{"id":1184,"date":"2021-02-17T03:00:09","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T03:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/?p=1184"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:12:58","slug":"the-humble-king-we-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/02\/17\/the-humble-king-we-need\/","title":{"rendered":"The Humble King We Need"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Palm Sunday| April 5, 2009| Rev. Rolf Preus| Zechariah 9:9<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: The Humble King We Need: Palm Sunday Sermon by Rolf Preus 2009\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"152\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/5PaBqS2K91NQu3Q12Q2TL0?si=01a6949768c34ce7&amp;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.\u201d Zechariah 9, 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of them rejected their king when he came.&nbsp; It was not because they had not been told of his coming.&nbsp; They were told repeatedly.&nbsp; But they expected a king that would throw off the yoke of Roman tyranny.&nbsp; They certainly didn\u2019t expect a king who would humble himself in obedience all the way to the death of a cross.&nbsp; But that\u2019s the king who came to them and he came in accordance with biblical prophecy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People hear what they want to hear.&nbsp; The Jews of the first century are no different than the Christians of the twenty first century.&nbsp; People want a certain kind of leader.&nbsp; They look for what they want.&nbsp; They will even remake people in their own minds to be what they think they should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for a brief moment \u2013 a wonderful moment \u2013 the people saw and welcomed just what God had promised.&nbsp; The Jews received their king.&nbsp; They spread their clothes on the road.&nbsp; They lay before their king branches of palm trees.&nbsp; It was a path prepared for a king to travel.&nbsp; And so he did.&nbsp; Just as the Bible said he would.&nbsp; Jerusalem welcomed her king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is just.&nbsp; He was a righteous king.&nbsp; No sin had ever entered his heart.&nbsp; He had spoken no false word.&nbsp; He had committed no unkind act.&nbsp; He didn\u2019t cheat and steal to gain his kingdom.&nbsp; He came to claim what was his by divine right.&nbsp; Jerusalem was the city of peace.&nbsp; The Prince of Peace had arrived.&nbsp; Jerusalem was the holy city.&nbsp; The Holy One entered the city.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is just and having salvation.&nbsp; He came with salvation to give.&nbsp; His justice or righteousness was a gift he would give to sinners in need.&nbsp; He did not come for his own sake.&nbsp; The good he did he did not do for himself.&nbsp; He came and he lived righteousness for the sake of the unrighteous.&nbsp; He lived for the sake of those in need of salvation.&nbsp; He came for sinners.&nbsp; He came for those who had failed to think, say, and do that righteousness a righteous God demands from his creation.&nbsp; He came to make an exchange: his righteousness for their sin.&nbsp; He would give his righteousness to sinners and he would take off of sinners the burden of their sins.&nbsp; The Prince of Peace came to bring peace to those at war with God on account of their own sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He came in humility.&nbsp; He was a lowly king.&nbsp; He did not ride on a war horse to threaten punishment.&nbsp; He did not ride in a chariot to display power.&nbsp; He did not ride bedecked with royal robes bespeaking great wealth.&nbsp; He came on a beast of burden.&nbsp; He came in meekness and humility.&nbsp; He came to be the friend of those who needed God as their friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surely this was a moment to capture in time!&nbsp; Young people, old people, men, women, rich, and poor alike \u2013 he came to them all and they all greeted him.&nbsp; There were thousands of them.&nbsp; They honored him.&nbsp; Their praise filled the air.&nbsp; Hosanna!&nbsp; Hosanna!&nbsp; Hosanna to the Christ, to the King, to the Son of David!&nbsp; Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a sense that moment has been captured and relived again and again and again.&nbsp; The Church sings in preparation to receive Christ who comes in his body and blood.&nbsp; She sings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessed is he, blessed is he,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Palm Sunday gave way to Good Friday.&nbsp; The king who was welcomed with palms was betrayed into the hands of the Romans.&nbsp; He was subjected to the savage cruelty of public crucifixion.&nbsp; His body was nailed to a cross.&nbsp; He suffered and died.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After singing, \u201cBlessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,\u201d we go to the altar and kneel.&nbsp; We eat the body given up for us on the cross.&nbsp; We drink the blood he shed for us for the forgiveness of our sins.&nbsp; The humble king came with salvation to give.&nbsp; And he went to the cross to purchase it in full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at him.&nbsp; He is in the form of God.&nbsp; That\u2019s because he is God.&nbsp; Having the nature of God he has the bearing, the majesty, the glory that belongs to God alone.&nbsp; But look at him.&nbsp; He humbles himself.&nbsp; He takes on the form of a servant.&nbsp; The Lord of all becomes the world\u2019s servant.&nbsp; He submits in obedience to his own law.&nbsp; He submits in silence even when obedience requires him to drink the cup of divine wrath against sinners.&nbsp; The just and holy king meekly submits to injustice as he willingly bears the sin of the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is what God promised.