Bishop Barron's Palm Sunday sermon on the prophecy of Zechariah and the kingship of Christ
Bishop Robert Barron delivers a Sunday sermon connecting the prophecy of Zechariah to the kingship of Jesus Christ.
Summary
Bishop Barron preaches on the 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, drawing on the first reading from the prophet Zechariah to explore the nature of Christ's kingship. He argues that Zechariah's prophecy — describing a king who arrives meek, riding on a donkey, and who banishes all instruments of war — was a radical departure from every expectation of ancient kingship, and that Jesus fulfilled it precisely and deliberately, including on Palm Sunday when he entered Jerusalem exactly as Zechariah had foretold. Bishop Barron contends that what seemed like an impossible dream for a small, defeated nation at a low point in its history has been empirically vindicated: the reign of this non-violent king now extends, through the Church, to the ends of the earth. He closes by drawing on St. Paul's letter to the Romans to explain what it means to live under Christ's dominion — not mere moral imitation, but organic incorporation into the life of the king through the sacramental life of the Church.
Key Takeaways
FULL TRANSCRIPT
The Prophet Zechariah and the Coming King
Bishop Barron: Peace be with you, friends. We come to this 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, this midsummer weekend, and we're reading in our first reading from the prophet Zechariah. The prophet Zechariah may not be as well known as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and company, but he is a very important figure for the Lord Jesus. Jesus very carefully attended to the book of the prophet Zechariah, because many of the elements in it Jesus fulfills in his ministry. Nowhere is this more famous than in this prediction. Listen to Zechariah: "See, your king shall come to you, a just savior, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass."
Now, it's interesting. Israel is waiting for a king. That's a basic theme in the Old Testament. Adam, in fact, is seen as a king who went bad, and from the time of the fall, Israel is waiting for a king who will actually lead the people well to the Lord. From Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses — in their own way they are kings — and then up through Saul and David and Solomon, Israel is looking for the leader who will bring the people to the Lord. The long wait. Well, what will he be like?
This is where Zechariah is very interesting. You'd think a new David — the Messianic king — would enter his capital city in triumph, in stateliness, riding a great charger. No. Here is how the king will come: meek, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. On a little young beast of burden. That's how he comes. And does he come full of energy and violence and threats, like a mighty king in the ancient world would? Even our leaders today, we tend to look at them as these mighty figures. No — he's meek.
Jesus Fulfills the Prophecy on Palm Sunday
Well, Jesus, of course, imitates this exactly. That's how he comes into his holy city. Think of Palm Sunday — purposely fulfilling this prophecy of Zechariah.
But now listen as Zechariah goes on. Bear in mind that Israel, ancient Israel, is a very warlike people. Go back, if you doubt me, to the book of Joshua, the book of Judges. Look at the accounts of Israel's warfare, the brutality, the violence of its leaders. So, a warlike people — and I'm not blaming Israel, all the ancient peoples were like that. But listen now as Zechariah describes the work of this triumphant king.
"He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim" — Ephraim just means northern Israel — "and the horse from Jerusalem. The warrior's bow shall be banished. He shall proclaim peace to the nations."
What? I imagine people in the ancient world saying, "What? This is your triumphant king?" We see these things as rather quaint, perhaps, because we see them in picture books. But he shall banish the chariot. For ancient peoples, the chariot was terrifying. We would have to think of something like a tank — the most highly equipped tank on a battlefield. This metallic thing with wheels, drawn by mighty horses. Think of a simple ground soldier, an infantry soldier with a spear. The chariot was terrifying. That's what a mighty king would use to terrify his enemies. No — he's going to banish the chariot. No tanks.
And banish the horse from Jerusalem. Again, don't think of a horse just galloping peacefully around a field. The horse was a mighty instrument of domination. Someone riding a horse, armored, with swords and spears — fearsome. He's going to banish the horse from Jerusalem.
The warrior's bow shall be banished. We can think of bows and arrows at the Olympics, or we see children practicing in PE class. But in the ancient world, to say "bow and arrow" would be like saying "AK-47." That was the most aggressive instrument you had to conquer your enemies. He's going to banish tanks and AK-47s and all these instruments of war. And then he'll proclaim peace to the nations. Ancient kings were expected to impose their will on the nations — maybe you could call that peace. But authentic peace, in the absence of all the instruments of war — that is what he will do.
The Extraordinary Scope of the Prophecy
Now press it further. Zechariah still speaking: "His dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth."
