Dear Saints,

When’s the last time you saw a show of triumph steeped in humility? From super bowl parades to presidential inaugurations, most victory celebrations are lavish and extravagant affairs, leaving absolutely no doubt as to who came out on top. No surprise there: success is sweet and we love to glorify it.

But long before Jesus came on the scene - about five centuries before, in fact - the Book of Zechariah foretold a total shakeup of what it means to win. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

Humble and riding on a donkey? What kind of celebration is that?! It leaves all kinds of doubt as to who’s winning and who’s losing. And - fawning palm branches aside - what unfolds next doesn’t offer a whole lot more clarity on that front.

Except that it does. In fact, the story of Holy Week shines all the light we need to understand the state of play. Jesus came to Jerusalem to triumph, and that’s what he did. To be sure, it wasn’t a conventional victory; after all, he wasn’t facing a conventional opponent. But he left absolutely no doubt as to what he accomplished: the defeat of death itself. Talk about a win worth glorifying.

Christ’s Peace,

Father Daniel

δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