Matthew 21:1-11
Once again the church year begins anew with the season of Advent, which simply means “coming”. Of course, Christ is the one that is coming. We anticipate the celebration of his birth – Christmas is coming. We anticipate his second coming in glory on the Last Day. And today, a Gospel reading about Jesus coming in another way – coming into the city of Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, to the great adulation of the crowds. They greet him with Hosannas and the moniker “Son of David”. But this coming is humble and for not for purposes of conquering, but of dying. He comes as Messiah, yes, but what does that mean?
One of the blessings of the Advent season is that it sinks us a little deeper into the Old Testament. We focus a little bit more, it seems, on the longing of the ancient people of God for their salvation to appear. Their many years of waiting in faith for the promises of God to be fulfilled. We focus, especially, then, on prophecy. The first advent wreath candle is the “prophecy” candle. Even our Gospel reading today, the Palm Sunday account, centers around the fulfillment of prophecy. And it concludes with a comment about Jesus as being himself a prophet.
A prophet – what exactly do we mean when we say that? We have the 4 major prophets – Isaiah, Jeremeiah, Ezekiel and Daniel – and then the 12 minor prophets of the Old Testament. But what did they have in common? Why group them together? And then of course, there’s John the Baptist, considered the last of the Old Testament prophets, and a transition figure who points us to Jesus. How does he fit in?
Over the years, as I have informally surveyed people, the most common explanation I hear is that a prophet is “one who tells the future”. And that is often the case. It’s at least part of the answer. If we look at the examples of Scripture, we see the prophets make predictions that come true, time and time again. In fact that is the determinative test of a false prophet – does his prediction come true? Deuteronomy 18:22 – “when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
But that doesn’t tell the whole story of what a prophet is or was. Just as important as his future prediction, the prophet was a spokesman or mouthpiece for the LORD in his present context. The prophet was a representative who brought a word from God himself. And as we know, the Word of the Lord endures forever, and does not change. So is it a surprise that the prophets spoke both words of Law and Gospel?
Some of the harshest condemnations of the Law in the entire bible come from the oracles of the prophets. Warnings of judgment and destruction upon unfaithful people. This nation or that nation will be destroyed. The prophets railed against abuse of the poor by the rich, failure to trust in God’s word, and perhaps most of all the idolatry of the people who worshiped other gods. They even spoke powerfully by their actions, living object lessons of reproach – like when Hosea married a prostitute to teach the Israelites about their spiritual adultery against Yahweh.
This harsh word of the prophet has led some to speak of a harsh word of judgment as a “prophetic word of rebuke”, and to imagine such fire-and-brimstone preachers as being akin to an Old Testament figure. And indeed, sometimes God sent the prophets with a word of condemnation, or a call to repentance that he knew would be ignored. But as he told Ezekiel, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
Friends, this kind of prophetic word is needed today, also. For the law still stands with all of its condemnations for sin. And while the fashionable sins of our day may be different, the church still speaks the prophetic word of law that calls everyone to account. There is no difference. All have sinned. And that means that first of all we must humbly receive that prophetic word of law ourselves. According to our sins, we deserve every one of the prophet’s condemnations and more. We break all the commandments too. We don’t love God or our neighbor as we should. May we never rest on a high horse of self-righteousness that thinks the prophet’s warning is only for some other sinner over there or out there, and not also for the sinner right here.
But the prophets also spoke beautiful and comforting words of hope, yes even in the Old Testament. The spoke of the lovingkindness of God for his people. His mercy. His promises to restore them to an everlasting inheritance. And all of these promises are rooted in and focused on the one who was to come. The seed of the woman that would crush the serpent’s head. The offspring of Abraham that would bless the nations. The prophet like Moses who would lead his people out of bondage to sin. The greater high priest than Aaron. And the Son of David that would also be David’s Lord.
He would be born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem. He would be a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief. He would be stricken, smitten and afflicted. But by his stripes, we would be healed. While it seemed that his God had forsaken him, yet he would not let this Holy One see decay. And so he would rise. And with him all the dry bones of Israel, his people. And with them, all the nations would come and pay tribute, and in a new covenant, God would remember their sins no more.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.
You see some of this prophetic comfort in our reading from Isaiah today:
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples,
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:4)
And then there came Jesus. The ultimate fulfiller of prophecy. So often that the Gospel writers take pains to point out, “This was to fulfill what was written” as Jesus fulfills Zechariah 9:9 by coming to Jerusalem riding a donkey. His whole life Jesus was quite busy fulfilling prophecies. From his nativity to his public ministry, healing, curing the deaf, the lame, raising the dead and preaching good news to the poor. In his betrayal and suffering and death. Even down to little details like, “in order that the scriptures might be fulfilled, Jesus said, ‘I thirst’”. His burial with the rich in a borrowed tomb was foretold. And his glorious resurrection as well – the sign of Jonah – restored from the abyss of death on the third day.
And just as the prophet’s condemnations are never far from us in our sin, so too are the wonderful and comforting promises of the Christ. So too are all of the works and words of Jesus which he did and said for you and me. For Jesus is the prophet of all prophets, the one who brings the message of the Father to the world – that God, in Christ, loved the word, and that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him would not perish have eternal life.
He surely is a prophet – he knows the future – he tells them where to find the donkey. He also knows what waits for him in Jerusalem – as he had told his disciples, the Son of Man will be betrayed, handed over, they will crucify him and on the third day he will rise from the dead. Jesus tells us the future also when he talks about his return in glory, coming in the clouds with his angels to judge the living and the dead. He goes to prepare a place for us, and will return to bring us to that place in his Father’s house. In the meantime, he promises to be with us always, even to the end of the age. And so he is.
But his message is also one of present comfort. We can echo that “Hosanna” that means “Save us NOW”, because his salvation is always present. His forgiveness today is just as sure. His word of pardon just as real. There IS no condemnation NOW for those who are in Christ. He brings the word of God that blesses us. That word connected with water placed upon us in baptism is an every-day answer to our prayers of “hosanna”. And when he is among us in the bread and wine at his altar, we rejoice in his presence and depart in his peace.
Jesus is indeed the “Prophet”. But Jesus is not just the messenger, he is also the message. He is the very embodiment of God’s salvation. He fulfilled all the prophets’ expectations by his long-awaited birth in Bethlehem. He fulfilled the prophets’ words by his triumphal entry to Jerusalem, riding on a donkey. And he will fulfill all his own prophetic promises as he continues to forgive sinners, bestow his gifts, and when he comes again in glory riding not a donkey, but the very clouds.
Ours is but to hear the words of law, repent, believe the words of Gospel and have life. Ours is to echo the hosannas to the Son of David, who came to save, who comes to save us now, and will come again, our great king, our high priest, and the prophet of God, Jesus Christ.
A blessed Advent season to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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