JESUS IS KING
ZECHARIAH 9:
9. Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem;and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
……………………………………………………………………….
Jesus is King. It is a simple sentence. For Christians it's so self-evident like an axiom in mathematics. Regarding to the Wikipedia, in classic philosophy, an axiom is a statement that is so evident or well-established, that it is accepted without controversy or question.
Thus, axioms are well established assumptions, actually so well established, that even math says, that we can not prove that an axiom is true, but there is no need to prove an axiom, we just feel that they are true. Thus, big segments of math and science, where axioms are used in a regular basis are based on mere, but well established beliefs.
It can apply a bit to our general acknowledgment of the kingship of Jesus, that we take it as granted, like an axiom in the most general sense, that if anybody is a king on Earth, then Jesus is more of a king than anybody else, because his kingship is from Heaven an not from Earth. Jesus himself told it to Pontius Pilate in the Gospel of John chapter 18, that "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn't be delivered to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here."
Also, John the Baptist declared about Jesus in the same Gospel, that "He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all."
It looks simple, it might sound simple, but still, the issue of the kingship of Jesus is quite complex. It looks like that the Gospel of John, which was written at least 100 years later after the other three Gospels, elevated the case of the kingship of Jesus to the universal level. However, originally it might not have been the case, as the original notion of the Messiah King is a Davidic King, who rules over a renewed, but still geographical Israel.
Jesus himself told it to the Canaanite woman in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 15, that "I wasn't sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
Accordingly the crowd of the Palm Sunday greeted Jesus as an Israelite king, by shouting that blessed is the Son of David, the one, who is coming in the name of the Lord. They gave him a royal reception by waving the palm branches and taking off their upper clothes putting it down under the feet of the donkey Jesus mounted.
Actually, the donkey had an important role in the theatrical processional of Jesus on Psalm Sunday, as an important element of the tableau vivant, as it was the visible referral to the famous prophecy written by Zachariah, chapter nine, that "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your king comes to you; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt the foal of a donkey."
The term of the Son of David, although it is a profound Messianic title like one of the messianic titles, still it expresses the well-known opinion of the sages which became also the contemporary view of the crowd, as well, that if any Messiah King will come to rescue Israel from the oppression of the Romans or the oppression of any kind or regathering the 12 tribes from exile, that person must be a real descendant of King David and it is even better, if he would be a straight line descendant of David.
In two Gospels, the Matthew and Luke, we can find two different family trees of Jesus, though they look alike, differing from each other just a little, and both pedigrees are like a statement, that Jesus indeed is a straight line descendant of King David. Thus, although these can be understood as spiritual requests regarding the spiritual kingship of the Messiah over the world in the name of God, still they are also a proclamation of Jesus' royal birthright for the very throne of David in Jerusalem by the virtue of his physical lineage.
It looks clear, that the crowd was serious, when they greeted him as a physical King.
It looks clear that the contemporary temple leadership, the collaborationist High Priests approved by the Romans, and their entourage, took the royalty claim of Jesus seriously and found it dangerously subversive. It looks clear that the Roman Empire and its governor of Judea took the royal claim of Jesus seriously, as such a threat to the empire, that Pontius Pilate signed the death sentence after a considerably complex trial.
It looks clear, that they charged Jesus with mutiny against the Emperor, by claiming kingship. The very ultimate question asked by Pilate from Jesus was that "Are you the King of the Jews?" and He answered him, "So you say."
Even the gathered audience doubled it down, when "At this, Pilate sought to release him, but the crowd cried out, saying, "If you release this man, you aren't Caesar's friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!"
Although Jesus stated that his kingdom is not in Earth, still he must have had a real royal pedigree, as the Gospel repeatedly declares it,that Jesus had it indeed. Either from the Davidic paternal lineage, or, though it has been never mentioned, it could have been also from his mother's possible Hasmonean lineage.
That is why the Gospel of John recorded, that according to the charge and the sentence, Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. There was written, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." The chief priests of the Temple therefore said to Pilate, "Don't write, 'The King of the Jews,' but that, 'he said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
Nonetheless, these matters all belong to the temporary world, though they are important details how the redemption and the rescue plan of God unfolded in the life and the cross and the resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus, himself, in the Gospel of Luke, guided the attention of the disciples to a little bit different realm, when Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, "The kingdom of God doesn't come with observation; neither will they say, 'Look, here!' or, 'Look, there!' for behold, the kingdom of God is within you."
Thus, as the faith is growing in us, so the Kingdom of God is growing on Earth. May we greet Jesus as God’s Messiah Christ, the one who utters the Kingdom in the name God on Earth, together with the celebrating crowd of the Palm Sunday, with the great expectation, that the time will eventually come, when every name and every country will kneel before his Majesty. May the Lord’s name be blessed, may God’s will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
