Matthew 21:1-17 - Jesus' March to the Cross - April 2, 2023

“In like a lion, out like a lamb.” You’ve probably heard that old axiom used to describe the typical nature of the weather during the month of March. March is said to come in like a lion – like a wintry beast; and exits like a lamb – a mild, docile creature. (But, judging by the thunderstorms that rolled through the area on Friday, I guess March didn’t get the memo.) But I digress. We’re not here to discuss the weather. We’re here to talk about Jesus. To follow him to the cross. And as Jesus completes his “march” toward his final destination, he does the opposite of the calendar month, he comes in like a lamb and goes out like a lion.

Jesus’ march to Calvary didn’t begin on Palm Sunday. It began roughly 33 years earlier, in the little town of Bethlehem. And right from the start, it was pretty clear that Jesus came to this earth like a lamb. Where was he born? In a stable, where animals, like lambs, live. What was his first crib? A manger (Luke 2:7) that animals, like lambs, eat out of. Who was his birth announced to? To shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock at night (Luke 2:8). And what happened shortly after King Herod caught wind of the birth of this King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2) and schemed to assassinate him? Joseph, Mary and Jesus fled to Egypt – like frightened lambs (Matthew 3:14). But the clearest proof that Jesus came in like a lamb is that the moment he began his ministry, John the Baptist pointed at him and said Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

And yet, while Jesus began his march to the cross like a lamb, he goes out like a lion. And that’s fitting, because lions have long been associated with kings. Historically, kings have been known to wear lion skins to illustrate their power. 1 Kings describes King Solomon’s very lion themed throne: there were six steps to the throne. The throne had a rounded back and armrests on either side of the seat. Two lions were standing beside the armrests. Twelve lions were standing on the steps, one on each end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any kingdom (1 Kings 10:18-20). Kings and lions go hand in hand.

Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday like a king, like a lion, in a way that he never had before. He enters with a roar. Large crowds gather to welcome him into the capital city, shouting hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest! (By calling Jesus the Son of David, the people were recognizing him as not only the heir of David’s throne but also as the promised Messiah (2 Samuel 7:12-14).) A very large crowd spread their outer clothing on the road – the equivalent of today’s royal red carpet. John reports that the people cut palm branches to welcome Jesus (John 12:13). Palm branches were the “stars and stripes” of Israel; they were waving their national “flags” as they welcomed their king.

In stark contrast to how Jesus had previously conducted his ministry, frequently trying to avoid crowds (John 6:15), walking through and away from them (Luke 4:30), telling the beneficiaries of his healing touch that they shouldn’t tell anyone about him (Mark 7:36) – today, on Palm Sunday, Jesus walks right into the adoring crowds and accepts their praise. When the chief priests and experts in the law try to make him quiet down the crowds, Jesus responds with the roar of Scripture have you never read, from the lips of children and nursing babies you have prepared praise? – quoting Psalm 8. In the past, I’ve thought that a donkey was not an appropriate mode of transportation for a king, that a white stallion or a gleaming chariot would have been more appropriate. I’ve changed my mind about that. First, that’s how the prophet Zechariah predicted that Israel’s true King would enter into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9). In other words, God himself predicted that his Son would enter Jerusalem on a donkey – and it doesn’t get more “kingly” than having the endorsement of God himself. Second, when King David wanted to announce that Solomon, not Adonijah, was to be the next king of Israel, he indicated this by seating him on his own donkey (1 Kings 1:33). It turns out that a donkey is a very “royal” mode of transportation.

Jesus may have come into this world like a lamb, but he’s going out like a lion. With absolute and fearless authority, Jesus cleans out the Temple; he acts like he owns the place. He even calls it my house (Isaiah 56:7). We might wonder why Jesus – who knew that he would be hanging on a cross in just days – would waste his time cleaning out the temple courts. The temple courts had become the marketplace, the economic engine of Jerusalem. And what happens almost any time money is changing hands? Fraud and corruption. But even worse, those who ran the Temple had rejected Jesus as Savior and King – so that God’s Temple had really become a haven of unbelief. So, to put Jesus’ actions in today’s terms, he was “draining the swamp.” Jesus does the same when he comes into our hearts through the Law to drain the swamp of idolatry and rebellion and selfishness that he finds there.

But he went even further than that. What did Jesus do after he had cleared the money changers out of [his] house? He took it over: the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. Unlike Matthew’s reports of Jesus’ other miracles, he doesn’t include any details here. He doesn’t mention how the people he healed responded. He doesn’t tell us how the previously blind immediately campaigned for Jesus or how the lame leaped up and ran around. Probably because the point is not just that Jesus had healed people, but that as the rightful owner of the Temple he had the right to clean it out and to make it once again into a place for prayer and worship and forgiveness and healing rather than a den of robbers.

