Psalm Sunday Communion Meditation

Zechariah 9:9–12 NIV

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the warhorses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

Shouts of joy are to greet Jerusalem’s king. Daughter Zion, Daughter Jerusalem, shout because this coming king is proclaiming a new era. The instruments of war—chariots, war horses, bows, these are removed or broken in the new coming kingdom. Instead of these, peace will be proclaimed among the nations. The messiah is coming. His rule will be everywhere, unlimited in scope. Zechariah along with the Royal Psalm 72 agree that his rule will cover the entire earth.

This king is righteous and victorious. Wow what a ruler. What more could we want. Someone who vanquishes war, has no limits to his rule and authority and does right in the world and is right with God.

There’s another characteristic Zechariah mentions about this powerful and victorious king. He’s lowly. Lowliness isn’t a normal description of someone who is victorious and rules over all the earth.

The lowly person is at the bottom, despised and rejected. Afflicted. The lowly are mocked, scorned and insulted. A lowly person is fed to the mouth of the lion and trampled by the horns of the ox. A lowly king doesn’t die in his bed surrounded by his courtiers and all the comforts of the rich but on a cross so that his blood can free prisoners from the pit. So . . .

Rejoice greatly daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!

Let’s pray.

God we see your righteous son coming on a donkey a king who vanquishes war and proclaims peace. One who is victorious and righteous and also lowly. We thank you now as we are invited to the table you have set for us. We feast together as a family of believers called out of the darkness of the pit, restored to a new life. Jesus’s righteousness and victory are now ours thanks be to God!

Amen