Palmarum—The Humility of Christ: A King Who Deals Gently with His People
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The words we just sang are more than mere poetry. They are a confession of faith in the meek majesty of the One who goes to the cross “without complaint.” A Lamb goes—uncomplaining—forth. This hymn speaks to what the Passion of Our Lord Jesus—seen through the manner of His triumphal entry into Jerusalem—reveals to us: a King who does not rage, retaliate, or resist. Instead, both the Palm Sunday Gospel and the Passion according to St. Matthew show us a King who is humble. Lowly. Gentle. Silent. Willing. “All this I gladly suffer.”
So we return to that prophetic word that began our Palm Sunday procession: Say to the daughter of Zion, “Behold, your king is coming to you, humble.” Your king is coming to you bringing salvation as one who is humble, lowly, gentle, meek. He comes to you as one who is poor, wretched; not arrogant or prideful. This is how our King came to Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. And just a few days later, and for us just a few minutes later in Divine Service this morning, we beheld that King—betrayed, accused, beaten, mocked, crucified. Still lowly. Still gentle.
In our Passion reading this morning, God shows us that Christ’s lowliness isn’t just a matter of optics. It wasn’t just about being seen on a beast of burden as He entered the city to come off as your run-of-the-mill blue collar guy, like politicians trying to convince us that they are just like us because they worked this or that menial job decades ago while they currently rake in millions of dollars. No. Our Lord’s Passion shows us that the lowliness He exhibits in His manner of entry into Jerusalem is a true gentleness and lowliness that He will live out from the heart in how He suffers.
Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” He is betrayed by Judas with a kiss. And our Lord calls Him, “Friend.”
When they laid hands on Jesus, suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place. He is arrested in the night, but resists no one and heals the servant of one of the men that sought to murder Him.
The chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but found no one. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’” And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” But Jesus kept silent. He is falsely accused, but opens not His mouth.
When our Lord told them the truth—that they would see Him sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven—they accused our Lord of blasphemy and said, “He is deserving of death.” Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hands, saying “Prophecy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?” He is spat upon and struck by the crowd—but does not strike back.
When our Lord was sentenced to crucifixion, the soldiers of Pilate took Him and surrounded him. And they stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. When they had twisted a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand. And they bowed the knee before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spat on Him, and took the reed and struck Him on the head. He is mocked, flogged, crowned with thorns—and bears it all.
When our Lord was nailed to the cross with two robbers crucified next to Him, one on the right and another on the left, those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing. All these jeer at Him and spitefully abuse our Lord—and He prays, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.
The Lord Jesus is lowly not only in appearance but in spirit and heart. In the face of betrayal, He does not betray. In the face of mockery, He does not mock. In the face of these injustices, He does not cry out regarding the unfairness of it all. He is lowly. He is meek. He is gentle. He bears the load patiently without insisting on a way that would be more fair or at least more bearable.
The world might look at the Lord’s behavior and say He ought to have been more assertive. That it isn’t good to make yourself a door mat. You have to stand up for yourself. But this is not weakness. This is the Almighty’s restraint. His long-suffering. This is divine strength hidden in meekness. This is the heart of your Savior.
And now you must hold that heart beside your own. You must consider how easily you are inflamed when you sense injustice against yourself. How do you respond to betrayal? Gossip? Mocking or slander? Do you have pity on those who have wronged you or people you care about in the past? Or do you continually drudge past wrongs up in your mind and on your lips for a moment of cathartic, righteous indignation? A thin veneer used as a pretext to continue your binge-breaking of the Eighth Commandment and to revel in the sin of wrath. To exalt yourself by humiliating your neighbor.