&nbsp; This is what God delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9, 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consider his appearance, his attitude, his demeanor.&nbsp; God shows himself to his chosen people.&nbsp; What does he show them?&nbsp; He shows them humility.&nbsp; He comes to them in a way that they can receive him.&nbsp; He does not come to judge them.&nbsp; He does not come to punish them.&nbsp; He comes to rescue them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He receives their praise and he watches it disappear.&nbsp; But he doesn\u2019t become embittered.&nbsp; He cries for Jerusalem.&nbsp; He knows that the crowd\u2019s adulation will give way to the bloodthirsty cries of the mob.&nbsp; He is not deterred.&nbsp; He sets his face to the cross and he humbly, dutifully, goes where his Father leads him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think like Jesus.&nbsp; Have his mind in you.&nbsp; You do not need to right the wrongs done against you.&nbsp; You do not need to defend your status.&nbsp; Humble yourself.&nbsp; Commit your cause to him who judges justly.&nbsp; He will contend for you.&nbsp; You don\u2019t need to win your battles.&nbsp; You don\u2019t even need to fight them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But we want to prevail and we want to prevail now.&nbsp; The idea of setting aside vindication and leaving it up to God is a galling prospect.&nbsp; No wonder the praise of the Palm Sunday crowd was so fleeting.&nbsp; The people want to be empowered.&nbsp; But what kind of a king was he?&nbsp; It appeared that he became the victim of a cruel fate as he was arrested, taken before the Roman authorities, beaten, mocked, and finally crucified.&nbsp; The adoring church became the angry mob.&nbsp; He was not what they were expecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But God promised a lowly king riding on a donkey.&nbsp; He did not promise social or political or financial empowerment.&nbsp; He promised something much greater than that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is just and having salvation.&nbsp; That\u2019s what he promises.&nbsp; And he delivers what he promises in the only possible way he could.&nbsp; The passion and suffering of Christ were not just a divine afterthought as if God were saying that this would be a good way to illustrate his love.&nbsp; No, the promise of the prophets had always been for a humble and suffering king.&nbsp; Listen to how he was described by the prophet Isaiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who has believed our report?<br>And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?<br>For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And as a root out of dry ground He has no form or comeliness;<br>And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He is despised and rejected by men,<br>A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.<br>And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;<br>He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.<br>But He was wounded for our transgressions,<br>He was bruised for our iniquities;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And by His stripes we are healed.<br>All we like sheep have gone astray;<br>We have turned, every one, to his own way;<br>And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth;<br>He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,<br>And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53, 1-7<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such beautiful humility!&nbsp; He willingly sets aside honor and glory in order to embrace shame and suffering.&nbsp; Why in the world would he do such a thing?&nbsp; What could have possessed him?&nbsp; To do what needed doing.&nbsp; To bring us peace, forgiveness, and new life he was wounded, bruised, and punished.&nbsp; Mark this sacrifice well, dear Christian!&nbsp; Pay attention to what is happening here.&nbsp; Here the just bears injustice in order to justify sinners like you and me.&nbsp; Here you see salvation as the Savior of sinners bears all sins and washes them away by his vicarious suffering and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And here you see an attitude.&nbsp; It does not need to exalt itself.&nbsp; It does not need to parade itself or boast of anything at all.&nbsp; Jesus rides into the city on a donkey.&nbsp; The humble king is praised by his people.&nbsp; Then he is rejected.&nbsp; In his rejection he fulfills our need for acceptance from God.&nbsp; In his deepest humility we are exalted right on up to heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Paul speaks for us all when he says:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6, 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have found our true identity in that humble king, meekly riding on a beast of burden on his way to bear the burden of our sin and death.&nbsp; In his name we humble ourselves under the almighty hand of our gracious God, waiting for God to exalt us in due time.&nbsp; Amen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/PalmSunday2009.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Palm Sunday| April 5, 2009| Rev. Rolf Preus| Zechariah 9:9 \u201cRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.\u201d Zechariah 9, 9 Most of them rejected&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/2021\/02\/17\/the-humble-king-we-need\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,41,17,4],"tags":[189,238,298],"class_list":["post-1184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-sermons","category-palm-sunday","category-sermons-by-historical-lectionary","category-sermons-by-rolf-preus","tag-palm-sunday","tag-rolf-preus","tag-zechariah-9"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7048,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184\/revisions\/7048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christforus.org\/NewSite\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}