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"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)
These words were written by the prophet Zechariah some 500 years before Jesus road into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey.
About a hundred years before that, or approximately 600 years before Jesus road into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, the kingdom of Judah collapsed at the hands of the Empire of Babylon. Jerusalem was plundered. The temple-the one that Solomon built-was leveled. Anybody who was anybody in Jerusalem was taken into exile in Babylon. Only the peasants were left behind to douse the flames.
For seventy years the Israelites dwelled in exile, wondering if God had abandoned them, waiting for God to restore Jerusalem.
Finally, they returned to Judah. Jerusalem was reestablished. The temple was rebuilt.
Zechariah saw that happen. Zechariah's public ministry began just a few years before the second temple was dedicated.
The first part of the Book of Zechariah has to do with this time period, when the Israelites were reestablishing Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple.
The second part of the Book of Zechariah-starting in chapter 9 from whence the quote comes-comes a few years later, maybe a few decades later. Zechariah was an old man by then, and his prophecies turned from encouraging the people in the rebuilding of the temple to encouraging the people with the hope of the Messiah to come.
"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)
Now this isn't the first Messianic prophecy. Messianic prophecies had begun hundreds of years earlier. But in the years following the exile, when Jerusalem was being restored, Zechariah prophesied again of the coming of the Messiah.
Another five hundred years went by, and the people of Israel waited and hoped for the promised Messiah.
Empires came and went, and the people of Israel waited and hoped for the promised Messiah.
The temple-the second one-was destroyed again by another invading army, and the people of Israel waited and hoped for the promised Messiah.
King Herod the Great-the Herod who was king when Jesus was born--came along. He was a puppet of the Roman Empire, not a descendent of David even. Herod the Great built the temple that stood in Jesus' time, and the people waited and hoped for the promised Messiah.
Would-be messiahs came and went, and excitement would rise and fall, and the people of Israel waited and hoped for the promised Messiah.
And then Jesus came.
"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)
When Jesus reached the outskirts of Jerusalem, he stopped his journey for awhile. He sent two of his disciples into a nearby village to retrieve a donkey colt. This wasn't a spontaneous, random action. Jesus wasn't suddenly too tired to walk the rest of the way. Jesus had in mind the words of Zechariah. Jesus intended for his arrival in Jerusalem to be a messianic announcement. Jesus intended to announce, not with words but with actions, that he was the Messiah that the people of Israel had been waiting and hoping for so long.
He knew the people in the streets would recognize the symbolism.
He knew the priests and teachers of the law would recognize the symbolism.
The Romans didn't understand the symbolism. But that didn't matter. It wasn't for them, not that day.
The pilgrims flooding into Jerusalem for Passover, who crowded all the roads into the city, were indeed quick to recognize the symbolism. They were hungry for a Messiah. Oppressed under Roman rule, exploited by their own government leaders, they longed for the rightful dynasty of David to be restored. They longed for the day when their king would come, righteous and having salvation. They expected him to come. And they expected him to come riding on a donkey.
The crowds were quick to recognize the symbolism, and the shouts began to ring out.
"Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!"
The shouts began to ring out. The crowds shouted as they saw Jesus riding the donkey, and as they recognized the symbolism, and the word began to spread. Some of them had seen Jesus before. Others had heard about him. This was the man who had been traveling the countryside for three years-healing, teaching, preaching, casting out demons, debating with the Pharisees. Word began to spread.
Look! There he is! He's riding on a donkey! He's announcing his arrival! The time has come! He's through with traveling around the countryside! He's coming to Jerusalem! He's coming as king!
The crowds shouted because of what they saw. The crowds shouted because of what they expected. They expected the restoration of the earthly kingdom of David. They expected the Romans to be driven out of Jerusalem. They expected Judea to be raised up as a kingdom in its own right. And they shouted. They expected Jesus to do these things for them.
The crowds weren't the only ones to recognize the symbolism as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Others, who may or may not have been there at the time, heard about it. The priests and teachers of the law recognized the symbolism too. They didn't shout. They grumbled. They whispered.
The priests and teachers of the law had been grumbling throughout Jesus' ministry. That wasn't new. They had recognized this itinerant preacher as someone who might be a threat. Now he was coming to Jerusalem, and the threat was coming to a crisis point. That was made clear-Jesus made sure it was made clear-the next day.
Jesus spent the night in Bethany. The next day he went into Jerusalem. He went to the temple. Immediately, he overturned the tables of the money-changers. He drove out the animals. Immediately, he went on the offensive. Not against the Romans! But against the system of religious hierarchy and formalism and exploitation that was at work in the temple undermining what the temple was supposed to be all about!
