“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)
There is no room for division or identity politics in God’s Kingdom. All who in Christ are one. There is no place for pride or self-centeredness, or self-exaltation. Humility is the key trait which ought to characterize the children of God. But, as the events of the past years 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 and cures of COVID 19 when in actual fact, no one, 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 may have thought they were doing what 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, rioters, politicians, and anarchists have been humble enough to apologize. Humility in our world is not considered desirable or pragmatic.
In the Kingdom of God, however, humility is a trait 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 on 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 first and only loyalty and allegiance is to Jesus above all else.