Zechariah 9:9-10 (Palm Sunday, 2016) 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. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the
war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim
peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River
to the ends of the earth.
Introduction: What’s so
great about having a smile on your face?
According to people who have studied the practice of smiling, there is great
value: For example, (1) people find us more attractive when we are wearing a
smile; (2) a smile is contagious; you can brighten the day of others with a smile;
(3) Smiling is a key ingredient for establishing healthy friendships; (4)
Smiling is good for business; coworkers and customers like to see smiles. Researchers
the University of California examined yearbook photos of 111 female students
taken between 1958 and 1960. Later checks revealed that those who expressed strong smiles in those photos became more mentally
focused, had more successful marriages, and enjoyed a greater sense of
well-being in their lives. I suppose people could ask if that’s why Zechariah
began today’s text with strong words: “Rejoice greatly! Shout!” while speaking
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In reality, there are better reasons. Zechariah
is affirming that God will keep a promise – and fulfill a purpose
– that must have appeared to the people to be fantastic but unlikely.
Why “Rejoice Greatly” and “Shout”?
1.
Our King comes to keep an unlikely yet fantastic promise
2.
Our King comes to fulfill an unlikely yet fantastic purpose
1. Rejoice
greatly & shout because our King comes to keep an incredible promise!
1. Zechariah clearly promises a King. But a king was
something the Lord’s people did not see in their foreseeable future. At the
time Zechariah spoke, they were a really insignificant people living in an
unimportant part of the Persian Empire. Its only value was a potential use as a
staging area if the Persians wanted to gather forces to go against the Greeks
in the northwest or Egyptians in the southwest fringe of the empire. They were
forbidden to raise any army or collect any taxes, much less claim to have a
king. And after the Persians came the Macedonians and Greeks, and then the
Romans, while the Lord’s people remained without evidence of any king or any
meaningful power or even respect. Fantastic promise – but very
unlikely.
2. Then came
Jesus. At his birth the Wise Men
arrived seeking the one “born king of the Jews.” Eventually came years of his
showing supernatural power and authoritative teaching that was amazing
to all who watch and listened – but never used for self-advancement or to take
advantage of others. And then came Palm Sunday and what the prophet had
promised. But on Palm Sunday, things were different.
Jesus takes the initiative to reveal his identity:
·
He chose a day when the city would be filled to overflowing with pilgrims
gathered for the Passover Festival.
·
He got things started by sending two of his disciples to fetch the donkey
and its foal. He told them exactly where the animal was to be found and what
explanation would be needed for the owners.
·
This wasn’t a
group effort. He said he would come, wanted to come, and would not be stopped
from coming. When the events unfolded, we are told “at first the disciples
did not understand all this.” (Jn 12:16). Jesus was orchestrating
the events and came because he wanted to come. To say it plainly, Jesus was
pretty aggressive on that occasion.
·
When the procession developed, Jesus clearly accepted the praise and
honor of the crowds as they greeted him with Messianic titles and
worship. When his enemies complained
about this, Jesus told them that the praise was fitting and unstoppable. Jesus
told them if the disciples were quiet, the stones would cry out. Jesus was
familiar with the prophecy too. He saw the command to the daughter of Jerusalem
to “Shout” and knew the prophecy would be fulfilled. He wanted to be
noticed. He wanted to be treated as royalty.
Events that
follow the triumphant entry continue this pattern of bold, attention-grabbing
leadership.
·
The next day Jesus went to the temple and authoritatively drove out
those who were buying and selling and turning the house of prayer into a den of
robbers and house of merchandise. He was behaving in a very high profile
manner.
·
When returning to the city the next day he went to a fig tree that was
covered with leaves but had no fruit, and he dramatically cursed the tree.
The next morning the disciples saw that the fig tree had withered from its
roots. This was a display of firmness and power that they would remember.
3. Jesus remains equally aggressive today as he continues
to fulfill promises at this chosen time and in his chosen way. His faithfulness
remains. The ancient promises of
Zechariah, however, were never wrong but remain accurate in every detail. So
the first thing we want to remember about this promised king and his kingdom
is that he comes precisely as promised. “The Lord has remembered.” That’s
what the name Zechariah means. “The Lord has remembered.” Sometimes God’s
people are tempted to think that God has forgotten them or that God might not
keep certain promises that he once made. But we are still invited to “rejoice
greatly” and “shout!” because the unlikely promises will be kept.