What about when life doesn’t turn out the way you would like? How often do you give thanks for what the Lord has given you and for what He has taken away. Is He blessed in both situations, or only when He sends the good? We complain, compare, covet. When we suffer true or imagined wrong, we want to cry out about fairness and question why others seem to have a life that is easier. We long for the perceived ease others have, bemoan the crosses we bear, and envy the peace we think we’re owed. When a Christian brother or sister tries to remind us how much worse we deserve and how good we truly have it, we may say, “Yeah, yeah, I know, blah, blah, blah.” Look at your Lord beaten, bleeding, stripped naked, and nailed to the cross in front of His own blessed mother, and tell me “blah, blah, blah.” Tell me then what you think is so unfair. The Lamb goes uncomplaining forth. We, meanwhile, too often go grumbling forth. The Passion of Christ exposes not only His perfect humility, but our glaring lack of it.
And yet—His gentleness isn’t just exhibited to show us how far we are from His perfection. This same lowly King who bore such cruelty from His enemies—bore it for them to make peace between God and man. He was mocked to redeem those who have mocked others. He was spat on for those who have spat out bitterness. He was struck for those who have struck back in anger. He was silent for those who have failed so often to guard their own tongue. He bore it all without grumbling to win forgiveness of sins for both friend and foe.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Yes, if our Lord showed such lowliness, gentleness, and mercy toward those who betrayed Him, beat Him, scourged Him, mocked Him, and crucified Him—how much more will He be gently and lowly toward you? You who are no longer His enemies, but His beloved baptized children. If He prayed to the Father that such wicked men might be forgiven that treated Him so—how much more will He pray to the Father for you when you beg Him to relieve you of any distress. To save you from your sins and the struggle with sinful desires you endure. How much more will He deal gently with you?
He is betrayed by the prince of the apostles, St. Peter, the rock. And St. Luke tells us that after St. Peter denied our Lord the third time, immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” So Peter went out and wept bitterly. Our Lord is betrayed by even those closest to Him among the Twelve, and His response is only to look at him. And the next time He speaks of Peter and the rest of the Twelve after His resurrection, He calls them His brothers.
The thief that had mocked Him who then repents and begs the Lord to simply remember Him when Christ comes into His kingdom. To this one our Lord says, Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.
Come to this lowly and gentle King. Come with your sins, your anxiety, your weariness, your struggles, your afflictions. Come begging for help in temptation, for peace in grief, for strength in suffering. He did not turn away from those who treated Him so shamefully in His Passion. He will not turn away from you. And He will surely never turn you away. A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench. To each of you this day, your gentle and lowly King says, Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
This lowly King—lifted up on a cross—will one day be lifted up in glory. And you, His redeemed, will be lifted up with Him. In Revelation 7, we see the end of the Passion Road. There stand the saints—clothed in white robes—and what is in their hands? Palms. Palms of victory. Palms once laid before a donkey-riding King—now waved before the slaughter-yet-standing Lamb upon the throne. They have come out of the great tribulation. They have passed through pain, injustice, mourning, and death. But their Lamb has led them. Their Shepherd has carried them. And now they sing: Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And you will be among them. The Lord will deal all the more gently with those who call upon Him. All who call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.
So behold your King today. Not far off. Not as a mere historical figure. Behold Him in His Passion. Behold Him in His gentleness. Behold Him enthroned here in lowly and meek forms on a throne that to our eyes looks like a table we slid over here to use for Divine Service. He is here now to deal with you in gentleness and lowliness. If He treated His enemies with such love and gentleness, how much more graciously will He deal with you who have been reconciled to God in His blood. Behold Him now as He shows you with what love the Father loves each of you. And soon, you will behold Him in glory—with palm branches, led to living waters, and with every tear wiped from your eyes.
Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, You caused Your beloved Son to take our nature upon Himself, that He might give all humanity the example of true humility and suffer death on the cross for our sins. As He entered Jerusalem lowly and came near to those who mocked, spat upon, and reviled Him with meekness and mercy, grant us grace to trust that He who so gently bore the hatred of His enemies will all the more receive us in compassion, who come to Him not in enmity, but as children begging for help. Mercifully grant us a believing knowledge of this, that we may follow the example of His patience and be made partakers of the benefits of His sacred passion and death; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
