Palm Sunday 2021

Zechariah 9.9

Introduction 

When we were kids we loved wrestling. Andrew, Brett, Luke, and I used to take all of the cushions off the couch in my parents’ family room and wrestle each other. We’d pretend to be Stone Cold Steve Austin or the Rock and because we were super cool we would play their entrance music as we walked from the kitchen into the living room. Some of you youngins might not know this but before Apple Music and Spotify there were these things called CDs. I bought all the WWE CDs with the wrestlers’ music on them so that we could make legit entrances.

There’s nothing more epic than making the right entrance. Baseball players have a walkup song when they’re headed to bat. Think about award shows like the Oscars or the Grammys. The media fawn all over stars on the red carpet asking women who they’re wearing. Or remember in Endgame in the final battle against Thanos when everyone comes back from the blip and Captain America finally utters those words we were longing to hear, “Avengers assemble!” There’s nothing more epic than making the right entrance.

Palm Sunday is when Jesus Christ makes his epic entrance into Jerusalem. It is during the feast of the Passover so the city is swollen with Jews from all over the region. This scene would have been crowded. People are shouting, “Hosanna,” which is a shout of praise but also means, “save us.” They recognize Jesus as the Davidic Messiah. And Matthew and Luke both tell us that with his triumphal entry Jesus fulfills this text we read from Zechariah.

So often on Palm Sunday we meditate together on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ red carpet entrance, and rightfully so. But this morning we’re going to look back at the text behind the event. What is Zechariah 9 all about and why is it good news that Jesus Christ is its fulfillment? Let’s look at this passage together and glory in the king in all his beauty!

Anticipating the King

Before we can fully understand the meaning of Palm Sunday we have to understand the angst that exists behind this text in Zechariah. Before we can grasp the fulfillment of this passage in Jesus Christ we have to understand the anticipation felt by God’s old covenant people. Zechariah wrote during the time of the restoration. Israel returned to Jerusalem from exile under the rule of the Persian king Darius. They began the work of rebuilding the temple and the city. Israel had not had a king on the throne in Jerusalem since Jehoiachin was conquered and imprisoned in Babylonian captivity (2nd Kgs 24; 2nd Chr 36; Matt 1.11).

It cannot be overstated how bad Israel longed for a king. The book of Zechariah mockingly begins: In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah (Zech 1.1). Earlier Old Testament prophets would announce the year of their prophecy based on the year of the Jewish king. For example listen to Isaiah 1.1: The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Zechariah does not announce his prophecy in the year of a Jewish king because there was no Jewish king. Zechariah prophesied in the year of Darius the Persian king.

Israel longed for a king because YHWH promised David that one of his sons would sit on his throne forever (2nd Sam 7). The king stood between the LORD and the people to administer justice, to enforce God’s law, and to benevolently rule God’s people. It is to this kingless people that Zechariah writes his prophecy. The first 8 chapters of the book of Zechariah are a series of apocalyptic visions. And beginning in chapter 9 Zechariah declares that YHWH will judge the nations in verses 1-8. In verse 14-17 the prophet paints a picture of the final salvation that God will usher in. And in the middle of this chapter we see where judgment and salvation collide and that is in the coming of the final king of Zion.

There is no promise Israel longed to hear more than the return of the king. Thousands of years later we can identify, can’t we? Ever since our first priest-king Adam fell in the garden humanity has lacked and longed for a mediator between God and man. We see it even now in politics. I remember being in college in 2008 when Barack Obama first ran for president. There was a messianic effect he had on his supporters. People did the same thing with Donald Trump, speaking of him as “God’s man.” Political idolatry exists because we long for a leader who will rule us in a godly and benevolent way. But we will never have a savior on Capitol Hill. Our savior walked a different hill.

Arrival of the King

And that’s what Zechariah is foreshadowing here. He calls the people to rejoice and shout aloud. This will be an occasion for celebration, an occasion for shedding tears of joy, and occasion for shouting loud. And this is the occasion: Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey (vs.9).

Zechariah tells us four things about this king: (1) he is righteous; (2) he is having salvation; (3) he is humble; and (4) he’s riding a donkey. First, this king is righteous. The Hebrew word is צַדִּ֥יק. In the Old Testament it is used to speak of the justice or righteousness of the government, of judges, of the law, and of God. It speaks of just character and being vindicated by God and his word. This coming king would be righteous and just.

As Christians we know that Zechariah was speaking of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only truly righteous man who ever lived. Jesus is without sin (Heb 4.15). He faithfully kept covenant with God securing righteousness on our behalf. This is why it is imperative as orthodox Protestant Reformed Christians that we confess that Jesus Christ was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary and suffered under Pontius Pilate.” This is why Christ could not show up and die on the cross the same day. He had to live covenant faithfulness. He had to fulfill all righteousness. He had to live without sin so that he could be an unblemished sacrifice.

Not only is this king righteous but he is having salvation. The ESV translates the Hebrew verb as active but it is a Nif’al participle, which is passive. Grammatically Zechariah is saying that this king will be victorious because he has been vindicated. He will save his people through his own deliverance and vindication.

