Hosanna to the Son of David!

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. Matthew 21:1-9

“And the multitudes that went before Him, and that followed, cried, saying, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast led Thy dear Son + Jesus Christ through suffering and death to Thine eternal glory, and hast exalted Him at Thy right hand to be Lord of lords and King of kings: we beseech Thee, grant us Thy good Spirit, that with willing hearts we may receive Him as our King, and follow His example of true humility, that, being made perfect through sufferings, we may enter into eternal glory; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, the Prophet Moses had prayed to the Lord God that He would raise up in his stead a man just like him to lead the people of Israel. He had prayed that a prophet like him would be raised up. Joshua succeeded Moses, and many people at that time believed that Joshua was the man that the Lord God had promised to send in the place of Moses. It was easy to believe. He led Israel into the Promised Land. He led the people of the Lord God in accordance with His Word. His name even meant “Savior” just like our Lord’s Name does. The name + “Jesus” means “Savior.” So, it was not hard for the people of Israel to believe that the promise made by the Lord God was fulfilled almost immediately.

This was the pattern from of old. Indeed, Eve, the mother of all the living, believed that Cain, her firstborn son, was the fulfillment of the promise given to her and Adam in the Garden of Eden, of a man who would crush the head of the serpent. They even named him Cain, which means “to get,” for as she said, “I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah.” She believed him to be the promised Messiah. Obviously, he was not, having murdered faithful Abel, his brother. But this is the expectation of the faithful, they believe that the Lord God will fulfill His promises almost immediately. Such was the case also at our Lord’s Ascension into heaven. The Lord + Jesus had told His Apostles that He would return after He took His throne on the right hand of the heavenly Father. They also thought this would happen almost immediately, for they stood looking up into heaven. They must have been doing it for so long that an angel had to appear and tell them that now was not the time.

This is also the case with the crowds that welcomed our Lord + Jesus triumphantly into Jerusalem. They cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” These are the words taken from Psalm 118, the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses. The people of Israel understood that that psalm was about the Messiah. They understood that this Man + Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah. They believed that His arrival into Jerusalem during the Feast of the Passover would usher in the time of the Messiah; that He would take His place upon the throne of His father King David, and rule over them, and destroy all their earthly enemies, even the ones which currently occupied their city, the Romans.

This is also why the scribes and Pharisees, and the Sadducees and chief priests, refused Him as their Messiah. They did not understand, nor believe that some carpenter’s Son from the backwater town of Nazareth could defeat their earthly enemies. And in truth, their unbelief was even deeper, as we shall see in the Passion Gospels which we will be hearing this week. Just as we heard in the Passion Gospel from the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew that after His death, they went to Pilate to make sure that no one could get into His tomb. They knew He was the Messiah; they knew He was the Son of the Lord God, for in His trial the witnesses talked about the Lord + Jesus saying that He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. They understood this was talking about His Body, for they tell Pilate that this is what the Lord + Jesus said, that He would rise again on the third day. This makes their unbelief that the more tragic.

Many people understood that this Man + Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah, the Prophet promised by Moses, the Man that was given them by the help of Jehovah. His Name, like Joshua, meant “Savior.” He was the One Who would save them. This is why they cry out with those very words. They shout, “Hosanna!” This means “Save now!” They are crying to the Lord + Jesus to save them now, to take His seat upon His father David’s throne. They wanted Him to rule now; to save them now. But this was not what our Lord + Jesus came into Jerusalem to do. 

He did come to “save now,” but His salvation was not what the people expected. It would not happen the way they expected it to happen. Even His own Apostles did not understand this at this time, as the Passion Gospels clearly point out. They did not fully understand until after His death and resurrection. Our Lord + Jesus came not to establish an earthly kingdom, but an eternal and heavenly Kingdom. For our true enemies, our true oppression, is not from other men, nor from other nations and kingdoms. Our true enemies are our spiritual enemies, the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. These are the enemies the persecute and oppress us daily and often.

It is easy for the impenitent to ignore these enemies. It is easy for them to blame their daily afflictions and oppressions on this or that person, or group of people. “These people are the reason why my life is horrible,” they will say. They do not have a sense of the greater evil that surrounds them. As Luther would say, if we understood how many slings and arrows are aimed at our head every hour of every day, we would cling in hope and faith to the Lord + Jesus and His salvation from them with all our heart. For He is the only means of salvation from these enemies. We cannot defeat the devil, the world, or our sinful flesh. We have the example of our own experience to show us this. We fall into temptation all the time. We are crushed by sin all the time.

