The Journey Begins — Part 3: 03/27/2024

Broadcast

                      The Journey Begins - Part 3
                             Zechariah 9:9
                              03/27/2024


        9    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.  (ESV)

        Five hundred and twenty years before the birth of Jesus, the
   prophet Zechariah wrote:
        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.


        Kings and priests were anointed with oil to show that they
   were chosen for their exalted positions.  Jesus was anointed with
   the water of baptism to be both our eternal King and our eternal
   high priest.  As the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ, He
   was indeed holy and righteous.  He, and only He, can bring
   salvation from sin, death, and the power of the devil.

        Martin Luther commented:
        Here there is no violence, no armor, no power, no
        anger, no wrath.  All these, you see, are proper for
        kings of this world.  Here there are only kindness,
        justice, salvation, mercy, and every good thing.[2]


        To call the king righteous is to say that He rules on behalf
   of the righteous God, Himself.  Not only does this King rule
   according to God's holy will, He brings salvation from the
   bondage of sin.  This is unlike human rulers, even good rulers,
   who are tainted in all things with the sin of Adam.

        The Holy Week journey to the cross continued.  As the shouts
   of the crowds faded, Jesus taught His disciples about the end of
   the world, about the last days of both Jerusalem and His return
   to judge the living and the dead.  The King of Righteousness
   continued to prepare His people for their salvation.

        May our Lord grant that we recognize this king.  Amen.
  ____________________

   2. Luther's Works, American Edition, vol 20, p. 94