“Behold, your king is coming to you, humble….”
So, what sort of Jesus are you expecting this Christmas? When we get through all the hoopla, what sort of Jesus, what sort of Messiah are you wanting to see this Christmas, this coming year? Are you wanting a Santa-Jesus who will come with tons of awesome gifts won by death defying feats on shopping on Black Friday? Are you wanting a Reformer Jesus who will lead the glorious revolution and get rid of all the bad things in society? Or maybe even just your own personal Jesus who will cater to your every whim and constantly validate everything you do?
This is why Advent starts with the story of Palm Sunday. In Advent we focus upon the coming of Christ Jesus, and we focused upon Palm Sunday because it is there in the triumphal entry that we are reminded what sort of Jesus, what sort of Messiah we actually have. It’s not the Jesus of our dreams of greed or anger or insecurity. It’s not a Jesus who is going to push people around for us. No, Jesus, your King, comes to you humble. Humble. Meek. Light and Gentle.
Sometimes we can wish that Jesus would just burst into this world like some sort of Divine superhero and just start busting things up and smashing the bad guys and taking us and making us rule and giving us all sorts of power. That’s not Jesus’s goal. He comes not to destroy, not to crush, not to beat up our enemies and give us their stuff, but to win forgiveness so that none of us need to stay crushed and buried in the grave.
Your Jesus is humble for you. He goes quietly to the Cross on Good Friday to win you eternal life, not by being violent but by suffering violence in your place. In a most light and gentle way, Jesus brings about the most astonishing change and revolution in your life through the waters of Holy Baptism, raising you to new life and drowning every sin and wickedness in you. He is the most personal of Saviors, giving you His Body and Blood in His Supper so that you would be forgiven of the times when your selfish whims run amuck, so that you would be given everlasting and eternal salvation in Him. Instead of all the strange things you might want Jesus to be, instead, see your Savior riding into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. There He is, coming to you humble. There He is, coming for your good.
