Text: Matt 21:1-17
Text (Trouble in the Text)
And as he came into Jerusalem all of the city was shaken saying, “who is this one?”
And the crowd was saying, “this one is the prophet Jesus the one from Nazareth of Galilee!”
Matthew is very clear about what is happening in these two scenes – “these things happened in order that the word spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘say to the daughter of Zion, look, your King comes…’” When Matthew wants to make clear what the scene is about, he quotes the old testament. He does it three times in the text today. Two of them are from the mouth of Jesus. This is the King. More than the King, it is written that ‘My house…”. This is
God coming to his temple. And if that second one might see a little strong, he says it again. The
Chief Priests are irked at the kids shouting Hosanna and Jesus quotes back to the Psalm 8 – the hymnbook of their temple. “The Lord, whose name is majestic in all the earth, made praise for himself from the mouths of babies.” “Do you not hear what they say?” “Yes. Haven’t you read psalm 8?” This is the incarnate God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Who never-the-less comes meekly and for his people. Unlike the long history of King of Kings who arrive Xerxes
300-like with armies for conquest and domination. He is concerned about prayer, instead of arrows to blot out the sun.
And the reactions tell the tale. All Jerusalem was shaken. “Who is this one?” Another King?
Another Lord? Another person claiming royal authority. But this one is a stranger to the people of Judea. He came to his own, but they did not receive him. That is John’s prolog, but it is a theme through-out Matthew. The Magi come from a great distance, but the scribes who know where the Messiah is to be born, couldn’t lift a finger to go the day’s journey. Its two years later

when it crosses Herod’s mind again. It is the Centurion and the Canaanite woman – enemies of the people - who come and beg him for healing for others and trust his word; yet the Judean crowds demand more signs. His mother and brothers come to collect him thinking he is nuts and
Nazareth turns him out. The unnamed woman extravagantly anoints Jesus and she is contrasted to Judas, one with him from the beginning, who betrays. And if you pull in the parallel from
Luke, she is compared to the host who did nothing to welcome Jesus. The king has come!
“Who is this one?”…yawn…or maybe, “How is this one going to shake my life out of how I like it”? Those who should have known, couldn’t be bothered.
But the second reaction has its troubles. “This is the prophet Jesus – the one from Nazareth of
Galilee”. They care. They know something. The problem is that they haven’t heard the message. This King comes humbly. This King house is a house of prayer…for all nations. A king who heals the wounds. Gives sight to the blind and legs to the lame. Yet those parading
Jesus in don’t see such a King. They see a prophet…and probably more importantly our prophet.
This is Jesus – the one from Nazareth in Galilee . They have a partial truth, but it is a truth they are wilfully bending to their desires. Desires that Jesus nowhere encouraged or endored.
Gospel in the Text
Given the all the blindness and crooked walking or no walking, we might ask what hope is there?
It boils down to the phrase, “Behold, your King comes…”
The Kingdom of God comes without our effort. And the Kingdom of God accomplishes its mission.

The Kingdom’s goal is the restoration of sinners. The inviting of those far off to come near to
God.
Regardless of the crowds or the city, the King comes to Jerusalem. Regardless of the disinterested or absent praise – babies cry Hosanna. Regardless of buyers and sellers in the temple – selling salvation – the King grants grace healing the blind and the lame. Regardless of
Chief Priests who don’t know enough or care enough to fulfill the office – the Word proceeds.
God comes to his people. He comes in Spirit and Truth. In Word and Deed. In Word and
Sacrament.
God comes and resides with us, restoring the blind and the lame. Justifying sinners.
Application
I don’t think it is hard to see the same sins rampant today.
We ignore the commands and the statutes of the King or worry at how following Christ will shake our comfortable lives. We hear the Word and try and turn it into a weapon for our
Kingdom. We take Jesus as a prophet, but not God and King. We get irked at the babies and stones that cry out the truth. We admit the King inside the walls of our lives, but not into the temple of our hearts. There He stands, humbly knocking.
God had Jeremiah go into the temple one day and declare these words – “Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offering to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name and say “we are delivered!” – only to go on

doing all these abominations? Has this house…become a den of robbers in your eyes? (Jer 7:8-
11)”
What the Palm Sunday texts proclaim is the same message that Jesus started out with, “Repent, for the Kingdom is near.” The King comes to you. The King is here…with the goal of restoring you…to abide with you.
We can abide in our sins…and abide with them all the way to the judgment. Or we can petition the King for mercy. We can keep up the façade of our own rule…or we can submit to His rule.
We can remain strangers to God…or we can open the door and welcome the savior who comes humbly…who prepares a place for prayer and communion. We can keep our fantasy, whatever it is, or hear the King who comes.
As C.S. Lewis said about a fictional king, “He is not tame, but he is good.”
The Palms are an invitation to hear and see the goodness of your King this Holy Week. Amen.