Zechariah 9:9-10 Sermon. March 28, 2021. Grace-Benson and Grace-Vail. Think of a time when you entered a place to do a job, and you knew once the job was done, you were not staying in that place. You’d go back home. How did you enter the city or town or work site? You probably pay attention to only what is needed for the time it will take for you to get your job done and leave. When Jesus entered Jerusalem on a Sunday we remember as Palm Sunday, the job was: die as a substitute and then rise from death. After that, Jesus wasn’t planning on staying in Jerusalem. He was going home. Though it wasn’t a permanent move, every detail mattered to Jesus. He knew the right way to enter the city. In fact, his coming to Jerusalem brought joy not only to the people there on Palm Sunday, but the promise of his coming had already been bringing joy to people who heard the words of the prophet Zechariah many years before it happened. Jesus’ Palm Sunday coming continues to bring joy to us thousands of years after he came. I’ll start with the people who first heard Zechariah 500 years before Jesus came. Zechariah spoke for God in about the year 520 bc. The Jewish people had returned home to Jerusalem after their 70 year exile in Babylon. I think of the return from exile as the most underrated tory of the Bible. That kind of thing usually does not happen. Usually when one nation is defeated and destroyed and exiled by another, they don’t come back. The winner takes the spoils and the loser deals with it. But in an amazing act of God’s power and grace, after the Jews lost to Babylon and Jerusalem was destroyed, the people exiled; God brought a new kingdom to power, the kingdom of Persia. And God just moved the heart of King Cyrus to tell the Jews to go home and rebuilt their city and their temple. Not only that, but Cyrus would help fund the trip and the project. You’d think the Jewish people would return with gratitude and excitement and joy. They did at first. They returned and laid the foundation of the temple very well. Then they took a break, and the break lasted 14 years. They made sure to build their own houses and get their economy going. But God’s temple remained unfinished. Their joy and gratitude turned to complacency and apathy, so God sent prophets like Zechariah to confront them. Zechariah was sent to not just get them working again, but get them working with the right spirit. A spirit of joy, and thankfulness to God. Are there times that we should be joyful and thankful to God, but we get complacent and apathetic? Are there parts of God’s Word that we hear with zeal and energy, but over time, we get busy in our own life projects; and God’s Word gets put to the side? How many blessings from God as Christians in our time and place get underappreciated and undervalued? We need the words of Zechariah the prophet like they did so many years ago. Their task was different than ours. We’re not told to rebuild a temple in Jerusalem. But that task is significant for us. The temple in Zechariah’s time was significant for one reason more than any
other, a king would come to it one day. The people of Israel might have thought: “why build a temple if it could be destroyed by another army? Why invest the time and energy? Why do it with joy? They didn’t even have a king anymore, the Babylonians had killed their last king. Zechariah reminded them of a king unlike any other. A king who is a reason for great joy and shouting and thankfulness. We all sense the need for a king. Even us who have a government structure that protects us from the abuses of a monarchy, we still sense the value of a good king. We still get excited with stories of great kings who led in the past, or dream about great kings to help us in our struggles. Palm Sunday is a reminder that Jesus wanted to be known as a king. Not just a teacher, not just a healer, not just an inspiration. The king of all the universe. He rode into Jerusalem and accepted the praise, the acclamation, the identity as king. He wants us to view him as king today as well. “Your King is coming to you. He is righteous and brings salvation. He is humble and is riding on a donkey.” If a king comes to your town, it could be good news or bad news, depending on which king he is and how he wants to treat you. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he came righteous and bringing salvation. Not demanding a right-ness or a fit-ness of people to be acceptable to God. But righteous himself, with righteousness to share and give away to people who didn;t have it on their own. Bringing salvation. Not demanding that people figure out how to save themselves from their own dangers and problems. Jesus came to be the solution, the rescue that people need. This king would not tax or tyrannize his people, not require their service and sacrifice. Just think of some of the things Jesus did before Palm Sunday. He made the lame walk, the blind see, he raised people to life, like Lazarus, who had been dead 4 days before Jesus told him to come out. This kind of king brings joy and celebration. The animal he chose was an indication of what kind of king he came to be. In those days, if a king rode into town on a strong armored horse, what would the city think? This