Jesus, What Are You Like?
Opening Prayer
Pray that, through reading this Old Testament passage, you will learn more about Palm Sunday.
Read Zechariah 9:9-13
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
[9] 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. [10] 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. [11] As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. [12] Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. [13] I will bend Judah as I bend my bow and fill it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword. Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Of whom does this prophecy speak (Matt. 21)?Many aspects of the story of Christ’s Passion are unusual. No one could make them up. Easter is so extraordinary that the events can only have been conceived at a higher level than we can imagine. Of course, the plan came from God himself. If we need further evidence of this, we find it in the astonishing set of prophecies in the Old Testament. One strange and lovely detail in today’s passage is the donkey. Donkeys have a notable place in Scripture. It was a donkey on which David first rode to see King Saul (1 Sam. 16:20). Balaam’s ass had much more sense than his owner (Num. 22)! And the Lord himself enters Jerusalem not on a war horse or in a chariot but “on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (9; Matt. 21:5). What is Zechariah telling us about the coming Messiah? He is our righteous king, bringing salvation (9), and he will triumph over our enemies (10,13). The Jews expected all this, yet they missed him. The Son of God on a donkey is something else. He is the all-conquering king, yet he is gentle and humble, bringing peace. This is not just human history. We are being shown a deeper reality.
Apply
Pray that you might know the real Jesus, not just your (or someone else’s) preferred notion of him.
Closing prayer
Lord Jesus, You surprise and amaze me. On this Palm Sunday, may I be open to know who You really are.
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