Jesus rode into Jerusalem one day to the shouted acclamation of the crowds. The next day, he went straight to the center of power of the priestly class and exposed and addressed and named their corruption.
The priests and teachers of the law continued to grumble and they whispered even more. They conspired and they planned. Mark says they began to plan how they could have Jesus killed. This wasn't a new idea either. They had been thinking about that earlier in Jesus' ministry too, but now it was coming to a crisis point.
Not everyone in the leadership wanted Jesus killed. There were those, even in the priestly class, even in the Sanhedrin, who recognized Jesus as coming from God and honored him for it.
But, generally speaking, the priestly class had developed their power through their exploitation of the sacrificial system. They controlled the temple. They had a lot of power. They benefited financially. They recognized that Jesus sought to reform that system of religious hierarchy and formalism and exploitation. So they whispered and they grumbled because of what they saw and because of what they expected.
My experience is that Palm Sunday preaching and Palm Sunday teaching brings a lot of attention to these crowds. They had expectations of a Messiah who would restore the earthly kingdom of David. They had expectations that Jesus did not fulfill-not like they expected. They were a fickle crowd. A few days after welcoming Jesus with shouts of acclamation, the same crowds could be heard shouting for his death.
Secondly, a lot of attention comes to the religious leaders and their response to Jesus. They viewed Jesus as a threat. They conspired to have him killed. And have him killed they did, only a few days after Palm Sunday.
This year, my attention has been drawn to a different group-the ones who were with Jesus. Not the crowds, who shouted acclamation to Jesus. Not the religious leaders, who whispered in conspiracy against Jesus. But the ones who were with Jesus-the Twelve, and the others, who had been traveling with Jesus. They knew Jesus close up. They had developed relationships with Jesus. They knew him more directly than just by reports of miracles and healings and teachings.
The ones who were with Jesus saw him send for the donkey and get on it. They were the first ones to remove their cloaks to form a path for the donkey to go forward. I don't know if they joined in the shouting. Maybe they did. Maybe they were struck silent-wondering.
This is a different move than Jesus had ever made before.
Jesus had hinted at other times that he was the expected Messiah, but he had always done that before in a way that emphasized humility and meekness. When James and John had come to him seeking places of honor in his kingdom, Jesus' response to them was about how those who wish to lead must serve and those who wish to be first must be last.
This day, coming into Jerusalem, Jesus stopped and sent for a donkey. He rode that donkey into Jerusalem, announcing that he was king! He was the expected one! It was on his shoulders to restore the kingdom of David and to bring salvation for God's people!
This is a different move by Jesus. A bold move. The donkey makes it seem humble, but it isn't. The donkey is all tied up with messianic prophecy. Jesus came into Jerusalem that day announcing to all would see that he was the coming Messiah, announcing that he was the coming king, announcing that it was time for confrontation.
Jesus had spent three years ministering around the countryside, occasionally debating with Pharisees and Sadducees but for the most part avoiding confrontation with the central authorities.
Jesus came into Jerusalem, making the first move, setting up the confrontation to come later in the week.
The people who were with Jesus…I don't know if they shouted, but I am sure that they wondered. What did this mean? What would happen next? They didn't know. Their expectations were like the crowds' expectations; they thought the Messiah would drive out the Romans. But they had also been with Jesus when he had talked about his death. They had to wonder, because they didn't know what to expect.
Now it comes to us…followers of Jesus, people who have been with Jesus for some time. We come every year to this day to celebrate the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and to prepare for the coming week.
We come to it from the other side though, and we know what to expect. Our wondering is not so much about what Jesus will do this week, because we know. Jesus will have a final meal with his disciples on Thursday. He will give them some final instructions. He will pray with them for the last time before his death. He will pray like he has never prayed before out in the Garden of Gethsemane. He will be betrayed…by one of his closest friends. The rest will run away in fear and abandon him. He will be arrested. He will be tried. He will be executed. He will be buried. On the third day, he will rise again.
We know what Jesus is going to do.
I invite you still, this week, to wonder-not about what Jesus will do-but about what you will do. How is it going to impact you this week? How are you going to respond this week? How are you going to follow Jesus to the cross? How are you going to be affected by the resurrection? How are you going to respond this week and in the weeks and months to come?
Wonder…because the question is always before us…how are we going to respond to what Jesus has already done?
How are we going to live as followers of the king?
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