Prisoner of Hope

Zechariah 9:9-12

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!

    Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!

See, your king comes to you,

    righteous and victorious,

lowly and riding on a donkey,

    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will take away the chariots from Ephraim

    and the warhorses from Jerusalem,

    and the battle bow will be broken.

He will proclaim peace to the nations.

    His rule will extend from sea to sea

    and from the River to the ends of the earth.

As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

    I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.

Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;

    even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.

No doubt this passage above will sound familiar to many.  Matthew quotes it in telling the story of Jesus asking his disciples to fetch a donkey for him to ride into Jerusalem.   To someone like Matthew who was familiar with the ancient writings of Zechariah, Jesus riding into Jerusalem would have been an exhilarating fulfillment of prophecy.  Because of the fantastic way that Jesus fulfills these words, we often miss some important details in the description of the one on the donkey.  Lets attend to them now.

First, he is indeed a king.  He is not someone who wants to be king; he already is the king.  This suggests that the person on the donkey is the chosen king of God and a descendant of David. Another important assumption is that this king arrives already righteous and victorious.  There has been no military battle and yet the king is victorious and declared righteous. The kingdom he ushers in is one of peace, not war and unity, not division.  All this is symbolized by the donkey. 

Although Zechariah spoke primarily about the events in Jerusalem, this coming messianic king will establish a kingdom “from sea to sea.”  This is not just a restoration of Israel after the exile, but a restoration of Israel’s purpose going all the way back to Abraham to be “blessing to all the nations of the earth.”  The donkey-riding king will bring peace not just to Jerusalem, but to the entire world.  Furthermore, he will not only bring peace, but freedom.  It is this part of the prophecy for which we still wait.

Zechariah’s instructions to his hearers is to “return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope.”  I love the phrase “prisoners of hope.”  It summons the idea of a hope from which you cannot free ourselves.  No matter what happens, this hope still seizes us.  My experience has been that this kind of hope is only possible with God.  Hope in all else will eventually fade.  Inescapable hope rode into Jerusalem that day.  I needed to think about that today.  Unshakable hope is scarce today unless you know where to look – more accurately, to whom you know to look.  I’ll close with one of my favorite Psalms.

Psalm 121

I look up to the mountains—

    does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth!

He will not let you stumble;

    the one who watches over you will not slumber.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel

    never slumbers or sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you!

    The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

The sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all harm

    and watches over your life.

The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go,

    both now and forever.

Prayer:  Lord, may your hope take us prisoner.  May we never get free from our hope in you. Amen.

Prayer Focus:  Continue to pray for all those displaced by the fires out west

Song:  Gaither Vocal Band – Prisoner of Hope