Palmarum

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Whether we know it or not, every person alive is looking for God. We want to find a source of stability and strength. From birth to death we are engaged in the search for meaning and truth. But every human attempt to discover God apart from divine revelation fails. Look around at our dying world and you will see what happens when we search for God on our own terms. Adam and Eve tried to find a god after their own image. In so doing they exchanged the image of God, which was their birthright, for a birthright of sin and judgment. Ever since that day, we, the children of Adam and Eve, have continued our misguided search for the Divine. Perhaps we hope to find him in the majesty of nature. We may peer through a telescope into the infinite vastness of space. We may even look within ourselves, hoping to find that spark of the divine nature. It is true—God is everywhere. But these are not the places he wants to be found.
In the beauty and majesty of nature we also find catastrophic and unfeeling destruction. There is no comfort here. We need a God who is all powerful but also merciful. In the coldness of space, we discover that our entire world is but an insignificant speck in a cold and impersonal universe. Where can we find a God who is both infinite and loving? And an honest look within our own hearts reveals a corruption without limit or cure. Where can we find a God who is good and also forgiving?
Martin Luther speaks of the hidden God and the revealed God. In speaking this way, Luther is not suggesting that there are two opposing Gods in the universe. There is only one God; but we may encounter him in one of two ways. When we look for God apart from how he has chosen to reveal himself, we find the hidden God. We find the God whose holiness is a devouring flame, the God of just vengeance and righteous anger, the God who destroys the wicked and brings evildoers down in ruin to the grave. This is the image of God that led Martin Luther to cry out, “I know that God is powerful and righteous, terrible and just. But where can I find the God of compassionate mercy and tender forgiveness? Where can I find a gracious God?”
We find the God of grace only where he has chosen to reveal himself. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). Many people don’t like this verse, because it is very narrow and exclusive—but it is the truth. Here is the revelation of the God of mercy, the God of grace, the God of forgiveness. Here and nowhere else. Apart from the god-man Jesus, we will only find the hidden God of wrath and judgment. This is why the hidden God is hidden, because God does not want to be found this way. He does not want to come to us in wrath and judgment. Instead, his desire is to be merciful. He wants to treat us with compassion and forgiveness. Rather than revealing himself in his power and glory, God chooses to come to us in weakness and humility.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden (Zech 9:9). Even though all the power and glory rightly belonged to Jesus, even though he was of the very nature and form of the almighty God, he laid all that aside and made himself nothing. He took the form of a servant, clothed himself in human flesh, and rode into the holy city on a lowly donkey. This is where God wants to be found. This is how has chosen to reveal himself to his people. The suffering servant, come to die for our sins, come to drink the full cup of righteous wrath, come to be the mediator between God and men.
Perhaps this is not the Savior we had imagined. This is not the God we were looking for. Even the disciples expected Jesus to reveal himself in kingly majesty, with a host of angels at his side, trampling down God’s enemies beneath the feet of his mighty stallion. But had Jesus come this way, we would have been the ones trampled, for we were once his enemies. Had God chosen to reveal himself to blazing glory, we would have been consumed before his righteous wrath. Instead, out of love and tender mercy, Christ laid aside his majesty. He hid his power behind a veil of weakness, and came to us in humility. Behold, your king is coming to you! Here is the revelation of God’s mercy and kindness toward us—Christ, mounted on a donkey, riding into Jerusalem to be mocked, scourged, and crucified. Here is grace and forgiveness without measure.
Do not look anywhere else for a gracious God. You will not find him. You will not find a compassionate God in nature. You will not find a loving and personal God in the far reaches of space. You certainly will not find that divine spark of truth and goodness within your own heart. You will find the God of mercy and forgiveness only in the frail humanity of Jesus. Here is where God desires to meet with us. His mercy is revealed only in the weakness of the cross. His compassion is found only in his bloody suffering and death. Here and nowhere else is the God who may be seen and approached without fear. Here is God as he wants to be found by you. Come and receive him.
Even today, two-thousand years after the triumphal entry and Crucifixion, God still hides himself. We do not yet behold him in his glory. Instead we see him today where he has chosen to reveal himself. He is among us in the speaking of his words. He comes to us bodily in the humble form of bread and wine. Wherever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is present with all his grace, mercy, and forgiveness. He is among us even now as one who serves, humble and obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
But the day is coming, when the mask of weakness, behind which God has chosen to hide, shall be removed. Then we shall see our Lord as the disciples once saw him, radiant with glory, brilliant as the shining sun. This is the day that Christ returns with power and judgment, the day that every knee bows and every tongue confesses that he is Lord of heaven and earth. But for you, this will not be a day of terror. For all who have received Christ in his humility will have nothing to fear when he comes in power. We will not be afraid when the veil of our Lord’s glory is stripped away. Instead, we will joyfully confess what we have confessed in life: Here is my Lord and Savior. My God, who revealed himself to me in weak and lowly form, now takes the rightful place upon his throne. To him be the glory and power, forever. Amen.
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