“Heads up!” That’s something you might hear at a baseball game when a sharply hit foul ball comes careening your way. It’s a warning that could keep you from getting seriously hurt. “Heads up!” can also be an encouragement to stay alert so that you don’t miss something interesting like a moose, or bear grazing on the side of the road as you drive through Jasper.
This morning King David calls out to us, “Heads up! Heads up for the King of Glory!” He means that as both a warning and an encouragement because Jesus, the King of Glory, is our Creator and Saviour and therefore deserves our worship.
Jesus didn’t very much look like the King of Glory when he walked the earth, not even on Palm Sunday. Sure, as he came into Jerusalem people swarmed around him proclaiming the kingly greeting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9) As they said this they laid palm branches and their cloaks in his path giving Jesus the red carpet treatment a king deserved.
Still, Jesus didn’t look very kingly, especially seated atop the colt of a donkey. Was that the best he could do? Couldn’t he have had his disciples bring back a chariot or at least a white stallion to make his entrance into the holy city a bit more grand? I doubt if any of the movie stars who are planning on attending the Oscars tonight will show up in anything less than a chauffer-driven limo.
Jesus didn’t come riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey because that’s all he could afford or find. David said of Jesus in the first two verses of our text: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.” As the King of Glory Jesus could have chosen anything on which to ride into Jerusalem, even a lion because he is the King of Creation!
Just think of how powerful and wise Jesus must be to have created all things. For example in the same time it took professional installers to put new windows in half of the parsonage last Monday, Jesus created light and laid the foundations of the earth. Before the Egyptians even dreamed of building pyramids Jesus had long created black holes and quasars. As impressive as the skyscrapers of this world are they are fragile toothpicks compared to the towering mountains. The Panama Canal is but a scratch in the earth’s surface compared to the Grand Canyon. And who can match the beauty of sunsets? Was the colt of a donkey all Jesus could afford on which to ride into Jerusalem? Of course not!
In just a little bit we’ll talk more about Jesus’ choice of transportation but let’s continue to consider what it means for us that Jesus is the King of Creation. The fact that Jesus is the King of Creation means that he not only created everything out there, but also in here (point to self), Therefore we shouldn’t think that we can use our body to do whatever we want. It’s not ours to experiment with on drugs or to misuse sexually. Nor is our mind free to wander wherever it wants. Instead it should always be thinking about how we can bring glory to the King of Creation.
David put it this way, “3 Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false” (Ps. 24:3, 4). Since God created us he has the right to demand what we be like, and what he wants is for us to have clean hands and a pure heart. Just how zealous is God about that? Very zealous, as David knew first hand. Some Bible students think that David may have written this Psalm to celebrate the Ark of the Covenant being brought into Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant was the place where God had chosen to reveal himself to his people. It was a sacred object and God had said that if anyone should touch it they would die. That very thing happened on an earlier attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem when a Levite reached out to steady the Ark after it had been loaded on to a cart for transport. For this act of disobedience God struck the offender dead (2 Sam. 6).
Wow, who can hope to stand in God’s presence? Only those who have clean hands and a pure heart. That disqualifies us all doesn’t it? Just think of how unclean our hands have been when we keep flipping back to that program that excites our sinful nature, or when we hit a sibling, or wrap our fingers around something that doesn’t belong to us. Can we claim to have pure hearts? Think back to last weekend and our Easter 4 Kids outreach. Why was it that we baked those muffins, set up those chairs, or delivered those lines? Was it simply to serve God out of joy or because others were counting on us? Do you see what I mean? Even the good things that we do are tainted with sin because we often do them out of guilt, or for show, or both! As Isaiah said, even our righteous acts are like filthy rags in God’s sight (Is. 64:6).
So who can ascend the hill of the Lord? Who can stand in the presence of the King of Creation? From what David has told us it doesn’t seem as if anyone would qualify to stand in God’s presence. Yet there is hope because the King of Creation is also the King of Salvation. In verse five of our text David calls the King of Glory our Saviour (Ps. 24:5).
How did the King of Creation become the King of Salvation? Let’s return to the Jerusalem of Palm Sunday to find out. Remember how we said that as the King of Creation Jesus could have picked any mode of transportation for his march into Jerusalem? Why was it then that he picked to ride on the colt of a donkey? There are two reasons why. First of all Jesus wanted to make the statement that God’s Word is true since the prophet Zechariah had foretold that this would happen. Second of all Jesus wanted to show what kind of king he was. He was not a king that had come to be served but to serve. Therefore by coming into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey Jesus was showing his humility - that although he was the King of Creation he had come to serve us and become the King of Salvation.
Our second lesson this morning spoke about how Jesus’ humility lead him to become obedient to death, even death on the cross (Philip. 2). Because of Jesus’ death and the blood that he shed our impure hands and hearts have been cleansed. We now can stand in God’s presence because of what Jesus has done.
Just how can Jesus’ blood do such wonderful things? I mean doesn’t it seem a bit gross to be washed in someone’s blood? It might seem gross to our sensitivities but Christ’s blood has none of the impurities our blood does. It cleanses us from sin because like a clean sponge it soaks up our sinfulness leaving us clean and forgiven. Having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus we can ascend to the hill of the Lord and stand in his presence.
Do you now see why David would call Jesus the King of Glory? He not only deserves all glory as the King of Creation but also as the King of Salvation. That’s why David urges in the last part of the Psalm, “ Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory” (Ps. 24:7-10).
Although the gates that David was probably referring to were the gates of Jerusalem, he was also thinking about lifting our hearts in praise. And it wasn’t enough for David to say it once, he had to say it twice: “Heads up! Heads up!” Or in the case of our hearts, “Open up! Open up! Don’t turn away Jesus for he is King!”
How do we open our hearts to Jesus? We can’t. Only the Holy Spirit can move us to open our hearts and he does so through the Word and Sacraments. Therefore if our hearts are to be opened wide for the King, we’ll want to open wide the pages of Scripture so that the Holy Spirit can do his work. Why should we open up? Because Jesus is the King of Creation, the King of Salvation, and therefore deserves to be the King of our Celebration. Amen.
