"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." - Zechariah 9:9
LUKE 19
29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
30 Saying, Go ye into the village over against you; in the which at your entering ye shall find a colt tied, whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.
31 And if any man ask you, Why do ye loose him? thus shall ye say unto him, Because the Lord hath need of him.
32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose ye the colt?
34 And they said, The Lord hath need of him.
We know from the history of that time that a colt was a very prized possession, one of the most valued possessions a household could own. It would one day serve as transportation, pull a plow, cultivate fields and carry items to market. In short, this young colt was going to play a major role in the health and prosperity of this family.
I suppose we can assume from the story that the owner of the colt recognized Christ as his Lord and when he understood that the Lord was making such a request, no more questions were asked. What a sacrifice of faith on the part of this man and his whole family. But what a reward to know that the King of Kings would ride on his family donkey!
35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the acolt, and they set Jesus thereon.
36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way.
37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
38 Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and aglory in the highest.
39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the astones would immediately cry out.
41 ¶ And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
Does Christ still cry for us because we do not understand the things that bring us peace, we don't understand his message of peace, because we lack the faith and feel that his message is too demanding, complicated, hard that we are not willing to give away our indispensable colts for Him?
What will it take for us to turn unto Him? In the parable of the prodigal son, famine first forced the young man to focus on his physical needs of hunger and lack of money. He got a job feeding swine and he would have gladly eaten the same food pigs eat, until "he came to himself." He had a spiritual awakening and realized that his father had the ability to feed all his servants, even during that same famine. The young man realized he needed to focus on his spiritual hunger, on the well being of his spirit and knowing that the Father would be welcoming him back, he set off to return home.
43 For the days shall come upon thee, that thine aenemies shall cast a btrench about thee, and ccompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
44 And shall alay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one bstone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy cvisitation.
