Meek and Lowly

“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.” – Mattew 21:5 

As I was reading the scriptures, I came across a passage that I seemed to have read for the first time. It said, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” This was quite surprising to me, since a king is usually thought of as someone who embodies majesty, honour, glamour, fame, greatness, grandeur, magnificence and authority. However, in this scripture, the king is described as “meek,” which denotes humility, mildness, gentleness, forbearance, patience and quietness. But who is this king? It is Jesus Christ the Lord – the king from ages past and forevermore. He is the prince of the kings of the earth, enthroning one and dethroning another. He reigns in heaven and yet is involved in the affairs of men.

What struck me the most was how humble and lowly Jesus was despite being the great king of the universe. He was not riding on a Lamborghini or limousine, not even a well-decorated white horse; instead, he was riding on an ass – an ordinary animal of burden that is often considered stupid. This showed me the depth of humility and lowliness of Jesus.

He came to teach us that:

• You can still be humble even if you’re high and mighty.
• Humility is the hallmark of greatness.
• Whoever follows Jesus must walk in his footsteps.
• Appearance is not the true reflection of who you are.
• A deep-rooted lowliness and humility cannot be hidden.

I believe that we should all pray for God to make us truly humble, lowly and meek. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 138:6, “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”