Rejoice Greatly!

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare that I will restore to you double. For I have bent Judah as my bow; I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you like a warrior's sword. (Zechariah 9:9-13 ESV).

Palm Sunday represents a unique challenge to a world that is so replete with difficulty. Mary and I have been spending quite a lot of time in doctor’s offices and hospital labs the last few weeks. There were many things I noticed; however, most clear was that everyone there was anxious. It reminded me that, though it is tempting to stay cheerful and go from the mountaintop of Palm Sunday’s Triumphal Entry to the mountaintop of Easter Sunday’s Resurrection, doing so by-passes the valley. Sunday-to-Sunday bypasses the cross. It bypasses the tomb of Jesus before He was resurrected. And it strips the Gospel of its power to minister to us in our deepest needs. I am so glad that we do not have a God who only understands the mountaintops. Jesus understands the valleys all too well. He has walked them feeling the same pain. He feels our pain. Today’s encouragement is that Jesus is a King who understands the valley. Today we will celebrate Jesus’ descent from the Mount of Olives into the valley of suffering, into the valley of the shadow of death. The people didn’t know. They celebrated because they thought he was heading to a coronation as their long-awaited King at the Temple Mount. From the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, but Jesus wasn’t going from mountaintop to mountaintop without knowing the valley. If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem you know that there is huge Jewish cemetery on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, facing Jerusalem. That cemetery is the traditional burial place of many notable Jews dating back to King David’s son Absalom and the prophet Zechariah. Today there are more than 150,000 Jews buried there anticipating the Messiah and the grand resurrection to come. Jesus went from the mountaintop of the Mount of Olives, past the tombs and crossed the Kidron Valley before entering Jerusalem. He knew that death could not keep him. The time of deliverance was at hand. Whatever valley you’re in today, please know that deliverance has come to all of us! Rejoice greatly!