2 minute read
He Rides!
By Rev. J. Bart Day
“Hosanna,” they chanted. Perhaps it was more like an exuberant acclamation of kingly triumph (All hail the king!) and less like a prayer for their dying world (Grant us salvation!).
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Two crowds were converging on their king .“Hosanna,” they chanted. Those before Him were coming out from Jerusalem to meet Him. Others followed from Bethany having witnessed the new life given to Lazarus.
Pomp, power, prestige, and possessions had always been the way of a king. But this King was different. The preaching of the forgiveness of sins was complete; now He would embody forgiveness in His own suffering, death, resurrection, and glorious ascension. His way would not be the way of the world but the way of God, the true King.
He came not upon the stallion carrying war’s death-bearing king but mounted the donkey bearing the burden of peace. And as true King, He came not to serve Himself but those in the dying world around Him.
As He entered Jerusalem, the Holy City, every eye was fixed on Him who is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, who had come as their Lord. This Son of man they knew.
He came into streets shadowed by sin. He came to hearts strained by suffering, to those groaning under guilt, burdened by the rigid demands of the Law. He came to those who are outcast, plagued by both disease and birth, to those crying out in grief and loss. He came as Lord of the Sabbath, giving rest to all the weary, breaking the prisons’ bars, giving release to the captive.
He came with all eyes fixed upon Him, a myriad confessing the name. Out of the mouths of babes, He perfected praise with all creation echoing. The air was filled with music of flute and drum, pipe and tambourine, filled with petaled fragrance, filled with palms signing victory, the Father’s creation crying out in praise to the creating Word who came in flesh.
He came even to those who would despise and reject Him, to those who would hate and kill him. Caesar and his power surveyed all. The stony flesh of the self-proclaimed savior pointed to an empty promise. From above, Caesar’s minions mused on what was to come. Below, the Messiah reached out to the outcast, to the weeping, to the weary. What is below leads to what is truly above. Once it was the voice of the Father saying, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11 ESV). But with Christ‘s coming, Baptism, temptation, and transfiguration are complete. He came down among His people to lift them up by being lifted upon the cursed tree.
Still He rides. Having traveled from the Father back to the Father, He remains in our midst. Before His ascension, He declared, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 ESV). As once He rode upon the lowly donkey, still He rides into our midst by way of the simply and lowly gifts of Word, water, bread, and wine. In our very midst is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29 ESV), still offering the same forgiveness to those weary by the changes and chances of life.
Together with the body of Christ and the communion of saints, we are drawn down to look upon the Word made flesh who descends to our need. In seeing Him, we see the Savior of the world. We, too, must cry, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” For He comes to us.
Rev. J. Bart Day is associate pastor and headmaster of Memorial Lutheran Church and School in Houston,Texas. You can e-mail Rev. Day at revday@mlchouston.org.
