See Your King – March 28, 2021

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9

See Your King

It was a very strange parade, a one-man procession into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. In today’s reading from the Bible, we view that Palm Sunday parade through the eyes of a prophet who lived five hundred years before the event occurred, yet he writes as though it’s already happening. The prophet Zechariah says, See your king.

We need Zechariah’s encouragement. We would never have put this king first in our hearts. We would have paid attention only to the events and the people who make us feel good about ourselves. We would have done so without ever noticing that our preoccupation with the things of this world is false worship, the worship of created things rather than of the One who created them. We would have dedicated ourselves fully to the here and now, and we would have forfeited the eternity God has in mind for us. Even when we know Jesus, we still struggle to appreciate him.

See! Says, Zechariah. Your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey. The approaching Savior rides a donkey, not a warhorse. He is gentle. He rides into Jerusalem to be betrayed and arrested and sentenced and crucified, all without putting up a fight. At the same time, he is righteous and having salvation. This gentle king is God’s Son from all eternity. With his death, he will take the rap for every sinner who has ever lived. This isn’t just a king on a donkey. This is the King on a donkey. This is the one who holds the universe in his hands, and he is at your service.

Rejoice greatly! Jesus has done what he came to do. By his death on the cross, Jesus has rescued you.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, by your death and resurrection you have rescued me from sin and death. Lead me to praise you with everything that I am and with everything that I have. Amen.