there’s a lot of people who
seek Jesus to save them from all kinds of earthly matters, job security,
finances, health issues, cancer, old age, and Alzheimer’s, despondency and
despair and anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse. Those are all things
that we seek to be saved by our Savior, Jesus Christ, but all those things have
everything to do with a body in a world that is dying and that will not be
eternal. Consider the amount of time that you spend in prayer. Then consider
the subject matter about which you pray and how much of the subject matter
about which you and I pray dwells and hovers over matters that do not really
matter.
Now, Jesus, when He came to this world three years prior to
this text and began to do miracles, revealing Himself as the Messiah, He did
things in this world. He brought healing to bodies. He brought eyesight to
blind eyes. He brought food to hungry bellies. He brought forgiveness to
prostitutes and others. But all of those things that He did can we not say that
those same things still apply to us? Are we not supposed to be asking God for
those same kind of things? Is it wrong? Of course not. It’s not wrong. But is
that what Jesus comes to save you from?
Two people have cancer. One dies and one’s cured. Did God
not answer the one’s prayer? Two marriages, one ended in divorce and one
didn’t. Did God not answer that one’s prayer? Did they not pray fervently
enough and correctly enough? Earthly things. Jesus did bring redemption but not
in the way that He brings spiritual redemption of sins. That’s an assured
always yes and indeed.
It’s interesting, isn’t it? The Jews demand and are fearful
of these miracles that Jesus has done in order to bring people to follow after
them, away from them and to Christ instead. They shouldn’t be so scared of that,
because these are also the same people who shout….many of them are….the same
people who shout, “Crucify! Crucify!” So did they really need to have anything
to be concerned about? But in this world? Oh, my stars, look at how you and I
are wrapped up in numbers and results to prove truth and validity. If it
conjures a great result, there’s truth and validity. If it does not produce
anything of value or worth, there’s proof of its lack of validity and lack of
truth.
I believe it was our Lord who said, “Broad is the gate and
many are those who go down it to destruction. Narrow is the path and few are
those who enter eternal life.” So, is it about visible proof and evidence?
Jesus came in on a donkey and not a stallion. He came in to die, not to
liberate the people of Israel from bondage to the Romans. He came to save your
soul and to forgive your sin. He did not come to solve every earthly matter in
your and my life. Does that make Him less a Savior for you? If so, then what
kind of Savior are we talking about? A sugar daddy savior? Or a Savior of our
sins and forgiveness?
You’ve been baptized and you have been set apart by God, not
so that your life can show forth all kinds of great attributes to prove that
God’s Gospel works in your life. You’ve been set apart by God in your baptism
to mark you as His child. End of story. And you’ve not been set apart by God in
your baptism to prove to yourself that you are God’s child. God’s declaration
proves that to you and to me whether we feel it inside of our bosom or whether
we have doubts and fears. Because I can trust that you would admit and confess
to me that you have doubts and fears just like I do because we live inside of a
very sin-filled fleshly body, and we live among some pretty sin-filled people
in a dead and dying world that can be prayed for all we wish to pray, but it
will remain a dead and dying world. Hence, why He said, “The poor you will
always have with you.”
Now, that’s not to say we don’t do anything and don’t help
and don’t love and don’t give. Absolutely, we do, but there is going to be no
Utopian society in this world. There will never be the perfect church. There
will never be the perfect family, the perfect marriage, the perfect father, the
perfect mother, the perfect son or daughter. Never. But there will be
forgiveness, and that forgiveness is eternal. And it doesn’t matter what you
think of you, and it sure doesn’t matter what others think of you. Now, that’s
Satan’s prompting. Hence, he prompted the Jews to be concerned about what
others think of Christ, because they only saw Him in regard to what He did in
this world and had nothing in their mind’s eye of what He did for their soul.
But you do. You do believe what He’s done for your soul. You do believe that is
what matters about your Lord Jesus. You are convinced that what Christ declares
about you is what matters in this world and not what you think about you or
what others think about you. That’s Satan’s playground and he loves to drag us
into it, time and time again. And the only one who delivers us from such guilt-ridden
playground of Satan is Christ who declares to you, “You are My beloved child.
You are Mine. I set you apart. I claim you when you don’t even want to claim
yourself and you don’t want others claiming you either. I claim you.” There’s a
difference, a marked difference.
So when we sing “Hosanna to the Son of David,” we’re saying,
“Hosanna, save me from me and my sin.” I live in this world and the glory that
awaits me is hidden. I have that glory in me now, but it’s hidden. It’s hidden
underneath the fleshly garment. It’s hidden behind fleshly thoughts that we
can’t even stop entering our head. And it’s hidden behind weakness of flesh and
bone, mental ability and physical ability. But we have such glory. And in the
One who trod His way all the way to Calvary’s cross, the glory was also hidden
in Him as He humbly and willingly stretched Himself out upon that accursed
tree. His kingship and His great power and might were hidden, but you and I
believe by faith it was there for me. You say that to yourself, “That was there
for me.”
So, sing hosanna to the Son of David for He has and will
continue to save such cries of faith who trust in Him as Savior of sin and
death and the awful conflict and accusations of our own flesh and the devil. In
His name, Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your
hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting.
Amen.
