“Claiming Kingship”

Devotional – Wednesday, April 6, 2022

“Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—riding on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9, NLT)

How do you recognize a king? His crown? His secret service entourage? His royal insignia? In Jesus’ case, none of the above. People recognized that Jesus was king by what he was riding—a donkey’s foal. Wait…what? A donkey? Shouldn’t he have at least been on a warhorse—big, bold and covered in armour? Nope!

The Jewish people had been waiting for God’s promised Messiah, the Rescuer, to come and save them from the Romans, to give them peace and to reign over them just as his ancestor David had done. They had expected the Messiah to be a king who would take on their enemies and chase them out of the country, so many would have preferred Jesus to show up on a warhorse. However, the prophet Zechariah had painted a very different picture of their coming king.

The prophet had written that the Messiah would come on a young donkey that had never been ridden before—an animal ridden by kings as a sign of peace—not a warhorse prepared to trample on the enemy. So, when Jesus showed up, riding on a donkey, everyone got excited. Jesus was claiming to be a king…‘that’ King! The crowd grew and got so loud that everyone in Jerusalem heard the noise. After so many years of waiting, there was no keeping quiet.

But many in the crowd missed the whole point. Jesus hadn’t come to wage war on the Romans and rule as an earthly king of the Jewish nation; he had come to bring peace between God and humanity as The King over all.

Jesus is our Prince of Peace. He wants his followers to spread the news that, because he came, we can now have peace with God and be included in his family. But it still requires that we recognize him as our king…that we set aside misplaced expectations of what he’s going to do for us. The next time he comes as king, he won’t be riding on a donkey, but returning to earth from heaven on the clouds. Before that day happens we need to recognize him as our King and get busy doing the work of the King.

Pastor Jane