Although you are a sheep of the Good Shepherd, and you abide by His grace in His green pastures, on this day He would have you see yourself in that donkey, in that colt, the foal of a donkey.
Without any rider, you would seem to be free, no one to ride you, no one to drive you, no one to sit on you. But still you are not free, for you are tied up and owned by other lords. Meanwhile, you have been — and you still remain — unused and useless, unclothed, unbridled, and unwanted. So, you’re not really free at all, and left to yourself you never would be. Nor are you at peace.
But now Christ Jesus comes and sends His disciples to release you from your bonds, to set you free from your captivity, to clothe and cover you with the garments of His own beloved disciples, and finally to set the Lord Christ Himself upon you, to lay Him upon your heart, soul, mind, and body by His Word — not to be a burden upon you, but that He should thus become your Lord and King.
Truth be told, this one Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, has become your Donkey. As He is the Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep, so is He the Master who becomes your Beast of Burden and carries all your weight. He bears all of your guilt, all of your sins, and all of your shame in His Body to the Cross. And He bears you, also, in Himself, through death into Life.
In His descending, you are raised up. He goes up to Jerusalem, yes, because He offers Himself to the Father as the Sacrifice of Atonement for the sins of the world. But so does He come down from the Mount of Olives, anointed by the Holy Spirit for the sake of mercy, in order to give you Life.
The Law accuses you, it points its finger at you and condemns you; it would throw the book at you. The Law even rebukes you for daring to worship this Lord Jesus Christ, as the Pharisees rebuked the disciples for their worship and praise of the One on His way to the Cross. Nevertheless, He has come to establish His righteousness for you, and to save you by His grace. He comes, not to hold your sins against you, but to remove the deadweight of your sins, to give you His peace, and to grant you rest in the midst of His Jerusalem. So, He gladly receives both you and your praise.
Your dear Lord Jesus Christ does not condemn you for your sins. He does not accuse you. He does not rebuke you for your shortcomings. And He does not cast you away from His presence, but instead He calls you to Himself. He does not reject you when you are brought to Him, but He rather calls you to rejoice in His Salvation, as surely as He clothes you with His Righteousness.
As the Holy Scriptures testify, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And as there is now Peace in heaven — Peace in the heart of God the Father toward you and all sinners — so is there now Peace on earth in the preaching of the Gospel, in the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
It is by that preaching that He now calls you to be reconciled to Him, to be at peace with Him. For He would convert your stony, idolatrous heart into a heart of flesh, that you should rightly fear, love, and trust Him as your true God in the Flesh. Rest yourself in His Peace, and so be at peace with Him; and in such peace, love and serve your neighbor in his or her body and life.
Such love and peace in your body and life — in your daily words and actions, in your dealings with the sinners and the brothers and sisters and fellow disciples all around you — such love and peace are all that is lacking in your faith as a disciple, as St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians.
To be sure, even in your weakness, even in your frailty and daily falling short, your faith lays hold of Christ Jesus and His Righteousness, in which there is no lack but perfect life and light and love, both now and forever. All of that is fully yours, as Christ is fully yours, because He gives Himself to you. He does it all by His grace. It is His work, not yours, and there is nothing lacking in that.
So, again, be at peace with Him, as He is most certainly at peace with you. So also do I rejoice and give thanks for your faith and life in Christ Jesus, exemplified by the fact that you are here today.
But in your flesh, in your heart, mind, and spirit, in what you say and what you do, it remains the case that your faith in Christ has not fully turned in love toward God and toward your neighbor.
Repent, therefore. Do not remain tied up and still attached to your old lords and masters, but live now in the freedom of Christ Jesus, that you may increase and abound in love for one another. Do not avoid your brothers and sisters, but seek them out in mercy. Do not wait for them to ask you for help, but look for ways that you may love and serve them, just as Christ has come to help you in your weakness and fear, when you did not know Him nor even how to call upon His Name.
Do not speak ill of your neighbor, whether to his face or behind his back. And do not do anything to hurt or harm your neighbor, not in his body, not in his family, not in his house, nor in his honor. Let all your words be gracious, and let all of your dealings with your neighbor be kind and good.
Love freely, in faith, and not as though you were under a whip or goaded by a prod. Have no fear of punishment. You shall not die, but live. Rather, rejoice in the King who comes to you in peace, who reigns over you in love from His Cross, and so also bear His Cross in love for your neighbor.
As Jesus Christ has become your gracious Lord and King, as He has borne all your burdens in His Body, and as He has set you free from sin and death, so now bear Him in your body and life.
You be the colt that carries Him. Be a Christian. Let your tongue and mouth be bridled, let your hands and feet be guided, and let your flesh be disciplined by this one Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him be the Lord who rides you through death into life. And let your outer garments be stripped away and placed on the road to be trod beneath His feet on the Way of the Cross; so that you may be clothed with a new vesture, with His righteousness and purity and with the holiness of His Love.
Has He not named you with His Name — the Name of the Lord your God — in Holy Baptism?
And has He not signed you, also in your body and your flesh, on your forehead and your heart, with the sign of His holy Cross?
And yet, it is not you, the servant, the donkey, but Him, the Christ, the Lord your God, who first of all bears the burden of the Cross for you, and so looses you from the bondage of sin and death. If you now bear Christ Jesus and His Cross, it is only because He has already borne you and yours.
So it is that you are born again to a new and living hope. No longer the foal of a donkey, you are a son of God, a daughter of Jerusalem. You dwell in safety, and you shall be saved, because Christ the Lord has made Righteousness and Peace for you. That is your freedom, and that is your faith.
And see here, there is yet another donkey now at hand, who bears your King to you, who comes in the Name of the Lord, having salvation for you. As He has sent His disciples to make a disciple of you — to forgive you in His Name, to baptize you and catechize you in love, to fill up whatever is lacking in you with His Word and Holy Spirit, and with His grace, mercy, and peace — so does He continue to send His called and ordained servants before His face to prepare this Upper Room of His Church, this House of the Lord, for the true Passover Feast of His Body and His Blood.
To that end, the Lord has need of bread and wine. For these are the colt that He now rides upon, that by these earthly means He should enter His Jerusalem in mercy, wherein He gives His Body for you to eat, and He pours out His holy and precious Blood for the forgiveness of all your sins.
Here He has need of you, as well. Not that you should serve Him, as though He needed your help, but that He should serve you with all the authority of His Atoning Sacrifice and with all the power of His indestructible Life. For He would be your one true King of Righteousness and Peace. He comes, not to enslave you, but that you should live with Him in His Kingdom, now and forever.
He is a greater and more faithful King than even great King David, a man after God’s own heart. And He is a better and far wiser Son than even Solomon, the king of peace. For Christ Jesus is Himself your Righteousness and Holiness. He is Himself your Safety, Peace, and Sabbath Rest. And in His Body, crucified and risen from the dead, you behold the wide-open heart of God.
That is why we shout aloud and cry out with great joy. And that is why we sing of Peace on earth as it is in heaven. For “blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.” From the House of the Lord we bless His Holy Name and worship Him with thanks and praise. Hosanna in the highest!
And happy are you, who know this festal shout on earth, right here and now — and who shall know it hereafter in the Resurrection, in that high and holy City of God, forever and forevermore.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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