7/4/17
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Our Old Testament reading for this week, Zechariah 9:9-12, speaks boldly of God’s care for his people. The king will come to them. This will be no warring king fighting his way through battle with his troops, mounted on a mighty war horse. This is a king who has been victorious and is now ushering in a period of peace. He comes humbly riding on a donkey. Though a king, he doesn’t threaten in any way.
This is precisely the way that Jesus enters Jerusalem less than a week before his death. As with the king of Zechariah 9, who remembers the blood of his covenant, a sacrificial animal, Jesus pours out the blood of his covenant. In the New Testament the blood of the covenant is Jesus’ own blood. He dies for his people, shedding his blood on the cross. He delivers life to his people when they gather and receive the blood of his covenant in communion. Jesus is the one who rescues people by his blood.
What is the overall promise? The king who comes in peace, remembering his covenant, sets prisoners free and ends strife. This is the promise of God to all who believe on Christ. He is able to rescue us for all eternity. And so we eagerly await and welcome the king.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
Our Old Testament reading for this week, Zechariah 9:9-12, speaks boldly of God’s care for his people. The king will come to them. This will be no warring king fighting his way through battle with his troops, mounted on a mighty war horse. This is a king who has been victorious and is now ushering in a period of peace. He comes humbly riding on a donkey. Though a king, he doesn’t threaten in any way.
This is precisely the way that Jesus enters Jerusalem less than a week before his death. As with the king of Zechariah 9, who remembers the blood of his covenant, a sacrificial animal, Jesus pours out the blood of his covenant. In the New Testament the blood of the covenant is Jesus’ own blood. He dies for his people, shedding his blood on the cross. He delivers life to his people when they gather and receive the blood of his covenant in communion. Jesus is the one who rescues people by his blood.
What is the overall promise? The king who comes in peace, remembering his covenant, sets prisoners free and ends strife. This is the promise of God to all who believe on Christ. He is able to rescue us for all eternity. And so we eagerly await and welcome the king.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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