In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The traditional reading for the first Sunday in Advent is always the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. As we begin a new Church Year, this text reminds us of our Lord’s promise to continually come to His people and never leave them or forsake them. In fact, that’s what the word “advent” literally means. It means a “coming” or an “approaching.” Just like Jesus approached the people of Jerusalem, riding on the back of a lowly donkey, He approaches us week after week, year after year, in Church to give us the things that we need. So, in this morning’s sermon, as we look more closely at our Gospel lesson from Matthew chapter 21, let us consider together what it teaches us about the reason why Jesus comes to us and the manner in which He does. 

First, there’s the reason why Jesus comes to us. The mere knowledge that Christ is present in our midst, or that He promises to be with us repeatedly, is not, by itself, necessarily good news. It’s only good news, if we know the purpose for His arrival. Just because a king enters into a city, or a powerful person visits your home, that doesn’t mean that it will be a pleasant experience for you. Sometimes kings show up to conquer people. Sometimes they ride into town in order to burn it to the ground and lead everyone away as captives. Sometimes the only reason why they show up is for the purpose of getting revenge on their subjects and putting them into their place.

So, is that the reason why Jesus shows up, or does He have another purpose entirely? If, we only consider a portion of God’s Word, we might be led to the wrong conclusion. After all, just listen again to what it tells about Jesus in the first part of our reading. It tells us how He orchestrated the entire event of His arrival into Jerusalem down to the smallest of details. He knew where the donkey would be that He was going ride on, and He was able to make people obey His commands even from a distance. Jesus demonstrated in one action both His omnipotence and His omniscience, showing us without a shadow of doubt that He is the Word made Flesh. He is God Himself.

And just like Jesus knew where the donkey would be, and what to say to those who were taking care of it, He knows a lot of things about you too. In fact, Jesus knows everything about you. He knows the things that you want Him to know, and He knows the things that you wish He didn’t know too. He knows all about your sin. More than anyone else, even yourself, Jesus is acutely aware of the terrible ways that you have treated Him as your King in the past. Even if you have long forgotten them, He can still recall them with ease. He knows the kinds of things that you’ve said, and He knows the kind of things that you’ve done. He even sees the desires that you have in your heart. Unlike anyone else, Jesus has a complete and perfect knowledge of your whole miserable and sinful condition. 

And yet, what does our Lord choose to do with that information? Most kings would use something like that in order to destroy us. They would use it to punish us with the just suffering that we deserve. But that’s not how it is with Jesus. He does not want to come to us as our executioner, but as our Savior. He does not want to be present with us as our Judge, but as our Redeemer. He does not want to draw near to us in order to condemn us, but in order to deliver us.

Why did Jesus ride into Jerusalem on the back of a lowly donkey? Why did He enter into that holy city as a fulfillment of God’s Old Testament promises? What waited for Christ at the end of His road, and what did the people shout out to Him when He arrived? They said the same thing that we say right before Communion, “Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” The word “Hosanna” means “save us now.” That’s what Jesus comes to do. That was, and always is, the main purpose of His arrival. He comes not in order to punish us for our sins, but in order to forgive us for them. He uses His perfect knowledge to make a perfect atonement. He employs His almighty power to render an all-sufficient ransom. He shows up in order to take away our sins.

And until He comes again in glory, our Lord will never stop coming to us for that main purpose. He never gets tired of giving us what we need to be saved. It doesn’t matter how many times we have ignored His coming in the past, all that He wants is for us to receive His coming now. Whether it is at the first hour, or the ninth hour, or the last hour, our Lord’s only desire is that that hour would turn into an eternity. It’s that we would receive the forgiveness of our sins.

Nobody here today in Church should think that their sins are too bad to be forgiven. No one should be afraid that they have committed the same sin too many times in the past, and that there’s no hope left for them in the present. Unless, you don’t want to be forgiven, there is always forgiveness to be had in Christ. Unless, you plan on continuing in your sin without any remorse or any intention of stopping, there is no sin that you need to be afraid of. Jesus can deliver you from all of them. That’s the whole reason why He comes to us.

And that leads us to the second thing that our reading shows us about the coming of Christ, and that is the manner in which He comes. Besides teaching us that Jesus comes to us for the main purpose of forgiving us of our sins, the account of the Triumphal entry also reminds us that Jesus always does that in humility. Except for on the Last Day, when our Lord will appear in visible glory together with all of His holy angels, every day until then He conceals His coming under ordinary means. Just like Jesus rode into Jerusalem not on the back of magnificent war horse, but seated on the back of lowly donkey, He still comes to us today in ways that look very plain.

What does the Bible tell us elsewhere about where Jesus comes to us now? Our Lord says in John chapter 14 that “If anyone loves Me, He will keep My Word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our home with Him.” That’s a promise about hearing God’s Word. When we listen to it, and believe it, the Bible says that Jesus comes to us. Or what about this verse from Galatians chapter 3, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Here the Bible shows us that Jesus comes to us in our Baptism too. Whenever we are washed with the water and the Word, He is present to forgive us of our sins. And what about the gift of the Lord’s Supper?  What could be more obvious about Jesus coming to us than that? Our Lord Himself says, “Take eat, this is My Body. Take drink, this is My Blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Every time that we celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar according to Christ’s command and institution, Christ Himself promises to be present. And He promises to be there to forgive us of our sins.

Those are the ways that Jesus chooses to come to us now to give us what we need. He does it through the pure teaching of His Word and the right administration of His Sacraments. No matter how many times we use those things in repentance and faith, we have the assurance that we will receive the exact same thing through them. We will receive Jesus and His forgiveness.

Sadly, many people today end up missing out on Jesus’ coming to them, and deprive themselves of His forgiveness, because of the way that He chooses to show up. It’s not because Jesus is hard to find, but because they don’t want to go to the places where He’s promised to be. Instead of letting the humble ways that our Lord chooses to deal with us humble them into thanksgiving, they let it harden themselves into pride. They are offended by the very thing that should give them the greatest joy. Jesus actually promises to be with us in Church. He really is here every time that we listen to His Word and study His teachings. When we get baptized our sins actually get washed away, and when we take the Lord’s Supper they truly are remitted.

How could we Christians ever get bored with that? Why would we ever want that to change, or think that we could in improve it? Can we might Jesus show up in a better way than the way He’s promised to be with us? No! When people act as if we need to do new and fancier things to attract others, instead of simply preaching the pure Word of God and rightly administering His Sacraments, they reveal their lack of knowledge about how Christ actually comes to us. They show that they either don’t take His Word seriously, or they don’t take their need for His forgiveness seriously. In either case, though, it is a serious problem.

Yes, we do the same things over and over again in Church. Week after week, year after year, we gather together in God’s house to receive His gifts. Even though there are some differences depending on the day, for the most part, we follow the same pattern of worship. We sing the same sort of hymns that have been sung for generations. We listen to the same readings from throughout the Bible. We pray the same prayers. And we take Communion in the exact same kind of way. But that’s because we need the same things over and over again. We literally commit the same kinds of sins all of the time. Think back to your life, one year ago today. How different are you from year? Have you stopped falling into sin? Have you gotten complete control over your sinful nature, or do you still get tripped up by the same sort of sins as you did in the past? Have you overcome one sin, only to have it replaced by another? You the know the answer. Many things are still the same. But Jesus promises to show up in the same way for you anyway. And He promises to do it in order to forgive you. So, may we never grow tired of receiving Him, even in this new Church Year. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.