“All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”
AND we begin again, at His approach up to Jerusalem, with shouts of Hosanna ringing out, the faint echoes of “Crucify Him!” haunting the scene, for we know how this ends. The humble Master enters His own Temple with an outrage that shatters its peaceful commerce and calls hypocrisy by its true name. We begin at the end, and we end up here, looking forward to Christmas, and to all ends. Looking—but what is our looking about? What are we looking at, and what are we looking for?
The old prophet who has returned with his people to the destitution of their former land sees an earnest but pathetic attempt to erect another Temple, a shadow of the one that the great Solomon had once built here in the country’s mightiest days. Now, horribly reduced in power and population through God’s judgment of their idolatries, by the exile to Babylon, and by assimilation into other tribes, cultures and distant countries, the handful who have returned attempt this feat, ashamed not to do it, without king or royal line or army or any noble government, fearful to be destroyed by hostile neighbors far more powerful than they, wondering if the distant Persian emperor can really protect them way out here on the shores of the Mediterranean. The stones go one upon the other, and an edifice rises with their hopes. Inspired in prayer and meditation by the God who is honored at this moment, in this holy place, the prophet of God exclaims, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” Zech 9:9
Modern language shrinks such moments by deflating important words of their true sense and depth of meaning. What does it mean, Behold, thy king cometh? Some translations simply rid us of the useless word Behold. One says, Lo! Another says, See! Is this just a hiccough, a verbal cue that something important follows like, Oh! or Hey! or Man! might be used by us today? Well, the English language once created new verbs by using the prefix be- as in belittle, bespeak, bemoan, befriend, become, betray, or besiege. It might turn a noun into a verb, or intensify an active verb, making it a kind of summoning of power. To behold is to be something and also to hold it. In this sense, to hold it with your eyes, to let your eyes go out and grasp something and not let go. It’s more than simply to say, Look! Rather, it’s to see and take in and own and become someone new through the holding of something greater than yourself. It’s always something greater, for we don’t behold dust or bugs. Behold thy king! He cometh! It’s a hopeful cry, and a command for us to engage with a superior being and, engaging, we become something more than we were.
The Jews on that dusty road remembered the words of the old prophet Zechariah, written five centuries earlier at their forefathers’ return from exile. Now in a humble gesture, a carpenter’s son rides a young donkey toward the capital of this troubled possession of distant Rome. Five centuries, almost all under foreign rule, with their only hope gleaned from the scrolls of ancient seers, expecting, waiting, hoping, praying for Messiah, the Son of David who would restore the glory to His people Israel. Hosanna to the Son of David, they cried now, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. St. Matthew remembers the prophecy and recounts it for us, “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.”
Behold: don’t pass that word by. In the King James Version, the word Behold occurs 1,275 times, over 100 times in Genesis alone, making it a creative word too. “God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.” Gen 1:29 It points out and creates at once. Then we take possession of it, with our eyes first. One of the greatest commands of this kind is found in Isaiah where, 750 years before Christ, the prophet exclaims, “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Isaiah 40:9-11
Behold. It’s Advent, our New Year in the Church. There are many new years for many cultures. Chinese New Year comes near winter’s end, Persian New Year at the first day of Spring, Jewish New Year in the fall with days of atonement and remembrance. The secular New Year follows the ancient birth of the Sun, a few days after the solstice extinguishes by the year’s longest nights, then the days begin to lengthen again. But the Christian New Year looks both back and forward, as New Years must, beholding Jesus who came and who will come again. Behold. Like the sun in the sky rising earlier and setting later, yet far more glorious, the Son of God rises from earth’s clay in the form of a man child, rises from obscurity in a northern province to overturn the moneychangers’ tables in His Father’s Temple, rises up on a cross to die and yet to destroy death, and rises from the tomb on the third day. Behold.
And He returns. Settled for this age at His Father’s right hand, we expect some day yet another triumphal entry. “Behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev 19:11-16
God is, for our physical eyes and in normal circumstances, invisible. For one brief moment in time, God came in human form and, finally visible, lived with us. We may envy His compatriots at that time who got to see Him, but it was no treat to be Jesus’ disciples either. Never was He treated with His due, nor were they. The early Jews saw columns of fire and cloud, smoke and lightening: clear signs of God’s great presence, but they ran in fear or ignored the wonders of His power for hunger or jealousy, panic in the first signs of hardship. To see God with your eyes in any form is not easy on you, and in fact may be a challenge. We, in this age, are not lacking evidence, nor opportunity to behold Him, however. For He is here.
Advent shares the Jewish hope for their Messiah to come, anticipating a longed for fulfillment of prophecies remembered and greatly cherished. Advent calls up the verses yet unfulfilled of His great return to take rulership and set down all enemies, astride His white horse. Advent also welcomes Him today, for He comes now, to you and to me, with grace and power and transformation of our lives to His eternal purpose, for we live not in former days nor in the very day of His return. This is a great time, nonetheless. Behold, your God. Behold, thy king cometh. It’s more than physical vision. See and take hold of the One who reveals Himself by many clear and wonderful signs and senses. It’s better to grasp God by your spiritual eyes than to see Him with your eyeballs. Truly. Our human brains can mistakenly interpret wonders, turning them into familiar symbols and sights. But God gets through when we look with the heart and soul, with our spiritual discernment and with faith. Behold your God. He is here.
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matt 1:23 “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” Luke 1:31 “Behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent.” Matt 27:51-52 “Behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it… And the angel said, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said… Behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him…” Matt 28:2-9 “Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name… Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev 3:8-13 “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” Rev 22:12-13 Behold.
Look, see, grasp, hold and own what you have been shown. It’s not enough to use our eyes, for the scripture says we can see our own faces in a mirror and then look away and forget even someone as familiar as ourselves. Eyes alone can’t get this vision, for it’s a thing of the heart and soul to see God this way. Look for Him with your inner vision, grasp Him with your spiritual understanding, know Him by what He reveals to you and become in Him the one He beckons you to be.
Behold your God. Behold thy king cometh.
PFH+