Palm Sunday (4/10/2022) - Christ the King

Introduction

When the world spirals, how is Christ the king? We can look at Ukraine. The Russians have been pulling back from the capital Kyiv. As they withdraw, the way they treated the civilian population should send us to our knees. Mass graves near Bucha. Civilians mercilessly shot as the Russians retreated. Russians soldiers lacking their own food and other supplies stealing it from civilians. Charges of war crimes against the Russian army. It’s not on the same scale as what happened in World War 2, but it does make you think back to it. Turning on the news, we hear about potential cases before the International Criminal Court. But Ukraine is just the beginning. Which brings us back to, where is God? How is Christ the reigning king when there is so much pain, suffering, injustice, war, poverty across the globe? Is Christ a faltering king, or simply a spiritual king that doesn’t really impact the physical world? Where is God, and how does Christ reign? From questions about the world today, there are also confusing aspects of our passage from Matthew. If this is a triumphal entry, why does Jesus enter on a gentle donkey instead of a strong and sturdy stallion? If this is a triumph, why does Jesus end this week in the garden weeping? If this is the grand entry of Israel’s king, why did the Romans fail to object? Why do they stand back and simply let the people proclaim him as their king? For now.

Going into Holy Week, we are taking a pause from our series in the book of Joshua to look at the events that we celebrate this week. Today we celebrate Jesus’ Triumphant entry on Palm Sunday. This Thursday is Maundy Thursday when we celebrate the last Supper of Jesus with his disciples where Christ institutes communion. Friday is Good Friday where we remember Christ going to the Cross for our sins. But then, Sunday morning, we celebrate the empty tomb and Christ’s resurrection from the dead. But first, today he enters the city in what is called the “Triumphant Entry.” As he enters the city, he comes not as a military general who would cast out the Romans, but as a gentle King. But how is Christ the king? And what does that mean for the world today that seems to be spiraling out of control?

We get some help from our Westminster Longer Catechism in question number 45, which asks, how is Christ a king? The response is that, “as king, Christ calls a people for himself out of the world and gives them officers, laws, and the authority to condemn, by which he visibly governs them. He bestows saving grace on his elect, rewards their obedience, corrects them for their sins, preserves and supports them in all their temptations and suffering, restrains and overcomes all their enemies, and powerfully orders everything for his own glory and their well-being. As king, Christ also executes just retribution against all others who neither know God nor obey the gospel.” So we know that Christ reigns as king. In fact, Holy Week begins with Christ riding into Jerusalem at the Triumphant Entry as a humble king riding on a donkey. But the majority of this passage is not so much about what Jesus does, but the response of the disciples and the crowd in light of who he is and what he does. So bringing this forward to today, what should our response be? What does this mean for us? And, how is Christ king even as we seen headlines that are downright discouraging. I believe that Matthew gives us three responses to the kingship of Christ.

Acknowledge Christ as King

Verses 7-8 tell us that “they brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.” There’s a good chance that this crowd wasn’t welcoming Christ as their Savior or deity, they likely were simply looking for a Messianic ruler who would cast out the Romans in the interest of their own independence. In only a week though, he would offer the crowds and offer us something far greater than a military victory. After all, a military victory would only have succeeded until the next, more powerful empire came in. Instead, Christ offered himself on the Cross, that he would reign eternally in the kingdom of God. Just like with the people who put their coats down in Jesus’ path to make a way for him, our view of God, our understanding of God affects our response to God.

We see this idea in the story of a man who was walking through the forest one day when he found a young eagle who had fallen out of his nest. He took the eagle home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a naturalist passed by the farm and asked why it was that the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved as the chickens, it was no longer an eagle. "Still it has the heart of an eagle," replied the naturalist, "and can surely be taught to fly." He lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the earth. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle though was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. The naturalist took the bird to the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. Stretch forth your wings and fly." But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self and world and jumped down once more for the chicken food. Finally the naturalist took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain. There he held the king of the birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, "You are an eagle. You belong to the sky. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle looked around, back towards the barnyard and up to the sky. Then the naturalist lifted him straight towards the sun and it happened that the eagle began to tremble. Slowly he stretched his wings, and with a triumphant cry, soared away into the heavens. It may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with nostalgia. It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard. But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to lead the life of a chicken.

One of the most fundamental questions of the Christian faith is, “who is Jesus?” Rather than a reigning king, we often attempt to relegate him to be a great guy who died at the hands of a Romans a long, long time ago. Rather than king, we turn him into a nice guy who wants to make sure that a good time is had by all, C.S. Lewis wrote many years ago. But that is not who Christ is. Christ is our king who calls a people to himself rewarding us for obedience, correcting us when we stray, and preserving us when we stumble. If we take nothing else out of Palm Sunday, the foundation part of today is learning, living, and loving Christ as our reigning king. Who he is makes all the difference. (Show picture of “Jesus is my Home Boy tshirt) Is Jesus your home boy or your king? The first response for us today is acknowledging Christ as our reigning king.

