Thy King Cometh: A Palm Sunday Meditation on John 12

 

On the next day much people that were come to the feast,

when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

Took branches of palm trees,

and went forth to meet him, and cried,

Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel

that cometh in the name of the Lord.

And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon;

as it is written, Fear not, daughter of Sion:

behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.

For churches around the world, Lent now transitions to Holy Week, where Christians mark the culmination of what Jesus came into the world to do:  suffer, die, and rise again for the salvation of the whole world.  From the prophecy given to Adam and Eve in the Garden, through the Prophets several hundred years before Jesus, the Messiah was promised who would save Israel from sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil.  This Messiah would be more than a political savior, more than a wise teacher, and more than a social reformer.  This Messiah would be the very Son of God incarnate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Creator and Judge of all things.  But this Messiah would come in humility, taking the sin and death of His people upon Himself, that He might give His life and grace to them in exchange.  This King of all Creation entered into His creation, that He might save His creatures from the devastation they had brought upon themselves by turning their backs on Him.  This Almighty King came not to destroy His people in judgment, but to save them in His infinite compassion and mercy.

This is what we remember at the beginning of Holy Week, where the Gospels tell us of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, seated humbly on the colt of a donkey, to the ringing praise of the people who threw palm branches down upon the dusty road ahead of Him.  Jesus knew that this praise of sinful men was fickle, and that less than a week later, the mob would be turned against Him by the lying prattle of ruling Pharisees, handing Him over to a foreign governor for brutal execution.  Knowing the Roman cross lay before Him, together with betrayal and abandonment, the King of Creation rode resolutely into the city which He had given to His people over a millenium before as the seat of their earthly kingdom.  In compassion undeterred He entered the capitol city of His people, where the true and eternal King of Israel would be falsely accused, tried, convicted, and condemned by the people He came to save.  Even dying upon His Cross, this King of Israel in gasping breath prayed to His Father to forgive His betrayers and murderers—those who would shove sponges of sour wine into His parched mouth, mock Him as He hung naked and brutalized for all to see, and eventually plunge a spear into His dead heart just to make sure He was really dead.  While the fickle mob saw a revolutionary king and the Pharisees saw a threat to their own power, Jesus saw the Cross He would bear to save His people from their sins.

And of course, He saw not only those who surrounded Him as He entered into Jerusalem, but every man, woman, and child who had ever come into the world from its very beginning, and would ever come into it until its fiery end.  There, on the road into Jerusalem, Jesus saw you and me, our grandparents long forgotten to history, and our children yet to be born.  There, seated upon a donkey’s colt, Jesus saw us among the fickle mob, among the self-righteous Pharisees and Sadducees, and among the violently ignorant Roman pagans.  He saw us, born in our sins which corrupt us to our core, unable to save ourselves from the devil who could whip us into any frenzy of foolishness or passion he desired, because our fallen nature longed more for evil than for good.  He saw us, awash in covetousness, wasting our lives in the pursuit of riches which would leave us exhausted and empty.  He saw us, enflamed by disordered passion, chasing sex and gratification which would never bring forth true and abiding love.  He saw us, distracted by shiny baubles and devices which steal our time in vapid pursuits, until our lives and strength is spent in the cushions of a couch before glittering screens. He saw us, pursuing education in the vain theories of godless men, until our intellect was devoid of reason and wisdom alike.  He saw us, trying to deify ourselves and everything around us, while losing our fellowship with the only true and saving God.  There, on the road into Jerusalem, He saw you and me.

And yet, the Prophet says, “Fear not, daughter of Zion!  Your King comes to you!”  He has not come to destroy you, but to save you.  For you, He entered the den of thieves and murders who controlled the city of Jerusalem.  For you, He endured the vapid praise of the mob.  For you, He endured to false accusations of the religious leaders.  For you, He bore the abandonment of His friends.  For you, He was handed over by His own people to the brutality of the pagan rulers.  For you, He suffered everything the Romans and the Jews could impose upon Him.  For you, He was nailed to a wooden cross.  For you, He suffered death, descended into hell, and rose again the third day.  For you, He bore the judgment you have earned in your evil heart, by your bloody hands, and your wicked mouth.  For you He has suffered all, that in Him you might not perish, but have forgiveness and eternal life in Him forever.

See your King come to you today, having won your redemption, and offering it to you as a free gift of His love and grace.  Hear Him speak His Word of reconciliation to you, that you might know His stripes have healed you, and His Blood has set you free.  Hear His Spirit call to you through His Word, that you might turn from the judgment which must surely come upon the unrepentant evil of the fickle mob, the self-righteous Pharisees, and the brutal pagans.  Hear Him call to you, that you might believe, and live in Him forever, forgiven and free.  Behold your King, your Savior, comes to you, that you might abide in His life and peace forever.  Hear Him.  Amen.