When was Zechariah writing? He is a figure around the time of the return of the exiles from Babylon, the time they are building the second temple. It was a kind of low point in the history of Israel. Israel reached its greatest strength under David and Solomon. Then the kingdom falls apart. The northern kingdom is attacked by the Assyrians and carried off into exile. The southern kingdom is attacked by the Babylonians and carried off into exile. The nation is effectively destroyed. And now some of them have begun to trickle back to Judea and Jerusalem, tentatively rebuilding the destroyed temple. That's where they are. Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome — nothing like that. They are a little nobody, a little nothing of a country at a low ebb in its fortunes.
And what does one of its prophets say? The king of Israel will extend his dominion to the ends of the world. It is one of the most extraordinary things, from a purely historical and literary standpoint, how these Hebrew prophets were able to say what they said. Nothing in objective history would validate this. And yet they see this non-violent, peaceful, humble, and meek king extending his authority to the ends of the world.
The Prophecy Fulfilled — Empirically
You might say, "All right, that's an ancient text, and this man was dreaming." But here's the thing, everybody — it came true, and it is true empirically today.
When they saw Jesus and his work, they saw the fulfillment of this prophecy. Yes, he enters into the holy city just as Zechariah said he would — not a mighty conqueror, but a prince of peace. On Mount Calvary, he takes on the wickedness of the world. That is true. But not in the manner of the world. No — he is thrust through. And there is a passage in Zechariah that predicts exactly this: that the Messiah, the king, will be pierced through. What do you mean, pierced through? I thought he is the king. Yes, but strangely, this king of peace and non-violence, as he begins his reign, is pierced through. It happened. It happened in Jesus, pierced through on the cross.
Rising from the dead, Jesus says to his disciples — not revenge, not "I'm going to get you," not "how dare you" — what he says is shalom. He utters a word of peace. Wielding none of the weapons of the world, he takes on the darkness of the world, and then breathes forth his peace.
What was over his head as he hung upon the cross? That sign that Pontius Pilate — unwittingly, the first evangelist — put up: Yeshua Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum. Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Yes, Pilate meant it as a joke, but the joke was on him, because Jesus was in fact precisely the king predicted by Zechariah. That was over his head. And what was on his head? Meant as mockery — a crown of thorns, a kingly crown. Jesus from the cross, pierced through, uttering a word of forgiveness, wearing a crown of thorns, with a sign announcing his kingship over his head, is the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy.
The Spread of Christ's Reign to the Ends of the Earth
Now take another step. His dominion began on that little squalid hill, Calvary, outside the walls of Jerusalem. It began in the most unlikely place in the most unlikely way. But what did the first Christians do? Having come to understand this, they announced: Jesus kurios. Jesus is Lord.
St. Paul's ministry is understandable only in light of this. He is announcing to everyone who will listen that Jesus is Lord. Paul ends up, as Peter does too, in the great city of Rome. Why did they go to Rome? Because they knew that from Rome, this word would go out to all the world — as indeed it has.
Where is the reign of the king predicted by Zechariah? From sea to sea. From the river to the ends of the earth. Yes. It's called the Church. Think of all the followers of Christ who have heard this message about the king on the squalid hill of Calvary. His reign, through the Church, extends all over the world. How moving it is, how powerful it is — this strange text from the ancient world, fulfilled indeed in our hearing and in our sight.
What It Means to Live Under Christ's Dominion
Now, just a word. That is the Zechariah text about kingship. But what does it mean now to be drawn under the dominion of a king?
We have lost a sense of this, because we think of our political leaders as bureaucrats, managers, politicos — people who make things happen through legislation and so on. But for ancient peoples, that was not it at all. The king was a mystical figure. The king was the one in whom a people found their identity. Kings were seen as healers in the ancient world. It was in the king that people found their identity, their sense of purpose, and all that. That is why the execution of Charles I in England, the execution of Louis XVI in France, and even of Tsar Nicholas at the beginning of the Bolshevik Revolution were so unnerving. For the king to be destroyed was unnerving for the entire people.
Well, Christ is king in that ancient sense. His dominion comes as we are drawn into his power.
Listen now — second reading, St. Paul to the Romans: "If the spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his spirit that dwells in you."
The dominion of Christ has extended out to the whole world. How do we get into that dominion, or under it? By becoming grafted onto him. Think now of the sacramental life of the Church. What is that? Is it just imitating the moral example of Jesus? Sure, we do that. But it is a much deeper, stranger, richer, more organic idea — being incorporated into the life of the king. The one predicted by Zechariah, the king of peace and non-violence. Through the Church, we are now drawn into his power.
I don't know anything really more dramatic in the Christian life than this. Take out your Bibles. Look at that ancient text from the ninth chapter of Zechariah and realize it is fulfilled now in our hearing.
And God bless you.