This is exactly what Jesus Christ did through his death and resurrection. Jesus died on the cross bearing God’s wrath for sin. He was buried and three days later he rose again from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is proof that God has vindicated him. If Jesus of Nazareth had been a false prophet or merely a good teacher he would still be in the grave. But Jesus rose from the dead thus proving God’s vindication of the man and the message. Jesus brings salvation through his deliverance and vindication by God.

Third, this king is humble. He is a contrast to the Roman rulers who arrogantly and wrongfully claimed divinity for themselves. Listen to what St. Paul wrote of Jesus in Philippians:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2.5-8).

Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. He emptied himself in the incarnation and took on the burden of his creature. Jesus took on our weakness; he ate and slept. He took on our temptations. During the season of Lent how apropos is it to remember the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Jesus took on the burden of friendship. He experienced grief at the death of Lazarus. He experienced loneliness when his disciples abandoned him. There is nothing inherent in and of the Son of God that would require him to do these things. But out of love for his Father and out of love for his church he humbled himself.

Fourth, this king is riding a donkey. When first century kings conquered cities they would ride in on a warhorse. When kings entered their own city in peace they did so on a donkey. The name Jerusalem means, “city of peace.” Jesus Christ is the prince of peace (Isa 9.6) riding into the city of peace on the animal of peace.

The mission of Jesus is most ultimately about peace. When our father Adam fell in the garden we lost peace (shalom) with God. Jesus came to live, die, and resurrect so that sinful humanity might have peace with our holy God.  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all (1 Tim 2.5-6). Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 5.1). 

Jesus Christ rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday on a donkey as the great eschatological declaration of peace. Through his death and resurrection Jesus reveals the announcement of the reversal of the curse. Jesus is making a way for mankind to be with God again. He is restoring shalom.

Announcing the King

Because the anticipated king has arrived we must announce that the king has come. Through his sinless life, substitutionary death, and saving resurrection Jesus Christ has secured the forgiveness of sins and the hope of resurrection for all who repent and believe. If you are not a Christian I believe with all my heart that God in his providence has brought you today to hear this message. In your unbelief you are at war with God. You must turn from your sin and trust in the person and work of Christ alone. If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10.9,13).

For those of us who trust in Jesus Christ the Father gives us his Spirit and we have the privilege of announcing the good news of Jesus. We do this through evangelism, which means telling unbelievers the good news of Jesus. We also do it through discipleship, which means teaching believers the good news of Jesus. We do this through the catechesis of our children. We do this through gospel conversations over lunch. We do this as we have relationships with people and they see that our lives are distinct.

It is imperative that we remember that the Bible teaches a Reformed soteriology. That means that we cannot save people, only God can. We are not able to change people’s hearts. We are not called to make people say a prayer, walk an aisle, or get baptized. We are simply called to announce the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

We are called to tell people that God is holy, they are sinners, that Christ died for sin and if they will repent and believe in Christ alone God will save them. If you feel guilt or pressure to make someone make a decision, repent of that and rest in the work of the Holy Spirit. He is sovereign. You are not. As one poet wrote, “We are like mockingbirds, we have no new song to sing. We are like amplifiers, we just tell people what we’ve heard.” We announce the good news of our king.

Awaiting the King

As we are announcing the good news that our anticipated king has arrived, we are also awaiting his return. Jesus’ triumphal entry on Palm Sunday not only fulfills this prophecy in Zechariah 9, but it also foreshadows His 2nd advent when he will raise the dead, judge the world, and make all things new. The return of Christ is indispensible to orthodox Christianity. For two millennia Christians have confessed that Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the resurrection of the body and life eternal.

And so while there’s an element of Palm Sunday that causes us to rightly look back at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, we must also look forward. His return is a warning and an encouragement. It is a warning to all who reject him. Because when Jesus returns he will do so to judge unrepentant sin. And it is an encouragement to his people who long for the new creation. When Jesus returns he will make everything sad untrue. Finally and fully he will be our God and we will be his people.

When Jesus returns he will abolish coronavirus and cancer. He will do away with pandemics and the politicization of all things. Adultery and divorce will be no more. Spousal abuse and child abuse will be history. Manipulation, greed, and theft will be done. Gossip, ulterior motives, gas lighting, and sub tweeting will be a thing of the past. Racism, sexism, hatred and anger will not inhabit the new world. Murder and war will not be tolerated in the kingdom of Christ. Every relationship will be without suspicion. Every conversation will be pure and honest. Sin and death will be swallowed up in victory. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God (Rom 6.9-10).

Conclusion

The King made his entrance on Palm Sunday. On that day the crowds shouted, “Hosanna!” On Good Friday they would shout, “Crucify him!” The King of the universe is a crucified and risen King. And either we will bend the knee now or we will do so when he returns to judge the living and the dead. Look to the cross. Look to the empty tomb. When you do so, you will see the Kingdom of God. The good news for this Palm Sunday is the same good news we announce every Sunday: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again!