This is why we look for a Savior outside of ourselves. This is why we look to the Lord + Jesus as our true and only Savior. He is the Christ! He is the long-promised Messiah. He is the Anointed One of the Lord, as we shall hear more about tomorrow. This is why the Church—why we—sing the same song that the people of Jerusalem are singing today in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew every Divine Service. In the Sanctus we sing the words of Psalm 118. We declare with the people of Jerusalem that our Lord + Jesus would save us now. We cry out in the words of the Sanctus that our Lord + Jesus would take His seat upon the throne of His father David, and He would be our Lord and King.

He does that very thing when He comes to us in His Body and Blood given in bread and wine. He rode upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass into Jerusalem. He rides into Jerusalem on a lowly beast. He comes to us in the Blessed Supper in the simple and humble and lowly forms of bread and wine. And by these means He gives us a foretaste of heaven. He gives us the forgiveness of our sins, which open to us the gates of heaven. His rule and Kingdom come to us in this meal. And this is only a foretaste of what it will be like for us in heaven. We carry our palm branches today, in remembrance of the crowds of Jerusalem who did it in honor of our Lord + Jesus many centuries ago. But unlike them, we do not look to our Lord + Jesus to establish an earthly kingdom, but rather, we look to our Lord + Jesus to bring us to the eternal Kingdom in heaven that He has already established through His suffering and death upon the tree of the holy cross.

 This is why we need to understand that when we sing the Sanctus here in this place, here on this earth, eternal and spiritual things are taking place in heaven. In the first part of the Sanctus, from Isaiah six, we join our voices to the song of the angels before the throne of the Lord God. We see the vision of heaven that the Prophet Isaiah saw of the Lord God on His eternal throne. And then when we sing in the Sanctus the words from the Gospel for today, the scene—the vision—shifts from the Old Testament Lord God to the Lord + Jesus sitting upon His throne. But He is not just sitting there a far off where we cannot reach Him, but He is coming to us. Indeed, my dear friends, the whole of heaven comes to us here in this place, and join us when we eat and drink this meal of our Lord’s grace and mercy. We are not alone here at this altar. It is not just a few people gathering at this altar, but the whole multitude of heaven surrounds us here at this altar as we kneel before our Lord + Jesus, and receive from Him His true and substantial Body and Blood given in bread and wine.

For this reason, we should bring our palm branches to this altar, as we greet our Lord + Jesus who comes to us triumphantly in bread and wine. For just as the crowds of Jerusalem received their Lord with cries of “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and with palm branches laid before Him. We also cry out “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and receive from Him the salvation that He won for us upon the tree of the holy cross. And unlike the people of Jerusalem, who believed that with Lord’s arrival into Jerusalem would usher in an earthly kingdom of His rule and reign, we understand, and believe, that our Lord + Jesus has come to establish an eternal and spiritual Kingdom in heaven. We are a part of that Kingdom whenever we come to this altar and receive our Lord’s Body and Blood in bread and wine. Indeed, my dear friends, we rejoice that we receive from our Lord forgiveness, life, and salvation, but we also know that these are only shadows, and a foretaste of what is to come.

For our Lord + Jesus comes into Jerusalem today at the cry of “Hosanna to the Son of David” not to establish an earthly kingdom, not to immediately take His seat upon the throne of His father David, but He comes to offer up His innocent life as a ransom for poor, miserable sinners, like us. He comes to take His place upon the throne of the holy cross, from which He will defeat all of our true enemies. He will defeat the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh by His death. For by His death, and His resurrection, these enemies can no longer accuse us of transgression. For our Lord + Jesus has paid the penalty of our transgressions, so that we may go free. 

For this He is worthy of our praise. He is worthy for us to raise our palm branches and wave them before the Lord. For He has come triumphantly to us, and has won for us an eternal Kingdom. He is the Victor over sin and death, so that we now have life and immortality. His Name is the name above every other name, and at His Name we should bend the knee. At His Name—Jesus—we should bow our heads and given Him the honor due. For our Lord + Jesus—our Savior—has come and saved us now from sin and death. They can no longer harm us. And when our earthly life is over, we will join Him and all the saints and angels in heaven, and sing His praise forevermore. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!