Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion

Read John 12:12-19

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

I may or may not have told you this, but I can read minds.  Some of you are already thinking, “I bet he wants us to say that at the end of his two-hour sermon.”

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!  There might just be a time for that.  There is a time for everything…

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

     a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

     a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

     a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

     a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

     a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

     a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

And there was a time for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem and be hailed as King.  There was a time for the people to cry out to him to save them.  Hosanna!  Hosanna in the highest!

Blessings and petitions from his own people who lined the road into Jerusalem defined that day.  It was as scripture had defined the moment.  Jesus road on the colt of a donkey.  He was given the royal treatment.

If you read the account in Luke’s gospel, the religious leaders thought that everyone was getting a little carried away.  They tried to rebuke Jesus for his disciples—and we are talking about more than the 12—as they were just taking this whole trip into town into town stuff to the extremes.

How did Jesus respond?  If I tell them to be quiet, then the very rocks on the side of the road will cry out in acclamation of what is happening here.  

Because what was happening here had been foretold by Zechariah. 

The religious leaders should have known exactly what was happening, but they suffered from the blindness of the Pharisees.   God’s own people had suffered under terrible leadership for too long. 

God had given the law to Moses so that the people could live good lives.  If they did what the law commanded, they would be in debt to no one and could freely forgive the debts of others.  The law provided a good model and obedience would leave the people in good standing.

Here is a big one.  If the people would live as God commanded, there would be no poor in the land.  Think about it.  If you live as the law commands, you will be blessed, God’s storehouse will be full, you will do no harm to your neighbor, and nobody will be poor.  That last part defies every economic model that we know today.  Someone always gets the short end of the stick.

The problem was that the people could not live by the law.  They tried and failed.  Tried harder and failed.  Didn’t try very hard at all and failed.  They just could not bring their rebellious human nature into obedience to holy God.

So the people missed out on many blessings, were conquered several times, and seemed to have poor people everywhere.  When Jesus came, he told these people who should have no poor among them that the poor would always be with them.  Had something changed?  No, the law offered possibilities—potential if you will—and Jesus spoke of the state of the people who could never live up to the law.

God’s own people were a mess, but their King had come.  He came riding on the foal of a donkey.  There was hope that as God had required his people to cancel debts, that their own debts to God might be cancelled.

There are some words here that we sometimes read past as we get excited with Hosanna, and blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and your King is coming seated on the colt of a donkey.  What words?

Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion.

The Daughter of Zion verbiage was used several times in the Old Testament.  Zion is Jerusalem and the daughter is God’s people.  More than that, they are people in need of salvation.

The message that is ubiquitous in God’s word is do not be afraid. 

Oh you 12 tribes that have made a mess of things, do not be afraid.  The Daughter of Zion cries out Hosanna meaning save us and that salvation that you cry aloud for rides before you on a little donkey.

Do not be afraid.  Things were going according to plan.  God’s own people probably didn’t like the plan that was unfolding before them, but it contains the very thing they desired so much—salvation.

Had the crowd known that Jesus had already been anointed for his burial, they might not have cheered so vigorously.  Had they known that Jesus would breathe his last on a Roman cross in just a few days, it might have put a damper on things.  Had the people know what was required by the plan of God, they might have opted out or protested or posted angry emojis.  For this is not the way they would have put together a plan of salvation, but that plan was at work nonetheless.

We look back two millennia with fantastic hindsight.  We see how those pieces fit together, but how about now?  How about in our time?  What do we see?

Some have eyes to see blessings, lots of blessings.  A home, heat and air, running water, indoor plumbing, and food not just in abundant quantities but in unbelievable variety.  Those are some blessings.

Throw on top of that a vehicle or two per family.  The fact that Jesus walked everywhere, except for one trip into town on a donkey, has not held us back.  What a blessing the automobile is—wow!

But we also know trouble.  Discord, violence, global war—of which our nation is involved almost everywhere, and the never-ending threat of nuclear war—it only takes one crazy man to set that disaster into motion—that has hung over us for 7 decades now mark the tribulation of our modern lives. 

We know hatred and vitriol and fatal automobile accidents.  This can be a mean world.

We would like the world to get in step with God, and one day it will, but it appears that such a day is not in our immediate future.  And so, that leaves us to cry out to God to save us.  In the middle of this crazy world where blessings and blasphemies both grow like the wheat and the weeds, we ask God to save us from this insanity.

And we should hear God’s answer, for he has answered us.  He tells us not to be afraid.  He tells us to take courage.  God has not abandoned his plan for us.  He told us in advance that we would have trouble in this world.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Take heart, take courage, do not be afraid are God’s consistent messages to his Chosen People and now to us. 

In the week ahead, I want you not only to think about the kids and the palms and Jesus riding into town on a young donkey; but think of how much God loves us in the passion that would take Jesus all the way to the cross.  I want you to realize that God’s plan unfolded just as prescribed in that first century.

I want you to know that in the insanity and discord and vitriol of this modern world, he still has good plans for us.

He has already saved us from sin and death having any say in our eternity and he will never abandon us, even in our darkest hour.  He has not orphaned us in this world that has forsaken him.

He has answered our cries for help and sends us into this dark world with hope.  He sends us out as his light.  He sends us out with good news for a fallen world.

And as we go, do not be afraid, take heart, and take courage.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Amen.