“The Redeemer King” Matt. 21:1-11 Palm Sunday 3/16/08
We have in many senses lost the whole idea of redemption in our society.
We do not redeem much today- instead we throw things away and buy something new.
Today if a computer is broken we might do better to buy a new one instead of taking it to the repair shop. Redemption means taking something that is broken and making it whole again. But we still catch a sense of redemption when we think about healing. When our bodies are sick, we want them to get well. This healing is a getting back to the way things ought to be- this is redemption. We could say that when our knee is out and we have a knee replacement- our ability to walk has been redeemed. When we have cataracts and we cannot see and we have cataract surgery- we can say our vision has been redeemed. Redemption implies the idea of restoration and repair. Jesus is the King of Redemption. He has in the ultimate sense offered to restore us to how we ought to be. This redemption’s effects begin in this life, but are completed in the next life. We are a bit like my old lawn mower. I repaired it, but it is not quite fully there. However, the longer it runs after its repair, the better it is.
Redemption implies the idea of finding what was lost. One of the problems in our culture is that we do not think we are lost. We are bit like the squirrels I read of in a cave in North Carolina. The squirrels were caught in this cave by a landslide. Over the years they survived, but they lost their vision. The squirrels had adapted to the dark, and when they were brought into the light they could not see anything at all. But in the dark they could see. Too many feel that we are fine, just fine, but we are in fact blind, and lost. I got a call a year ago from my daughter who had missed a sign on the interstate. She was driving to Statesboro, NC from Greenville, SC but ended up seeing “Welcome to Virginia” signs. She called and said, “something is wrong.” She had gone almost 50 miles without realizing she was lost. Maybe God is putting signs up for you today trying to tell you “something is wrong” turn back. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like the person who looks for the lost coin until they find it.
There are many folk tales that we still tell today about redemption. One of the classics is “Beauty and the Beast” where a mean prince is turned into a beast until he learns how to love. Of course Belle, elicits his love and he is transformed and so is all the world around him. Or “Sleeping Beauty” is awakened or redeemed by “love’s first kiss.” Love indeed redeems us. But the ultimate love is not human love-which fades or even dies. The ultimate love that gives us energy, hope, peace inside and transforms us from sleep and from beast-like living is the love of Christ. Christ sees the beauty that resides inside our beast-like qualities. Christ sees life when all the world sees death. He is the redeemer that raises us up in this life and the next.
Redemption implies the idea of buying back. It is almost a ransom idea. It is like evil holds us captive. We are addicted to our evil, to our sin, and someone comes and frees us from our addictions. I knew a very wealthy man in our state whose youngest grandson was totally spoiled. He didn’t have to work, he had all he wanted, and he eventually fell into a life of evil ease. He became addicted to drugs. His grandfather went to the terrible side of Charleston and pulled his grandson up, and put him in a dry-out rehab where the grandson began to see life differently. Jesus comes to where we are, risks his own safety, and redeems us. He pays for our ransom not with money, but with his own blood. Acts 20:28 Paul says Christ has purchased the church with his own blood.” Titus 2:14 says, “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, gave himse lf for us to redeem us from all wickedness so we may be eager to do what is good.”
The classic redemption story is of the boy who built a boat, and then floating the boat down the river, the boat was picked up by the current and disappeared. A few weeks later the boy saw his boat in a store. He went to the owner and said, “That’s my boat.” The owner said, “I found that boat all by itself. If you want it, you’ll have to pay for it.” The little boy worked and worked to get the money one quarter at a time, until he had the money for the boat. When he finally bought the boat he hugged it and said, “My boat! My Boat! I made you, I lost you, and now I have bought you back. You are truly mine!”
God made us, lost us, and buys us back through what the Redeemer King, Jesus, did on the cross.
Our redemption is not just from sin, but we are redeemed from the consequences of our sin. There are built in consequences of much of sin in this life. You pay a penalty when you mess up. I have a friend of mine who was in seminary with me. When he was a teenager he took LSD, and every now and then- even then twenty years later- he would have hallucinations. He was paying a consequence. I had a friend in college who just saw college as a massive party. He flunked out after his first year. There are consequences for not studying. But when we believe, we recognize there will be a day when even terrible consequences will not matter. In heaven we will be made whole- no more sicknesses. In heaven we will not have to work- no more consequences for past mistakes, and there is always enough.
When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he entered as the Redeemer King. The angel Gabriel told Mary when Jesus was born, “The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end” (Lk. 1:32). Jesus himself said, “All authority is given to me on heaven and earth” (Mt. 28:18). I Cor. 15:25 says, “For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy is death” (I Cor. 15:25,26). Jesus is the king. When he entered Jerusalem the crowd sang, “Hosanna to the king of David.” He was making a royal statement that the king was coming to Jerusalem. He was coming not to set up an earthly government- that would be temporary. He was coming instead to redeem them for eternity. He still comes. He offers to come to you today to redeem your life, and make it worth living.
Redemption is a precious word- more intimate than “Lord” or “Savior.” It implies God’s love and sacrifice. So John Calvin wrote, “I greet thee who my sure redeemer art. So Wesley wrote- “O for a Thousand Tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise. So Bernard wrote, “All glory laud and honor to thee Redeemer King.” I invite you to let him be your redeemer king. Amen.