Jesus may have started his march to Calvary with a lamb-like whimper, but he is finishing with a roar. But do you know what the irony is? It’s because he entered Jerusalem like a lion that he was killed. Think of it this way: this Tuesday, our state is holding its spring elections – the most important of which is who will be elected to a 10-year position on the State Supreme Court. (I would encourage you, if you haven’t yet, to vote in this race on Tuesday.) But, does anyone care about the candidates who lost in the primary or have dropped out of the race? Do you see any ads on TV or fliers in your mailbox smearing those people? No. Why not? Because lambs aren’t dangerous. Lambs don’t require any attention. But lions? Those who threaten your position and your power, they not only earn smear campaigns, in the case of Jesus – it earned him a death sentence.

Make no mistake: Jesus’ enemies wanted him dead. But they didn’t want to do it during the Passover festival – because they didn’t want to risk a riot among the thousands of pilgrims who had gathered (Matthew 26:5). Why were they so afraid of a riot? Not because they feared for their own personal safety – for, as we witnessed in the Garden of Gethsemane – they had their own private security force to protect them (Matthew 26:47). No, they were afraid that the Romans would see a riot as proof that they had lost control and use it as a reason to remove them from their positions of power. But Jesus ruined their plans. By his lion-like behavior on Palm Sunday, he forced their hand. They had to act now, to (in their minds) prevent Jesus from leveraging his popularity to usurp their positions of power and authority among the people.

And who do you think orchestrated that timing? Not the chief priests but God. Only God could be creative and powerful enough to schedule the sacrifice of the Lamb of God at the very moment the people of Israel were busy sacrificing thousands of lambs in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. The whole idea of a feast dedicated to slaughtering lambs is a little disconcerting, perhaps even repulsive for many people today. Don’t you think that some of the Israelites may have questioned the necessity of killing a lamb and painting its blood on their doorposts – after God had already demonstrated his ultimate power over their Egyptian captors in the first 9 plagues (Exodus 12)? What was the point of all that bloodshed? It was another example of the “foolishness” of God that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 1. God was far less interested in the physical act of sacrifice and the painting of lamb’s blood on doorposts than he was in the response of the people’s hearts to his Word. He was teaching them that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9:22) and without faith in blood there is no salvation (Romans 3:25). In other words, the sacrifice of lambs was an exercise of faith. After all, if you didn’t believe that God was going to send his angel of death over Egypt (Exodus 12:23) or that the blood of a lamb painted on your doorposts could save you, why would you bother?

The question for us today is: do you believe the Lord’s warning that when he comes again he will come in judgment and that all who are found guilty will be condemned to eternal death in hell (Mark 16:16)? Do you believe that only the blood of the Lamb of God which was painted on a cruel wooden cross on Calvary is truly powerful enough to wash away your sins, wipe away your guilt, and save you from certain death on the day of Judgment? If you believe that – if you believe both God’s warning and promise, both the Law and the Gospel – then the exercise of that faith today is not the slaughtering of a lamb but to live in these days of uncertainty confessing and believing that the one thing you need the most right now is not the end of the war in Ukraine, it’s not a healthier economy, it’s not who wins the state supreme court race, it’s not even the state of your health. If you believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world then you believe that the one thing you need most in this world is his blood. Because his blood is the only thing which can shield you from God’s wrath.

The most important exercise of our faith today is not slaughtering lambs and painting their blood on our doorposts but on receiving Jesus’ blood for our forgiveness and salvation. Where do you get this blood? You received this blood, the blood of Jesus when water was poured over your head in his name the sacrament of Holy Baptism (Romans 6:3; Colossians 2:12-13). The blood of Jesus flows through your ears and into your heart whenever you hear the absolution. And, today – I have the distinct privilege – a privilege I will never forget or take for granted – of offering to you the blood of Jesus for you to receive with your own lips in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

There’s a lot of uncertainty in our world, our nation, our state, even our church today. Unpredictable weather and wars and inflation and elections (and that guy taking a call to the frozen tundra of North Dakota) threaten to turn our world upside down. But by sending his own Son into the world to take on the burden of our sin and guilt and pay for it with his blood – you can be certain of this: your sins are forgiven, your guilt is washed away, and when the Lord returns on Judgment Day – he will pass right over you, leaving you unharmed. Jesus began his march to the cross like a lamb so that you could be sure that he didn’t come to crush you but to save you. He came into Jerusalem like a lion, cleaning out and taking control of his house, forcing his enemies to put their plan into action on his schedule – all of which proves that he is in control, he is the true King of Israel, the Lion of Judah (Genesis 49:9). God sacrificed him on the cross during the festival of the Passover so that you could be sure that his blood will shelter you from His wrath on Judgment Day. And in just 7 days we will once again shout those wonderful words: “He is risen! He is risen indeed!” to celebrate the fact that while Jesus may have silently walked like a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7), like a ferocious lion he has broken out of death’s prison and lives and reigns over this world for your good. The Lamb who died is the Lion who lives and rules now and forever – even in today’s uncertain world. All hail King Jesus! Amen.