Humbly Worship Christ

Stephen Whitney compares this scene from the Gospel of Matthew with the Triumphs of Caesar, which are a series of nine large paintings created by the Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna between 1484 and 1492. The paintings depict a military parade celebrating Julius Caesar's victory over the area of France and Belgium. In the first part, there are trumpeters leading the parade with wagons laden with the spoils of victory. Next up are the gold and silver captured. Third are crowns that had been given to Caesar as a reward for his bravery. Then there are white oxen followed by elephants followed by the man himself, Julius Caesar, triumphant on a chariot embellished with designs, wearing a crown of gold and precious stones, dressed in a purple toga embroidered with gold stars. He holds in his hand a scepter of ivory and a laurel branch symbolizing victory. Riding in the same chariot with him are family members of his. Boys and girls and on either side of him with young men behind him on horses. Following Caesar are those who had served him personally as aids and armor-bearers. At last in the procession is his army. These paintings depict a grand site as Caesar’s victory parade marches into the center of Rome for all of the people to cheer for him and his great victory for the empire. The great leaders of the world like to display their glory by showing people how powerful they are. Just look at what Putin tried to do in Ukraine. Humility is the opposite of pride. Instead of showing others have great you are it is seeing your self under God's authority to accomplish his will so he gets the glory.

Verse 9 says that “the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” The crowds worship and cheer on the one who they believe will be freeing them from the yoke of their Roman occupiers. Instead, they worship the king who would reign forever. William Temple say that “worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose—and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.” What we ascribe worth to is what we worship. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Think of how world events would have been different if the leader of Russia worshipped Christ the King instead of power, pride, and petrol. Looking at what has happened in Ukraine, in a way, it’s the result of misplaced worship and deep pride. The second response for us is to humbly worship Christ the king in spirit and in truth.

Be Stirred Up by Christ

Verses 10-11 tells us that “when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” This event happened around the Passover with possibly a half million Jews in the city to celebrate. The entire city was stirred up when this event happened. That kind of stirred up is something we probably need today. In our country, but also right here within our church and within our heart. We need stirred to do the work of the gospel.

In reflecting on this, one person who used an illustration of a fire in winter. I mean, I don’t know about you, but I hate the cold. In winter, heart is refreshing. In fact, on Netflix you can even binge a fireplace so that it sets the tone as the real heat, as in, heat from the furnace or floor heater, does the real work that the fire represents. For fires that aren’t simply on television, when the fire is about to go out, you can stir it up and find some hot coals or embers underneath the ashes. When the air comes across those embers they come alive again. They stir up and kindle a new feeling of warmth and energy that had been lost. In a similar way, when we get disconnected from people who are hot, who are on fire for Christ, we start looking at our own situations and we don’t believe God can do or will do anything about it. During Covid, many people who had been on fire for God became isolated and their fires became hot coals. In out camp, sometimes we call people who were once on fire for Christ but have cooled off to be the frozen chosen. After all, Ephesians 1:4 tell us that God chose us in him before the foundation of the world. But time, life, and disappointment take us from on fire to embers to freezing. We go from the fire to the coals to out in the cold. But when the crowd celebrated Christ entering into the city, the scriptures tell us that“the whole city was stirred up.” If Christ stirs up an entire city when he enters, he can stir up and rekindle a soul that feel left out in the cold. And how do we do this? The ordinary means of grace. Learning scripture, participating in the sacraments and life of the church, and speaking to God through prayer. Our final response to Christ is to allow him to stir us up the way he stirred up the city of Jerusalem as we participate in the ordinary means of grace.

Conclusion

As we said earlier, “as king, Christ calls a people for himself out of the world and gives them officers, laws, and the authority to condemn, by which he visibly governs them. He bestows saving grace on his elect, rewards their obedience, corrects them for their sins, preserves and supports them in all their temptations and suffering, restrains and overcomes all their enemies, and powerfully orders everything for his own glory and their well-being. As king, Christ also executes just retribution against all others who neither know God nor obey the gospel.” First, we acknowledge Christ as our reigning king. Second, we humbly worship him. Finally, we allow ourselves to be stirred as we participate in the ordinary means of grace.

N.t. Wright writes, “People turn to God, notoriously, when there is something they want very badly. Of course, that’s like finally deciding to learn to use a telephone only when you urgently need to call an ambulance; it would have been sensible to find out how to do it earlier, when it wasn’t so important. But that’s how people are. Church attendance goes up in leaps and bounds when a major crisis strikes – a war, say, or an earthquake. Suddenly everyone wants to ask the big, hard questions. Suddenly everyone wants Jesus, in terms of this story, to ride into the city and become the sort of king they want him to be. Give us peace, now! Pay my bills, and hurry! Save the life of my sick child, and do it right away! Give me a job by this time tomorrow! And – perhaps the most common prayer of all. Help!”

If we want to know Christ and to ask for his help in crisis, we need to first let him reign during peace. So who is Christ in your life? Your savior? Your friend? Your helper? Christ is king. Therefore, let us let go and let him be our reigning king.