“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9 ESV)
As the events of the past year have demonstrated, humility is not a common characteristic of human beings. Perhaps, out of a concern not to spread panic, governmental and medical officials alike spoke with authority and certainty about the causes of COVID 19 as well as its cures when,in actual fact, no one, at least in the early days of the pandemic knew what to do or how to control it. These so called authorities and experts did not want to admit they did not know what to do. That would be a sign of weakness. So although they did what they thought was best, mistakes were made. People died. In addition, governmental lockdowns opened the way for social and political unrest. And few (if any) of the experts or the rioters and anarchists have been humble enough to apologize. It is a character trait that is considered neither desirable nor pragmatic.
In the Kingdom of God, however, humility is to be displayed by all in imitation of Jesus. Zechariah prophesied the coming of the Messiah as King riding on a donkey, a symbol of humility. This image may seem to many today to be comical, something one would expect in a circus. Our cultural ideas of a King are based on the Hollywood version of history. Hence we would expect a King or ruler to be a powerful warrior riding a white horse, a drawn sword in his upraised right arm at the head of a mighty army, or perhaps driving a chariot drawn by powerful steeds.
But to the Jews there was nothing comical about a King riding a donkey. Nevertheless their concept of the Messiah was not a man of humility as the prophecy tells us, but a man who would deliver them through military conquest and throw off the yoke of oppression by slaughtering his enemies.
The prophecy was fulfilled by Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem coming to be crucified. When Jesus entered in triumph on that Palm Sunday, he came as the King of Peace, to bring peace between God and man. He gives us this peace through his own self, through His sacrificial death on the cross. Through Jesus we who are of different nations and ethnic groups are united as one family. We are first and foremost citizens of the Kingdom of God, not of any earthly one. Our loyalty, our allegiance is to Jesus above all else.