The Lowly King

Humankind, by our nature, thrives on attention and adulation. We are enamored by celebrities, powerful leaders, status, and laud everything with high standing, notable visibility.
We line up to see presidents, tune it to watch royal weddings, and revel in the pomp and circumstance of award shows with all the glam and glitter that entice our eyes and hearts. If you were God, with all the power and might of the heavens, wouldn’t you find it fitting to have your only Son enter this world with every bit of jubilee as humanly imaginable? If not at His birth, at least when He steps into His ministry’s climax.
Yet, out of all the ways Jesus should have revealed Himself to us, it was God’s prerogative to do so in obscurity and lowliness – In humility.
According to Zechariah 9:9, the Scriptures point to how this King would come; not in mighty pomp, but in mild peace to establish peace: “Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
In short, Jesus is righteous and mighty, yet He chose the way of humility. Likewise today, God still chooses to come to us through our heart’s brokenness, and He does His greatest work through our mind’s repentance.
To be biblically candid, this holy posture is the only way for our spirits to prosper (Matthew 5:3). When we truly humble ourselves before Jesus, we make a way for His arrival to be seen by those around us (1 Peter 5:6), and the world needs to see the peace of God in us, more than ever, in a time like this.
Remember, just because Holy Week passed doesn’t mean the reality of its meaning went with it. Our God is still countercultural, revolutionary to modern-day thinking, and counter-intuitive to all that is part of our natural inclination.
Jesus came by way of humility, and He still comes this way presently. He desires to meet each one of us where we are, in our most basic of conditions, and He promises that His grace is sufficient to cover our broken dispositions (2 Corinthians 12:9). That’s why we should desire to know nothing more than the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for us on Calvary.
He was broken for us so we could be made whole in Him. During this time of empty churches, let us also savor the fact that the tomb is empty, too.
Put aside all fear, dread, and that which is unknown, and know this: The cross proves how God loves us where we are, while the tomb proves how He doesn’t leave us the way we are.
ED. NOTE: Maher is the teaching pastor at Coastal Christian Ocean City and is president of Soldiers For Faith Ministries. Social media and website: @TruthOverTrend.