Monday after the First Sunday in Advent

Scripture: St. Matthew 21:1-9 (NKJV)

1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.'” 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD! Hosanna in the highest!”

Devotion

In the first book of Kings in the first chapter is described the installation and the royal entry of Solomon. With him, at the royal decree of his father David, things were conducted in this way: He was set on the king’s mule, He was anointed with sacred oil by the Priest Zadock, the prophet Nathan, and by Erethi and Plethi; that is, he was led away by the bodyguard of King David to Gihon, preceded by trumpet blasts and cheered by men…

In this story, Solomon is a prototype of the Lord Christ, the heavenly Solomon (Mat. 12:42), for the word “Solomon” means a peace-prince; now, however, Christ is the true Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). Accordingly, as Solomon was anointed as king with the sacred oil, so Christ was anointed as our eternal King with the oil of joy, the Holy Spirit (Psa. 45:8). Just as Solomon also prepared himself at Gihon (which was a beautiful, bubbling spring at Jerusalem) for His royal entrance from there into the city, so also Christ, in order to fulfill this prototype and especially to fulfill the prophecy of Zec. 9:9, conducted His royal entry into Jerusalem. Solomon was set upon the king’s mule, and at his coronation everything was carried out with pomp and glory, because his kingdom was an earthly, worldly kingdom. However, Christ wanted to carry out His royal entry upon a donkey, which does not have a special regard before the world, for His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). At the entry of Solomon, one heard fifes and trumpets, all the people rejoiced and shouted out to Him: “Success to King Solomon”; thus the evangelists announce that the Lord Christ was welcomed by the people at Jerusalem with great jubilation, and he was shouted at with [the words of] Psa. 118:26: “Hosanna to the Son of David, praise to Him who comes in the Name of the Lord.”

(From the Postilla (1613) of Johann Gerhard, Sermon for Advent 1)