Sermon for Palmarum, 2026

“Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD.” So they spoke, rightly and better than they knew, for He does come. He comes in the name of the LORD, and He comes to save. Yet the salvation He brings is not the salvation they expect. For this is the day that the LORD has made. And so, this is the day when the King enters His city, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.” 

This is the day the One stronger than the strong man comes to bind him. In utter weakness, in abject humility, in complete submission, He comes; in neither might nor power, He comes and so plunders the strong man’s house, and all that is his, in a way no one would recognize. Not in a victory as the world understands, nor in a way that removes suffering; no, rather, this is the day in which the Mighty One, God the LORD, comes to be utterly rejected, the day in which the Anointed One comes to be handed over, the day in which the King comes to die. 

And still He comes. He comes for those who do not understand, for those who are hemmed in, for those under the decree of death, for those whose hearts fail, for those who cannot fight their way out nor free themselves. Beloved, He comes for you.

This is the day He rides in to give His life unto death, and to shed His sacred blood, that it may be given to you here, at the altar, for the forgiveness of your sins.

Readings:

• Old Testament: Zechariah 9:9-12

• Epistle: Philippians 2:5-11

• Holy Gospel: John 12:12-19

Sermon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VnW-fKJHoE