Readings for Sunday, July 5th

I hope that you all had a good Fourth of July. It was quite a remarkable one given our 250^th Anniversary.
 
And I hope we’re all praying for peace in these unsettled times. This is something we should be doing all the time. As Christians we’re committed to both prayer and peace. And this is a time to intensify our praying for peace.
 
I ask this in a special way considering the constant flow of news coming out of the Middle East and the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, not to overlook the fact that there are many other regions experiencing war.
 
With the continuing violence many Americans, I’m sure, find their experience of our 250th Anniversary somewhat dampened.
 
Our first reading today offers an ancient Jewish prophecy on peace from the prophet Zechariah. 
 
Zechariah is depicted directly behind me on that marquetry in the center. He’s predicting a future king. His words inscribed there, in Latin, read, “Aspicient ad me quem confixerunt.” 
 
“They will look upon me whom they have pierced.” 
 
Zechariah isn’t prophesying that he himself will be pierced. Someone else will. At some point in the future.
 
Zechariah lived 2,500 years ago, just as the Jewish people were returning from exile in Babylon (Iraq). The Jews had been conquered and then battered around for fifty years in a foreign land. And now they’re returning home, looking for hope, looking for a sign that God is with them.
 
Zechariah gives them hope. “Rejoice heartily, O Zion, shout for joy. Your king shall come to you.” There’s the hope. It’s about a king.
 
The Jews need a king. The kings of Egypt had kicked their ancestors around a thousand years before. The king of Babylon recently knocked them around. That God would give the Jewish people a new king was welcome news, “music to their ears.” 
 
And the people thought: we want a strong king, a good king, who will lead us to prominence. 
 
That’s what all nations seem to want. The Romans wanted strong kings. So did the Greeks.
 
And then Zechariah says a bit more. “See your king will come to you - as a just savior - meek - and riding on an ass - a baby donkey.”
 
And the people think, “Wait a minute.” We like the first part, about a king. But the second part? Meek? 
 
Our new king is going to be meek? And ride a donkey? We don’t need “meek!” We don’t get it! 
 
Strong kings are meant to ride powerful horses, Arabian chargers. Our king is to ride a donkey? 
 
“Yeah,” says Zechariah, “that’s what I’m telling you.”
 
And there’s more. The king will banish the chariot from Ephraim, that’s up north in the country, and banish the horse from Jerusalem. 
 
“Wait a minute!” they think. “That’s us! That’s our country. Banish the horse? The horse is strong.”
 
Yes, the king that’s coming, says Zechariah, will be non-violent, meek and ride a donkey. 
 
Well, whatever the world has in mind…God often doesn’t.
 
It’s interesting...this prophecy about a peaceful king. And here’s what makes it interesting.
 
Five hundred years after Zechariah another prophet appeared, from Ephraim. This prophet appeared in northern towns like Nazareth, Capernaum and Nain. 
 
And he said things like:
 
“Love your enemies.”
 
“Bless those who curse you.”
 
“Pray for those who persecute you.”
 
“If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn and offer him the left.”
 
“The one who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”
 
This new prophet taught love, compassion, forgiveness.
 
And then, at the culminating moment of his career, this prophet went to Jerusalem. This prophet who was also a king didn’t ride a fine Arabian stallion like the kings of Babylon. 
 
No, he did just as Zechariah said. He rode into the city on a donkey and was called King of the Jews.
 
The prophecy of Zechariah, five hundred years earlier, came to fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. 
 
And when soldiers nailed him to a cross, they placed a sign over his head. It was spelled out in three languages - Greek, Latin and Hebrew - so no one could miss it - “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.”
 
The new king wasn’t wielding the power of the world but wielding God’s power - the power of love, forgiveness and compassion.
 
The “worldly” sometimes think he’s a joke. But you know what? He’s the king God raised from the dead. 
 
God didn’t raise King Tut, the Egyptian, from the grave. Or a Roman emperor. Or any of the Greek kings. Or any of the Babylonian kings. He raised this non-violent King, the one Zechariah said, “they would pierce.”
 
“They will look upon me whom they have pierced.” 
 
And look upon this King we do!
 
It’s in his uniqueness, his peaceful way, that we Christians find our way in life.
 
Said Zechariah: Israel will have a king who will banish the weapons of war. He will come riding on the back of a donkey, a symbol of gentleness.
 
And to this king, the most powerful of all kings, the King of Kings, Christ the King, we should pray, in our time, for peace.