THE LOWLY KING (Palm Sunday Thoughts)

Humankind by our very nature thrives on attention and adulation. We are enamored by celebrities, powerful leaders, status, and laud all things with high standing and notable visibility. We line up to see Presidents, tune it to watch royal weddings, and revel in the pomp and circumstance of award shows with all the glam and glitter that entice our very eyes—and hearts.  

So if you were God…with all the power and might of the heavens, wouldn’t you find it fitting to have your Son—your only Son—enter this world with every bit of jubilee as humanly imaginable. And if not at His birth, at the very least when He steps into the climax of His ministry.

Yet, out of all the ways Jesus should have revealed Himself to us, it was God’s prerogative to do so in obscurity and lowliness. In humility!

You see, according to Zechariah 9:9, the Scriptures point to how this King would come, not in mighty pomp, but in mild peace to establish peace: ‘Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

In short, Jesus is righteous and mighty, yet He chose the way of humility. Likewise today, God still chooses to come to us through our heart’s brokenness and He does His greatest work through our mind’s repentance.

To be biblically candid, this holy posture is the only way for our spirits to prosper (Matthew 5:3). Because when we truly humble ourselves before Jesus, we make a way for His arrival to be seen by those around us (I Peter 5:6). And the world needs to see the peace of God in us, more than ever, in a time like this.

So remember during this time of Holy Week, our God is countercultural, revolutionary to modern day thinking, and counter intuitive to all that is part of our natural inclination. Jesus came by way of humility, and He still comes this way presently. He desires to meet each one of us where we are in our most basic of conditions and He promises that His grace is sufficient to cover our broken dispositions (II Corinthians 12:9).

And that’s why we should desire to know nothing more than the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us on Calvary. He was broken for us so that we could be made whole in Him. In addition, during this time of empty churches, let us savor the fact that the tomb is empty too!

So put away all fear, dread, and that which is unknown, and know this: The cross proves how God loves us where we are, while the tomb proves how He doesn’t leave us the way we are. He is risen indeed, and He is risen in me!