Learn a lesson from the Lamb

Sermon for Palm Sunday

Selections from Zechariah  +  Philippians 2:5-11  +  Matthew 21:1-9

From the Prophet Zechariah: Thus says the LORD God: “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion! For behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst. Many nations will be joined to the LORD in that day, and they will become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain. The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; I will bring them back, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be My people and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness. And this will come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. He will speak peace to the nations; His dominion will be ‘from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth,’ ” says the LORD.

Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver—that princely price they set on me. Then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. And one will say to him, “What are these wounds between your arms?” Then he will answer, “Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the LORD of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” It will come to pass in that day that there will be no light; the lights will diminish. It will be one day which is known to the LORD—neither day nor night. But at evening time it will happen that it will be light. And in that day it will be that living waters will flow from Jerusalem, and the LORD will be King over all the earth.

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We began our service with the Palm Sunday Gospel, the story of Jesus’ famous ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. He knew what He had to do. He had six more days of teaching to do, for His disciples, for His followers, and for His detractors. So much teaching, with His words, with His deeds, with His willingness to be led away to injustice, condemnation, and death. A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth. And so the Lamb taught even with His silence, as Isaiah said He would: He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.

It was in silence that the Lamb of God rode down from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. He didn’t need to speak during that ride. The donkey spoke for Him—not as a donkey literally once spoke to the false prophet Balaam, but as the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Zechariah that you heard twice this morning. It told them that their King was coming to them, that He was humble and righteous and had salvation to bring for His people. The crowds also spoke. They cheered and hailed Jesus with the words of Psalm 118: Hosanna (Save!) to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! And Jesus silently accepted their praise and their acknowledgment that He was the Messiah and the true King of the Jews.

It was just the day before when Jesus silently accepted the worship of Mary in her home as she poured that expensive fragrant oil on His head and His feet. But He couldn’t remain silent when Judas the Betrayer criticized Mary for “this waste.” Then Jesus had to speak up to defend her, and to inform them what it was for: for the day of His burial, which would happen within a week. So, yes, Jesus knew very well why He would be riding into Jerusalem the next day, and what the end of it would be.

And still He went! And He kept going! When Thursday arrived, the Lord’s final day of freedom on this earth, what would He do with it? You heard in today’s reading: He had to celebrate the Passover with His disciples. This, too, had been prepared in advance, just as the donkey had been on Sunday. He told His disciples how to find a man who would just happen to have an available upper room in his house, during the busiest time of year in Jerusalem, that he would gladly lend to Jesus to celebrate His last Passover.

The first part of the evening was the ritual celebration of the Passover as Moses commanded it to be celebrated, with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. And this night is what it was all about! When Jesus, the Lamb of God, would go into captivity and shed His blood, so that everyone who takes refuge under it, as the Israelites in Egypt once took refuge under the blood of the Passover Lamb, should be safe from the destruction of death and hell, and from the guilt of sin, which is now washed away in the blood of the Lamb when sinners are brought to Holy Baptism.

So when Jesus and His disciples finished that Passover meal, it marked the end of the Old Testament Passover as Jesus stepped forth to fulfill that shadow, the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

But Jesus wasn’t done teaching His disciples that night. You also heard this morning what He did as soon as that first meal had ended. He got down on His hands and knees and washed His disciples’ feet. In true humility. In an expression of genuine love. And yet that would be the least service Jesus would render before the week was done.

Both Jesus and St. Paul, in today’s Epistle, spell out for us what we should learn from the Lord’s humble service. If He was willing to stoop down and serve His disciples—and us!—in such a lowly way, with such genuine love, then we who claim Him as our Lord must have the same mind toward one another. There’s no room for pride in the Christian, no place for building ourselves up. Humility was one of the hallmarks of our Redeemer during His earthly life. So it must also be the hallmark of the Christian.

Our Lord made Himself obedient to death, even the death of the cross, in humble obedience to His Father and in humble service for us. Take the time during this Holy Week to reflect on the things Christ willingly suffered for you and for me. Repent and believe in Him for salvation! Through faith in the Lamb of God, you have the forgiveness of sins now and eternal life to look forward to. Now learn from the Lamb! Learn to imitate Him in His humility, in His love, in His devotion to His heavenly Father, and in His zeal for the salvation of sinners. Amen.