Title: Christ the King Comes for You!
Text: Matt. 21:1-11
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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.”
The Advent season is upon us! The time of Christ’s coming is near!
Surprise and wonder and stirring are all good descriptions of the anticipation that accompany us all as we prepare for the coming of the Christ child. With the beginning of Advent the focus is on the baby Jesus as you and I together watch, for this long expected Messiah.
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to the Daughter's of Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
The coming of Jesus into the city was prophesied by Zechariah the prophet and was now being fulfilled. Some in the city wondered who this is. That Jesus came in humbly, on the colt the foal of a donkey and not as the Messianic King who would come to rule this earthly kingdom was a different entrance than most expected.
Though He was welcomed with; “Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
As Jesus traveled over the cloaks and palm branches that had been spread on the road in honor of his arrival, how quickly this joy would turn to despair and doubt and hatred for this humble man who came as the baby king to reconcile and restore the relationship between God and man.
Anticipating the “Holidays” as it is called in the world can bring grief for many. Shopping and buying gifts for those we love can become less loving and more stressful and you may find yourself being led away from the manger … or even walking and running away of your own accord.
What you seek, at this time of year, may be different than what the Lord desires you to receive.
Hope in the holidays may blind you of the hope of the Christ child and the true gift his coming brings.
It may be the good intentions of relatives, friends, and coworkers, gift buying, holiday hours and advertising or it may be sadness in the hope for the holidays that never comes … or a family divided by divorce or simply broken in grief.
In this broken world death can be very close and life a precious gift.
We lost dear members Ruth Dow and Rose Skinner this year so the Christmas season will be different for Charlie Dow at the loss of his wife and for Mark Bunarek at the loss of his mother.
Some lost friends and others relatives like the recent death in a work accident for Diego Garcia the husband of Bob and Pat Poe’s niece. Death can invade our lives and bring hurt whether close or distant and leave us with a sense of profound loss.
Other families this year shared profound joy at the births of Timothy VanDeWater and Jackson Tkac. New life and new birth celebrated in a world that is filled with brokenness and sorrow. Though joy comes, death remains waiting in the shadows for its next victim.
Where death was a certainty in this life … we see a child, we see hope, and newness of life.
In the midst of death, despair and all that the world can bring upon you there is hope because:
The blessed Jesus, the Christ child and his coming, is your salvation!
Hope is not a blind hope but a hope understood and reasoned in faith. It is a hope from God’s own hands given as a promise in his word and brought to life by the Holy Spirit through the word proclaimed and sacraments given and received.
Life from the death of sin, is life not rekindled but … life restored, born from above, born from death itself as we all have been born dead in trespass and sin. (Eph. 2:1)
But Paul comforts us in his words to the Romans from this past weekend:
11 Besides this you know the time … that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
The hope for you and me is the anticipation of the child. But not just any child … for this child is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ himself! This hope in Him is not something you seek out, look for or find but it is a hope given from God to a lost world covered in sin by the joyful coming of a babe … in a manger.
Today we watch … knowing that salvation has come in the one who entered into the joyful celebration and triumphant entry into Jerusalem and also that He came as the babe … foretold of old and received in the manger stable because … there was no room ...
Christ has made room … for you.
He has made room also for all the cares and trials that consume you. Everything that brings sadness He carries for you so you can see the joy in the simple things of life, a kind word, thanks given, a need met and hope for life forever in him.
The blessed Christ child and his coming is your salvation.
Christ the King Comes for You!
Christ has been promised and has come and will come again. The truth is evident by faith given in this blessed joy and eternal hope. You have this joy given in Christ and as you watch for His coming this Christmas remember that Christ has brought you from death to life. You were redeemed from the spiritual death given in birth and have been promised a place with Christ forever.
Watch … and see by the working of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ do all that He has promised.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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