Nov 29, 2020  SERMON ARCHIVE

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen.

The text for our meditation today is the Gospel Lesson for this 1st Sunday in Advent, Mark 11:1-10. There we read these words:

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

We begin in Jesus’ name, AMEN

In today’s Gospel, two disciples of our Lord boosted a donkey: They went and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

Dear Christian friends: God wants you to know that He has to two kinds of righteousness that He wants very much for you to have. If we were to call the first kind of righteousness “The Righteousness People CANNOT See,” then the second would be “The Righteousness People CAN See.”

The first righteousness—the unseen righteousness—was given to you in your Baptism, when you were clothed with Christ Jesus. This is also the righteousness that God confirms in you through every hearing of His Word and every reception of His Holy Communion.

This righteousness is the forgiveness of your sins in the blood of Jesus. It is the complete and unblemished holiness that is now personally yours because Christ has been wrapped around you.

God calls this unseen righteousness “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). This righteousness is completely yours and it will never be taken away from you. It is also “The Righteousness People CANNOT See.”

The second kind of righteousness—“The Righteousness People CAN See”—this righteousness has nothing to do with your salvation and eternal life. This second kind of righteousness has to do with the way you act on a daily basis, according to the Ten Commandments. This righteousness has to do with what your neighbor hears and sees and receives from you.

Today’s Gospel will help you gain perspective on this second kind of righteousness, “The Righteousness People CAN See.” According today’s Gospel, your righteousness looks strange and seems odd to those who see it. But you already knew that, didn’t you?

Many unbelievers around you think of your righteousness as strange and odd because your righteousness does not measure up to their mental picture of how they think you should act. Case in point: several Christian pastors in Houston were recently subpoenaed because they pointed to the Word of the Lord and publically declared, “God forbids homo-sexuality and same-sex unions.”

Some people think these preachers are guilty of hate crimes on account of what they preached. In other words, some people think these preachers have acted unrighteously and now should be held to account.

The righteousness of these preachers seems strange and foreign to the unbelieving world because the unbelieving world has come to believe in the righteousness (so to speak) of homosexuality and same-sex unions. When it comes to unbelief, good looks evil and evil looks good.

Tragically, your righteousness also looks strange and odd to some of your own fellow Christians, whether they are sons and daughters, extended relatives, or even the people who share membership in this congregation.

They have not listened to the lessons of their youth, growing up in these pews. They have not taken to heart that Word and command of the Lord, which requires all Christians to remain very close to God’s Word and His Baptism and His Holy Communion.

The righteousness of your weekly worship seems oddly too churchy for them. The righteousness of your weekly communion seems strange to them because they are not as sinful as you are. The righteousness of your sacrificial giving into the offering plate seems odd because they can think of many better uses for their hard-earned money.

The longer your fellow Christians remain separated from God’s Word and Spirit, the stranger your righteousness seems to them and the more their Christianity transforms itself into something that is not Christian and not able to save.

Truth or dare: This second kind of righteousness that God has given to you— “The Righteousness People CAN See”— sometimes seems odd and strange also to you.

I know that I sometimes wonder why I keep trying. Surely I am not alone in such tempted thinking!

What does Jesus give to each of you in today’s Gospel? First, He gives you the example of two disciples who did a righteous thing that seemed odd and strange to those who could see it.

Second, Jesus also offers here the assurance that His Word is more than sufficient to guard and keep and defend you, even when people are taken aback—possibly offended—by the seemingly strange and odd righteous things they see from you.

Now when they drew near to Jerusalem… Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.” The Lord fully understood that, when the disciples untied the colt, some people would think that an unrighteous thing was happening.

Some people would think that these two Christians were stealing. Therefore Jesus instructed to them, “If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’”

What happened? These two Christians trusted the Word of their Lord, despite the way it would look to the other people around them. These men acted righteously, obeying and keeping the Words of Jesus, even though their act appeared unrighteous in the eyes of those who saw it.

The other people around them thought these men were acting unrighteously by stealing, even though there is nothing more righteous than hearing the Word of the Lord and keeping it!

Despite the outward appearance of things, Jesus’ Words proved reliable: And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, ‘What are you doing, untying the colt?’ And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go.

The disciples spoke not their own defense. They simply spoke the Word of the Lord—the very Words that Jesus had given them to speak—and they left the rest up to their God in Christ.

You may speak with the same confidence and security when people likewise think your righteousness looks odd and strange.

There is no need to defend yourself with many arguments. You content yourself with the example of these disciples, simply speaking the clear and divine Word that Jesus had given them to speak and allowing God Himself to work out the rest of the details

Please take careful note of the fact that the obedience of these two disciples had absolutely nothing to do with their salvation and eternal life

Jesus was, even in the moment of today’s Gospel, busily going about the work of earning forgiveness and life for His disciples and for you. That is why Jesus needed a donkey.

After Jesus rode humbly into Jerusalem, He suffered, He died, He was buried, and He rose again on the third day. In so doing, Jesus earned for His disciples and for you the first kind of righteousness—“The Righteousness People CANNOT See;” the righteousness that cannot be taken away; “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22).

Jesus wants you to know in today’s Gospel that you can trust Him for both kinds of righteousness—both “The Righteousness People CANNOT See” and “The Righteousness People CAN see.”

You do not need to feel afraid or self-conscience when people see you doing the righteous things that God commands. You do not need to worry when your righteousness seems to be very unrighteous in their eyes—as it happened with the donkey-boosting disciples here today.

You may simply trust Jesus. He has you safe and secure in this life, as well as in the next.

Christ is Risen