Proper 9: Old Testament, Zechariah 9:9-12                             

Zechariah 9:9-12

Several years ago, a couple of decades at least, a book was all the rage in the Christian bookstores (what’s that, right?). It was titled, “The Five Love Languages.” It was a work delineating how each of us has a “language” to which we respond in relationships, especially those with our spouses. I cannot remember all the categories but it was a helpful work for many and occasionally I still hear people citing its influence, almost always to the good. But to our reading this week I would like to give the tag, “Love Labels.” It is one thing to search the heart for your own affinities. It is wholly other to be given a name, a label or category by the Lord Almighty. And in Zechariah the Lord calls His faithful followers “prisoners of hope.”

Effective that label is because it juxtaposes two pieces that seem so contradictory. Prisoners. Hope. I have, by God’s grace, never been in prison. But from what I understand and from conversations I have had with those who have been there, a prison is not generally a hopeful place. The people to whom Zechariah speaks and writes have been through it. And their families before them. Prisoners we usually think of as those who have lost their choices, their rights, their independence. If you’ve never had those things you could only dream. But if you’ve tasted freedom and had it taken from you, or if you’ve lost it because of your own bad choices, there is a hunger to have them back. I suppose that’s where the hope piece comes in.

The gist of the hope for the people in Zechariah’s day is this: “Expect the Messiah!” He’s coming to them in an event that is past history for us. But there is always that second or future fulfillment that the prophets often put on display. So as the Messiah was expected on a kingly donkey (think Solomon), so their Messiah and ours is coming this time on a white horse, robe dipped in blood. 

Look up, prisoners of hope. Your Messiah is coming.