The King Shall Come

As Jesus was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lrd! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”                                              Luke 19:37 and 38

    At this time of year, we don’t usually think about kings. It’s more likely that we are feeling like expectant parents or grandparents with a baby on the way. Or perhaps we’re doing all we can to make sure we stay on Santa’s Nice List. But in many ways Advent is the season when we prepare to meet the king. The people of Jesus’ day didn’t know exactly what sort of ruler they were getting when they welcomed him into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Perhaps some of them thought back to what John the Baptist had said three years earlier when he pointed to Jesus and said, “This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” One way or another they were all greatly shocked when Jesus died on the cross. Martin Luther often said that we have a real advantage over the people who witnessed Christ’s life. We know the whole story. We know that this king is the one who conquered death, the devil, and even our own sinful natures by sacrificing his life for us. God bless you in this season of Advent and Christmas as we anticipate the coming of the king, Jesus, who will welcome us into his kingdom and rule over us with grace and peace forever.

God bless you and yours,

Rev. Aaron Albrecht