Advent Devotions - December 6th

Todays' devotion can be found in the full booklet from Lutheran Hour Ministries.

Today's scripture is taken from Luke 19:28-40. I have outlined the text (v 38) in bold.

28And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, "Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: 'The Lord has need of it.'" 32So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?" 34And they said, "The Lord has need of it." 35And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37As he was drawing near--already on the way down the Mount of Olives--the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." 40He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem, riding on the back of a donkey that had never been ridden before. He had taken this colt from a village along the way. As he entered Jerusalem, people threw down their coats before him, making the way smooth for the colt. And almost everyone around him rejoiced and praise God with LOUD voices. They praised God for all the mighty works they had seen him do. They said LOUDLY "blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

Can you just imagine the noise and clamour that would have been surrounding Jesus and that never been ridden donky colt? But we don't read of it running away, or shying, it just took Jesus where he was going.

Advent is a time of hopefulness, a time of looking forward to Christ.

The people in this passage were so hopeful. They saw Christ as King. They expected him to be the triumphal King indeed. Even though their expectations were wrong....in that Christ would be a living, on earth king that would set them free from the Romans, they were not wrong in praising God for all that God had done, for all they had seen him do.

Jesus knew what they thought, he also knew what was waiting for him at the end of this road. He accepted their praises, saying that "if these were silent, the very stones would cry out". Jesus accepted the praise due him.

The advent reading tells us that

Only a short time before the crowds cheered Him on with these words, Jesus had told His disciples that He was going to Jerusalem to be handed over, mocked, insulted, spit on, flogged, and killed. That doesn’t sound very blessed, but still He went to Jerusalem.

Jesus still went. We might think that he made a bad choice, going to Jerusalem to die? Who would want to make a choice like that. But God... But God had a different plan. His ways are not our ways.

Jesus came so that he could suffer and die and be resurrected that we might be brought back to God. That through his death and resurrection we might be made right with God and not be separated from him through our sin.

As our devotional for today says

So, to accomplish this, He became man and was born in Bethlehem so that He could suffer as a man for the sins of all mankind. If we are honest, we have to admit that this is not an equal trade. The Son of God … for me? It’s not fair, but Jesus thought we were worth it. Because He came for us all, faithful Christians can say, “We are blessed because our God, the King, comes to save us!”

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!