The lowly king

The Jews in the time of Christ were expecting a king that would come and take out the Romans, putting Israel back to the top. This was their view of what the Messiah would do, and while it's true that not everyone held this view, it seems to have been the most prevalent view at the time. Which is interesting because it goes completely against the prophecy about who the Messiah would be and what he would do.

Zechariah, for instance thought quite differently:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zechariah 9:9 NIV)
This is, of course, the prophecy about Palm Sunday, Jesus comes in riding on a donkey, it's hard to miss the image when we see this prophecy in Zechariah. The issue is that THIS was the promised Messiah, he would come and be lowly, Zechariah even uses the word lowly. Not only does he not come on a horse but he comes on a donkey, not even a donkey but a donkey's foal. The true king doesn't need to be all fancy, his title speaks for itself and he can live as one of us.

All Jesus' contemporaries saw was the rest of the passage:
I will take away the chariots from Ephraim
and the warhorses from Jerusalem,
and the battle bow will be broken.
He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His rule will extend from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope;
even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.
13 I will bend Judah as I bend my bow
and fill it with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece,
and make you like a warrior’s sword. (Zechariah 9:10-13 NIV)
All they saw was this militaristic king, one that would come and beat up all the other nations. The issue here is the word 'peace' that is what this whole passage revolves around, it occurs in the middle of verse ten. God wasn't talking about a military victory but rather a spiritual victory. God will expand the borders of his influence through winning a spiritual battle, he will defeat sin in the death of Christ. Jesus' blood is spilled that creates a new covenant which frees us from our sin "the waterless pit".

So Lowly is Jesus that even the moment of his birth isn't very impressive, Jesus is born among all the animals and is placed in a feeding trough, Jesus isn't in some palace being attended to be dozens of servants but he is lowly, yet he is God. Christmas is when we celebrate God's coming down and living among us, and he didn't do it hold it over us how much better he is but rather he lived exactly as we would, spurning the position he could have had to experience our lives. How great is our God