Dear friends, shout with the Palm Sunday shouters: “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Shout it because you know who this King is, that He is the one sent from heaven to make you righteous. He is the one so humble as to die for you on a cross. He is the one so merciful as to hear your heartfelt confession and respond with forgiveness.

Put it entirely in His hands, dear sinner! God’s eternal Son has done for you what you couldn’t do for yourself. He’s the only one qualified for the job. He doesn’t have a sinful nature. There isn’t any self-righteousness in Him like there is in you and me. God has provided Him as the solution to your sinfulness that would have condemned you to death and hell. There isn’t anything for you to worry about, if He is the one in charge of your salvation.

You know the essence of God’s grace toward you, that Jesus, who desired at all times only what the Father willed, has made payment for your desires that were beyond that, and for every other sin. Behind the facade of your unglamorous life God accomplishes great things. His love is in you, that goes out to others. He hears your prayers.

Glory be to God, that He forsook in your place His own Son, Who was humble even to the point of death on a cross. Since there was never a time when He failed to humble Himself, His blood makes payment for every failure of yours. Since He was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, your death is now an entrance to eternal life. Your sins are forgiven.

So, in this place every single week, God comes to you in His Word and says, “What is this that you have done?” Convicted, you modern Adams and Eves confess your sins and hear the pastor say that a Savior has fixed what you have broken. He has turned the accusation you owned onto Himself, so that God has said to Him and not you, “What is this that you have done?”—and He has faced your consequences.

You are forgiven because of what Jesus has suffered for you. The cross on your forehead represents, now, the cross upon which your Savior died for you. You follow your risen LORD, rising from death yourself to receive the joy of His salvation. What sweet music are those words of our text when attributed to Jesus.