"Bound for Glory"
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Text: Luke 19:28-40
Theme: “Bound for Glory”
Date: December 3, 2006
Day: First Sunday in Advent
The text for our consideration is taken from the Gospel read earlier. We call your devout Christian attention to these words of God:
As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” [1] This is our text.
Dear Friends in Christ: I bring you greetings from God our Father who is so kind to you and who gives you peace through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen!
If you didn’t know better, you might think we’ve gone on fast-forward today and jumped ahead to Palm Sunday. Here it’s just the First Sunday in Advent; we haven’t even trimmed our Christmas trees yet or baked any cookies. Yet we seem to have skipped right over baby Jesus and the manger and the Wise Men and gone directly to the streets of Jerusalem, thirty-three years later, to lay palm branches on the road and watch Jesus ride past on his way to die. Did we miss something here?
No, there’s no mistake. The Church this First Sunday in Advent directs her attention to the final chapter in the saga of salvation. And that’s as it should be, for crib and cross go together. You can’t have one without the other. Don’t take my word for it; the angel said it first to the shepherds: “Good news. . . . Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10–11, emphasis added). This astounding little bundle of joy was born to save, in other words, to die, to lay down his life in payment for the sins of all the world.
Likewise, there is no salvation apart from God in the flesh. It was no heavenly principle or abstract love that was put to death for our offenses and raised again for our justification, but a real man, with flesh and blood like ours. In order to remove the just penalty for our sin, he first took on a human body, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Crib and cross, cross and crib: like bookends, they enclose the whole story of God’s salvation in his incarnate Son. Today, before we rehearse that magnificent story all over again in this new Church Year, we peek ahead to the final scene.
First, let’s be perfectly clear: Jesus knew where He was going. He told His disciples they were going to Jerusalem, where He would be delivered to the Gentiles to endure a shameful death (Luke 18:31–32). Right before His triumphal entry, Jesus was in Jericho. There, He healed the blind and brought salvation to Zacchaeus, the notorious sinner (Luke 18:35–43; 19:1–10).
Then He staged His dramatic entrance into Jerusalem. He directed His disciples how to find a colt that no one had ever ridden upon (vv 29–31). They were to untie it and bring it to Jesus. If anyone asked, they were to say: “The Lord has need of it” (v 31). The disciples did what they were told and said what they were to say (vv 32–34). So, Jesus fulfilled what had been prophesied of the promised Messiah (Genesis 49:11; Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”).
So Jesus was both messianic King, “riding on a colt” and at the same time, God as He was rightly called “Lord” by the crowd in our text (v 31). Yet he entered under cover of humility.
Yes, Jesus knew what He was doing, alright. Yet, the disciples could not grasp why He would be mocked and killed and raised (Luke 18:34).
b. Jesus insisted on fulfilling his Father’s will.
(1) He knew he must suffer, die, and be raised (9:22).
(2) He knew he was to be the sacrifice for sin (24:46–47).
c. In his death, he loosed the whole world from bondage to sin (2 Cor 5:21).
Jesus Was Determined to Die Our Death in Order to Give Us Peace.
3. Jesus was bound for glory.
a. His disciples had the wrong idea about his kingdom.
(1) They thought it was going to appear immediately (v 11).
(2) Jesus taught them that the final glory awaited his return (parable of ten minas, vv 12–27).
b. The road to glory passes through the cross.
(1) This was Jesus’ path.
(2) This is the path for every Christian (Acts 14:22).
c. Adoring crowds acclaimed Jesus as “the King who comes in the name of the Lord” (v 38).
d. By week’s end, their King would be killed, the victim of their sin.
4. Jesus breaks the bonds of sin and brings peace to earth and heaven.
a. He came down from heaven to join God to earth. He brought peace on earth by the blood of his cross (2:14).
b. He returned to heaven to join man to God. He brought peace to heaven in the presence of God (v 38b).
c. He is present through his Word to release sinners from their sin (Jn 8:34–36).
5. Jesus comes among us and gives us peace.
a. He comes where his Gospel is preached and his Sacraments administered.
b. He comes to untie us from the burden of our sins.
c. He comes to join heaven to earth and earth to heaven.
(1) He brings God’s peace down to you on earth.
(2) He makes peace for you before God up in heaven.
d. We acclaim Jesus, who comes in the name of the Lord.
(1) We bless his holy name (v 38).
(2) We depart in his peace.
(a) To serve Jesus.
(b) To serve our neighbors in Jesus’ name.
Conclusion: Thanks to Jesus, we, too, are bound for glory. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Amen! And the peace of God, which goes beyond our capacity for thinking, shall hold back our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen!
----
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2001.