is a warrior king, he’s come to establish his reign through power, and we better watch out and not cross his path. But if a king came on a donkey, it was a peace-time animal. A king would do that only when all the wars had been won. No more need of a war horse, he could now ride a peaceful, humble donkey. For hundreds of years, some had heard Zechariah’s promise of a peace bringing king coming to his people on a donkey. The thought brought them joy if they trusted that God would keep his promise. Jesus is the promise kept. Not that the battle had already been won. Jesus knew that the greatest battle between light and darkness would be fought on Friday, but he already rode in on a donkey. He was saying 2 remarkable things with his donkey ride. First: the battle is as good as done. He would not turn away, no matter how hard it got no matter how much it would cost him. And second, he would fight this battle alone. He wou;dn’t require anyone else to fight against guilt and death and satan. He would go alone and overcome and
share the victory. He came with humility despite his power and greatness. Jesus came righteous, but also loving. Because he came that way on Palm Sunday, we don’t have to worry about war anymore. “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The battle bow will be taken away, and he will proclaim peace to the nations.” What good news that would have been for a nation like Israel, who was surrounded by nations on 3 sides, nations like Egypt who had enslaved them, Assyria who had taken away their northern tribes, then Babylon who burned Jerusalem, killed and exported their people. What good news for us who still live in a world filled with violence and bloodshed and murder. No more need for war horses or chariots or police forces or armies or military weaponry and technology designed to kill. Just one question - did Jesus actually fulfill these words or not? He rode into Jerusalem 2000 years ago, why has there still been so much violence and war and killing since? Though Jesus has made peace between God and people by his blood shed on the cross, not everyone lives in that peace all the time here. There will come a day when Jesus will come again in full power and glory to bring a new heavens and a new earth in which there will be no more war or violence. Remember how Jesus brings this kind of peace. Riding on a donkey so that they could nail him to the cross. He did away with violence by letting the violence of human sin be placed on him. His peace was taken when he died so that peace could be yours. Because Jesus has done this, “His kingdom will extend from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.” This kind of language does back to Moses 1000 years before Zechariah. Solomon spoke this way to. It’s talking about this slice of the world that God would give his people. Zechariah may not have known all the details of how the coming king would establish a world wide kingdom. Jesus shows us how. By dying and rising and having his word travel around the world. God will continue to keep this promise. There is no person to whom this promise doesn’t apply. This is for everyone, everywhere. This king is their king too. If all this is true, then why do so many in our world have so little joy? Why do even we who gather to worship Jesus, so often feel so little joy in our lives? Jesus is king, but for his ruling power to benefit anyone, faith is needed. He doesn’t force himself on anyone, but invites everyone to believe in him, rely on him, act as if he were king. Consider the full reaction to Jesus’ coming. Some praised him but others plotted to kill him. Some rejoiced, others went their own way, indifferent to this strange man riding on a donkey. Still today, even after Jesus has suffered the cross for the sins for the world, so many don’t care, don’t want his blood. Even we spend many moments indifferent to the one who died for us and was raised. Even we spend many days as if Jesus weren’t alive and well; ready and willing to help us at any moment.
What do we need? We need him to come, as a king, but humble. And he does. Through his Word as the living one, the king. Yet he does this humbly; he’s still not pushy, not dominating. He allows us to welcome him, he invites us to praise him. He enables us to hold our palm branches up to him, and to rejoice. When you look at this king, you’re reminded who you are. “Daughter of Zion, Daughter of Jerusalem. You are the offspring of what Jesus has done, residents of his eternal dwelling place. Remember how Jesus showed up on Palm Sunday, at the cross, on easter. Remember that he’ll show up again in this world once again as king. He will one day make every one of his promises come true. You and I simply need to have faith that our King is the solution to our problems, to keep looking to him, to keep celebrating days like Palm Sunday. Find reason to rejoice, not tomorrow, but right where you are have joy. Because your King rode into Jerusalem for you, to die, to rise, he knew what was coming and he wanted you to enjoy the resurrection victory that would come. As we prepare to observe some solemn and even sad days, remember that Easter is coming, there is reason to rejoice. May God give you joy today. Amen.