There are two Gospel readings for this week so I am providing two options for you.
Matthew 21:1-11
1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And 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!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Do you recognize those words which the people in Jerusalem were singing when Jesus rode in on that donkey? They should be familiar to many of us. They are the final words of a song sung in many churches just before we partake of the sacrament. It is called the Sanctus. Jesus is coming to us in that meal we call the Lord’s Supper. He said, “Take and eat, this is my body.” Lutherans don’t hear those words metaphorically. Jesus meant what he said and we believe that the bread, in a way we cannot understand, really is his body. That chalice holds far more than wine, it contains the very universe as Jesus’ blood was poured into it.
There is something else happening that first Palm Sunday, it is in the very name. The people all have palm fronds in their hands. The ancient near east was regularly the scene of conquering armies. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Alexander the Great, and then the Romans all swept through and conquered this part of the world. Cities could either resist or submit. Resistance often meant great suffering and might not work. Often cities simply submitted, recognized the new king in town, and readily became part of the new empire.
When that happened, the people would come out and greet the new ruler. This happened frequently when Alexander was sweeping through the tottering Persian empire. When Alexander drew near with this army, the people would come out with palm fronds in their hands, instead of weapons. They often placed their most valuable people in the front, their children, The palm frond became a way that people recognized the rule and authority of the new king. We do that as well this Advent season. Jesus is our king. We welcome his gentle and kind rule and, through repentance and reform of our lives, seek to live under him in his benevolent kingdom. What will you do this day to be a citizen of his kingdom? What kindness will you do, what act of generosity, gentleness, peacemaking, or love will mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified?
Friday of Advent 1 – Matthew 24:36-44
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
My father used to serve on a Synodical board when I was a child which meant he frequently flew from our home in Nebraska to St. Louis. One day he came home from the airport with a strange story. This was in northeastern Nebraska, so the airport was tiny; it only had one gate I think, probably two or three flights per day. As he had been flying in, he had struck up a conversation with the young man who sat beside him. He learned that this man lived on one of the nearby Native American reservations which dot that part of the state.
They got off the plane, retrieved their luggage and Dad noticed the young man looking around but not finding someone. He inquired if the fellow had a way home. “Yeah, my father is supposed to pick me up,” he said. “But that might be tonight, it could be tomorrow, or it could be next week. I will probably have to thumb a ride home.” My own dad was stunned. The man’s home was not that far out of the way for him, so he brought him home. On the way the young man explained that time meant something very different in his culture and sometimes the two cultures did not mesh well. His father had not forgotten him, but his father did not read clocks the same way that my father did. Jesus speaks today of our waiting and God’s time. Apparently, God does not read clocks the same way we do either. Even the Son doesn’t know when this whole end of the world thing is going to happen. It reminds me of this young man whose father might show up “tonight, tomorrow, or next week.” Like Native American time reckoning, it will likely be a time which He thinks is just right, even if my clock-watching self is pulling my hair out about the timing. I must trust Him on this one. But that is OK. He has proven Himself to be quite trustworthy. It is hard be patient and wait when we do not know exactly how long. Jesus tells us to pay attention to what is before us. If you read the next passage in Matthew’s Gospel, it is about a servant who is praised when the Master comes and finds him doing his job.