Matth. 21, 1-9.
Now when they were come near Jerusalem to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, and said unto them: Go into the place which is before you, and soon ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose her, and bring her unto me. And if any man say any thing unto you, say, The Lord hath need of her; and he will soon let her go unto you. Now all these things came to pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee meekly, riding upon an ass, and upon a colt of the burthen of an ass. The disciples went and did as Jesus had commanded them, and brought the ass and the colt, and laid their garments thereon, and set him thereon. But many of the people spread the garments on the road; the others cut branches from the trees and scattered them on the road. And the people that went before and followed cried out, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
1. there are many things in this gospel, but the most important is the one quoted from the prophet, Zech. 9, 9.
*) Cf. Erl. A. opp. var. srx. VII, 376 844. d. Red.
a sign beforehand, so that they would recognize the future Messiah, so that they would not be offended by his wretched form and lowliness, and that they would be able to recognize and accept him when he came. For they have no excuse,
that they rejected Christ and did not accept him, since this text is clear that their King will come "poor, riding on an ass. Nor does it excuse the Jews that glorious things of Christ and of His kingdom are spoken by the prophets, and that they thus await a glorious future; for this reason they should not despise His little coming. Does this place therefore, as a clear sign, conclude against them that Christ has already come, and that they wait in vain for his glorious future, because here it is prophesied that he comes poor and riding on an ass. And yet he is called their king. For Christ had to come to Jerusalem poor and on a donkey, so that this prophecy would be fulfilled. Therefore, those who have despised this future are necessarily damned.
(2) But even today we are not excused if we do not accept his word (that is, the spiritual future), because of the astonishment of the cross, with which it is covered and concealed, since the whole world and the flesh consider it a thing not worthy, because they see that poverty, weakness, shame follow and cling to all those who accept the word. And therefore they take hold of the righteousnesses of the flesh, such as rights and ceremonies, because they bring wealth, honor and power. But others also pursue it. And so the sight of the word is contemptible and very hateful. But lest we also be offended at this lowliness and insignificance, we have been reminded beforehand by the sayings and examples of all the apostles and prophets and saints, that this word is a word of the cross, a rock of offense, a foolishness to the Gentiles. Therefore we are not excused if we despise the lowly form of the word and the church and strive for glorious and rich doctrines, because Christ in his word is despised and thus not received nor recognized by his own. But woe to them! For they will suffer worse than the sodomites! Therefore, Christ is to be received with fear, reverence and gratitude when He comes, that is, when He comes.
He is preached and comes near to us in his word, that we may be edified;'" that is, we are not to be offended at his lowliness and at his lowly asses, that is, at his preachers, who are fools according to the flesh.
(3) Yes, it is to be received with joy, as the prophet teaches more extensively in the Hebrew. For what the evangelist puts plainly, "Tell the daughter of Zion," the prophet expresses thus, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; exult and be glad greatly, O daughter of Jerusalem; for behold, thy King cometh unto thee a righteous man and a helper, but poor, and sitting upon an ass, and upon the colt of the ass." In these words, he first uses oratory and exhorts to the greatest joy and rejoicing; because he wants to excite their affection by the greatness of the goods that are coming to them; and there is fire in his words. Then he reveals the greatness of the things and the cause of the joy and rejoicing, saying according to the dialectic: "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee a just man and a helper." All and every word is of infinite weight and emphasis, namely, since it says: 1) "Thy King," not thine enemy; 2) "cometh unto thee," of his own free will, to the unworthy and miserable; 3) "righteous," who justifies from sin, not bringing law and sin as Moses did; 4) "a helper," not a death-slayer, judge, avenger, accuser, but one who delivers from death. These are infinite and ineffable things and are somewhat indicated in the postilion.
4 After that, he refutes and sets aside with great power the hindrances and aversions when he says: Glorious joy is coming to you. But this I remember and will remember again, that thou mayest not be offended nor offended at the outward appearance of thy coming king. It is true that when you look at the lowliness and wretchedness of the coming one, he does not seem to you to be a king, but the lowest of servants; he does not seem to you to be a righteous man, but a sinner himself, despised by God; he does not seem to you to be a helper, but one who needs a helper himself, who has neither bread nor a place to live or die by. Therefore I proclaim to you:
Your so great king comes, but he comes poor, that is, lowly and lowly, despised and miserable, not joyful, with proud splendor, not in gold and silk, but weeping, full of pain and sorrow, ragged and barefoot etc.; not with horses and chariots, but on a little ox, which, moreover, was foreign and borrowed; so he had nothing at all. Beware, therefore, with the greatest care, lest this strange and new form, which is not fit in any way either for a king or for a servant, offend you and obscure the glory of this king; of which glory I preach that it consists in your righteousness, salvation, redemption and protection against the tyrant, the devil, sin and death etc.
5 He also preaches this to us about the future of the Word and the Gospel, which is the spiritual future; as Paul says in Ephesians 2:17: "He came, proclaiming peace to those who were near and to those who were far off." Therefore we should awaken ourselves to the joy of the word in the best and most beautiful way, and recognize its powers,
which are: that it makes us part of God's kingdom, justifies us from sins, redeems us from death, even though it is very small, despised and foolish in the eyes of the flesh. However, these aversions must be refuted, and we should not be moved by the contempt and evil treatment of the Word, but rather be proud and rejoice in its triumphant and royal power, which is eternal. For Satan makes the Word very small, contemptible and ridiculous through the cross, suffering, slander, blasphemy, hatred and all the evil he stirs up; but this very thing should be the most pleasing sign to us and a sure sign that the Word makes us righteous, blessed and kings; For if Satan did not feel and know the powers of the word, he would not rage and rage with words as well as with works, that is, with lies, blasphemies, sects, as well as with violence, murder and persecution. For with other teachings he does not do such things, because he knows that in such he does not find those powers that are in God's word.