“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey.” Zechariah 9:9 (Read Matthew 21:1-9)

These words of the prophet Zechariah were fulfilled when Jesus rode into the city of Jerusalem on a donkey colt and “the crowds that went before, and those that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest” (Matt. 21:9).

And we too, each Sunday and especially on this day, offer up the same praises to Jesus, our Savior and King. We did so in the words of our first hymn when we sang: “All glory, laud, and honor to Thee, Redeemer, King, to whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring. Thou art the King of Israel, Thou David’s royal Son, who in the Lord’s name comest, the King and Blessed One.”

In the Sanctus, sung during our Communion liturgy, we sing with the angels, the archangels, and with all the company of heaven: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory; Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”

These words are taken from the praise of the followers of Jesus on that first Palm Sunday, as well as from the vision of the Lord God in His holy temple recorded in Isaiah 6:1-3: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Isaiah recognized His unworthiness to stand in the presence of the Lord. He said, “Woe is me! for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts” (v. 5). It was not until one of the seraphs took a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips that he could stand before the LORD God and be a messenger and spokesman for the LORD (v. 6-7).

We might wonder why Jesus’ followers sang such words of praise, echoing the word of Psalm 118:25-26: “Save now, I beseech You, O LORD. O LORD, I beseech You, send now prosperity. Blessed be He that comes in the name of the LORD; we have blessed You out of the house of the LORD.”

And why do we sing such praises to Jesus on Palm Sunday and in our Communion services when we know that He entered into Jerusalem that He might go to the cross and suffer and die — that He might be betrayed, forsaken, denied, condemned, and then be nailed to the cross, forsaken and condemned by God the Father, and die in bitter pain and agony of both body and soul? How can we rejoice when we see Him ride into Jerusalem, hailed as the Son of David and the Son of God, as Zechariah prophesied, when we know that He was entering Jerusalem to die?

In fact, we sing such words in our hymns: “Ride on, ride on, in majesty! Hark! all the tribes hosanna cry. O Savior meek, pursue Thy road, with palms and scattered garments strowed … Ride on, ride on, in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die. Bow Thy meek head to mortal pain, then take, O Christ, Thy power and reign.”

Though the world may rejoice at Jesus’ crucifixion because it rejects Jesus’ doctrine — His call to turn from our sinful ways to Him for mercy and forgiveness, and for the needed help and strength to amend our lives and live for Him — we too, the daughters of Zion and daughters of Jerusalem, Christ’s church, true believers of all time, can shout for joy and rejoice at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem because He went there to atone for the sins of the world by His innocent sufferings and death on the cross. He went to atone for our sins and win for us forgiveness and life eternal!

Jesus entered Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover with His disciples but also to institute a new sacrament by the shedding of His blood — a sacrament in which He gives to His disciples to partake of His sacrifice, of His body given into death for our sins and of His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the entire world. He is our Passover Lamb, “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:19); and when we trust in Him, His blood is upon us and shields and protects us from the coming judgment of God upon this sinful world (cf. Exo. 12:1ff.; 1 Cor. 5:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-19).

We rejoice and shout His praises because our King is coming; “He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey.”

“Christ Jesus … being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).

Jesus humbled Himself and went to the cross to redeem us and to win for us salvation. And Jesus still comes to us today, “lowly” and “having salvation.” He comes to us through the preaching of the Gospel and through the administration of the Sacraments — humble means — and He offers to us and gives to us the salvation He procured for us on the cross.

God’s law condemns us and reveals to us our failures to keep God’s commandments; it reveals to us the just punishment demanded on account of our disobedience and sin. But, Christ Jesus, through the preaching of the cross, comes to us and offers and promises to us God’s pardon and forgiveness through faith in His name. In our Baptism and in the Lord’s Supper, He gives and assures to us the new covenant promises of forgiveness for all sins and eternal life when we look to Him in faith.

That is why St. Paul could write in Rom. 1:16-17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

The Gospel preached to us assures us that “He has made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:6-7).

Why do we “rejoice greatly” and “shout” for joy at Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? “Behold, your King comes to you; He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding on a donkey, and on a colt the foal of a donkey.”

O gracious and merciful Savior, we praise Your name for willingly entering Jerusalem that You might go to the cross, die for our sins and make full atonement for the sins of the entire world. And we thank You for coming to us humbly through Your Word and Sacraments that You might convey unto us mercy and forgiveness and the eternal joys of heaven which You won for us on the cross. Grant us Your Holy Spirit and faith to believe. Amen.

[Quoted Scripture is slightly updated from the King James Version of the Bible.]