Transition: More needs to be said. He came with purpose/goals. Unrealistic? Let’s see.
2.
Rejoice greatly & shout
because our King comes to fulfill an incredible purpose!
1. The second thing we want to remember about the king
Zechariah promised is that he comes with purpose, with a definite agenda or a
plan in his heart and mind. The purpose: universal, worldwide peace.
This seemed an impossible dream at Zechariah’s time and in the New
Testament time – and today. The Persians were at odds with Greece and Egypt
plus other nations; the New Testament began with “wars and rumors of wars”
within and beyond the Roman Empire; and today we need only mention ISIS, Al
Qaeda, Iran, Syria and North Korea
to establish the absence of universal political peace. Yet the unlikely purpose
of the unlikely King is stated clearly: I
[ God the Father] will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses
from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He [the Messiah King] will
proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from
the River to the ends of the earth. What is extraordinary about this
purpose is how he goes about accomplishing it and the nature of the peace he
brings.
2.
His approach to “proclaiming peace to the
nations” is unusual, to say the least:
·
When he sent
disciples to obtain the donkey, he instructed them to tell the owner: “The Lord needs it.” The miracle-working
King puts himself in the position of needing to borrow. And he does not
simply take what he wants by force.
·
He purposely made use of a donkey, a colt, the foal of
a donkey rather than selecting a
horse. And we don’t have to wonder what point was being made: Zechariah, in
prophecy, has told us, “Your king comes to you . . . gentle and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
·
As the crowd
began to praise the majestic King with their Hosannas and palm branches, what
did the Majestic One do? At the sight
of Jerusalem, he broke down and sobbed. Jesus wept loudly over the city.
The majority of the people would soon reject him and forfeit the peace he came
to give them.
·
The greatest
evidence that the majestic King we want is also the meek King we need, we need only recall why he had come to
Jerusalem. He comes to be betrayed and sold for a paltry 30 pieces of
silver, the price of a slave. Zechariah prophesied about that event too (in ch
12) the Messiah speaks through Zechariah and says, “They will look on me, the one
they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child,
and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” Now
why would the King be betrayed and pierced? Yes, you know. He came to suffer
and die on behalf of his rebellious people. He offered his perfect and holy
life as a payment for our sin and guilt, paying the price that we may be
pardoned by our just God. The King came to die, to earn pardon for those who
rebel against him. “Ride on, ride on, in
majesty, Ride on in lowly pomp to die” – that is what we also sing on this
day.
3. And the kind of peace? This caught and catches many by surprise. It’s not political, not military, not
pertaining only to physical life or earthly territory. As Jesus said (Jn 14,16)
“Peace
I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
In this world you will have trouble; but take heart, I have overcome the
world.” It is peace of
conscience, peace and reconciliation with God, peace between siblings who are
equally forgiven and forgiving. All over the world and all through the
centuries. This is the real king and real peace God wants us to have and enjoy
– accept no imposters! During the Middle Ages there was a popular story which
circulated about Martin of Tours,
the man after whom Martin Luther was named. It was said that Satan once
appeared to Martin pretending to be the Savior. St. Martin was ready to fall to
his feet and worship this resplendent being of glory and light. Then, suddenly,
he looked up into the palms of his hands and asked, “Where are the nail prints?”
Immediately the apparition vanished. That story teaches a lesson to be
remembered. We are to worship the King who sacrificed himself for us, who bled
and died as the payment for our sins. He gives us the highest and best peace.
Conclusion: Those looking for a totally different kind of king
and different kind of peace will likely not understand why we “rejoice greatly”
and “shout.” In fact, it is part of our privilege to inform them, explain the
kind of King Jesus is and the kind of peace he brings to the world. Sometimes
that takes a lot of courage and may seem like such a small testimony surrounded
by larger and louder enemies. But let us give it nevertheless. When
George Bush, Sr., was Vice President, he represented the U.S. at the funeral of
former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (Nov 15, 1982). Bush was deeply moved
by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until
seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid,
Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must
surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever
committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s
chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man
who had run it all was testifying that her husband was wrong. She believed that
there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who
died on the cross. [Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.
26]. So do we. And that’s why it is fitting that we rejoice greatly and shout in
celebration of King Jesus. He kept the unlikely promise and
accomplished the unlikely purpose! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment