By Barnabas Piper
Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28-44, Psalm 118:25-29, Zechariah 9:9
The Old Testament is full of references to Jesus. Sometimes this is through subtle imagery. Sometimes it is through foreshadowing. And sometimes it is so obvious that it’s like God handing us the answer key. Zechariah 9:9 is just such a verse.
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
he is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
—Zechariah 9:9
When Jesus commanded his disciples to go find a colt and bring it to him—and to drop His name if any questions arose—He was acting like the king He was (albeit, not the king they expected). He was wielding authority and exhibiting His omniscience even as He was preparing to mount a humble steed. And this was just as Zechariah had prophesied. He then rode through worshipful crowds, not of victorious soldiers or admiring citizens but of humble worshippers gathered for a religious festival. They shouted praises truer than they even knew.
Blessed is the King who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Peace in heaven
and glory in the highest heaven!
—Luke 19:38
Luke says that they praised Him for miracles they had seen (Luke 19:37); they were enraptured by Jesus’s power and ability. They saw His goodness as a ruler. Every miracle displayed His power, His creative ability, and His authority over all the realms of creation. So they praised their coming King and the peace He would bring. They thought, however, that His kingdom would come through exerted power. Yet on that first Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode in with victory, the donkey should have been their clue His power would not be displayed as they thought.
The prophesied colt was a touch of heavenly irony, a humble steed to transport the greatest King to His upside-down victory. To ride that donkey winked at vestiges of earthly power as He fulfilled God’s long-ago words of salvation. He was a victorious King on His way to be judged by a corrupt king. Jesus’s victory would not be by conquering but by sacrifice. The peace He brought would be through reconciliation with God, not elimination of earthly empires. Before He could ascend to His eternal throne, He had to descend into death.
On that Palm Sunday, the words of the worshipers echoed off the Mount of Olives, and they were entirely true. Jesus was the King who came in the name of the Lord to bring peace. And He did so in humility, in servitude, and on the least likely of steeds. Because Jesus is not like any other king, nor is the peace He offers like any we can find elsewhere.
Written by Barnabas Piper
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