Lessons from a Donkey
By Alan R. Rudnick
What needs to be untied in our lives, so that we can
praise and honor God? When it is untied and let go, nothing
can stop the love of God and neighbor that is inside of us.
Palm Sunday is the day when we, like Jesus’ animal
companion, are set loose to be used for the work of God.
When I was a boy, my church distributed huge palm branches to the
children who proceeded down the center aisle at the beginning of the
service. I remember it being a celebration filled with excitement
and joy. As a seven-year-old, I was excited that we could walk down the aisle
during worship waving a tree branch around and shout aloud without being
reprimanded by parents. It was the only time in church that we were allowed
to shout, yell, and jump. Through the years my pastor preached different
themes on Palm Sunday, focusing on the children, the disciples, the palm
branches, the road to Jerusalem, or the crowd’s excitement. However, there was
never a focus on the donkey that Jesus rides or what the donkey could teach us.
One Palm Sunday scripture, Luke 19:28-40, is not like the others, and in
its peculiarity it is truly worth a second, third, or even a fourth look. Luke
paints the picture of Jesus before his death with specific details. Christ is
walking up to the city mount; it is quite a climb up to Jerusalem, which sits
about 3800 feet above sea level. Earlier the evangelist has written that Jesus
“set his face towards Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51), a prophetic phrase which means
that Jesus’ mission was with the Holy City. Now Jesus has reached the edge
of Jerusalem and must face his last meal with his friends, betrayal, trial,
punishment, and finally death. So, how is he welcomed into the city? With
joy, celebration, and anticipation. How ironic it is that some people who
welcome Jesus as King would be among those who shout Jesus to his death.
Lessons from a Donkey
Jesus instructs two unnamed disciplines to go into the village ahead and
look for a colt (John 12:14 states that this animal is a donkey). Who were
these two disciples—John and James, or Peter and Matthew—and why are
they unnamed? Usually when disciples do something significant in the
Gospels, they are mentioned by name. Apparently Luke deems their
assignment—to find an animal for Jesus to ride—to be of little importance. I
have often wondered if these two disciples sensed the lowliness of their
mission. I imagine them saying to one another:
“Jesus is always sending us on ‘go-for’ missions—go for this or go
for that. Remember when he sent us to get some fish and bread one
time? Oh, then there was the time he wanted us to produce a coin
with Caesar’s face on it.”
“Yeah, I remember that. And there was that time at a wedding
when we had to get those heavy jugs of water, and then Jesus turned
the water into wine.”
“Why is Jesus always doing the exciting work while we do the
dirty work?”
“How come we can’t be like Peter, and get to do the cool stuff like
walk on water!”
Jesus wanted to let his disciples know that he was not sending them on
a “go-for” mission—the equivalent of a modern-day Starbuck’s run. Little
did these two disciples know that their task was critical to the Palm Sunday
event. They are to retrieve a donkey, which is perhaps the most overlooked
character in the story. Unlike Balaam’s donkey in the Old Testament, this
one does not speak nor impart some divine wisdom.
This donkey was born for Jesus’ wonderful work. It had not been used
or ridden by anyone else. This donkey was tied up so that it could not
wander away or be taken by someone else. It was waiting for Jesus to
climb on to ride.
The colt (polos) has royal associations. Jesus’ riding the donkey echoes
this regal arrival in Zechariah’s prophecy:
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.
Zechariah 9:9
Nevertheless, to modern readers, the donkey seems to be an unlikely and
surprising device for Jesus’ use. That is because we see donkeys primarily
as work animals capable of carrying heavy loads, or as docile creatures used
for children’s rides, but certainly not as the animals of choice to transport
triumphant kings.
In the ancient world, however, donkeys were used for
ceremonial purposes. Whereas horses were symbols of war, donkeys were
symbols of peace and often used to enact treaties.
Here is more significance to the donkey in this story. Earlier I noted the
donkey was tied up and had to be untied by the disciples. In five verses in
Luke 19 the word “tied” or some form of it is mentioned. The detail is
important. This donkey was created for a purpose and was meant for Jesus.
It was tied; it needed to be untied. Why does Luke emphasize this several
times?
There is an insight here.
We are often tied, aren’t we? We are tied down by many things—by
guilt, anxiety, and concern. Some of us are tied down with the need to
forgive, but we cannot bring ourselves to do it. Others are tied down to
obsessions or chemical dependence. We may be tied down to our smartphones
and tablets, and be unable to put those devices down. Some need to let go
and not be afraid to show love, peace, faith, joy, or the gospel to others. As
Christians, we need to be untied from what weighs us down. Palm Sunday
is not just a celebration of Christ as King, but a celebration of Jesus as our
liberator from dependencies and afflictions. We need to be free to experience
Jesus in our lives. We are meant to ride with Jesus: to follow him on his
journey to Jerusalem, the Holy City, the city where God dwells. We were
created with a purpose: to love God and love each other. As a pastor, I
witness every day the real-life troubles that bind people to dysfunction and
they are too scared to untie themselves from the chains of fear.
We cannot fully commit to God when we are tied. We must be released.
We must surrender our burdens and our weights to God, much like the
owner who surrendered his donkey to the two disciples. By relinquishing
our own burdens, we can praise and worship God freely. We can praise him
just like those who praised Jesus with palms and coats, saying:
Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of Lord!
Peace in heaven
and glory [to God] in the highest heaven.
Luke 19:38
When we are untied, we can live a life of faith free from the pressure
of trying to hold things up. When we are free, we can praise God without
any hindrance. It is a spirit of relinquishment, of letting go of that which weighs us down so mightily, that which we fight against because we are so used to fighting it.
Palm Sunday is an occasion when we can ask ourselves, “What is it that
needs to be untied in my life, so that I can praise and honor God?” When it is
untied and let go, nothing can stop the love of God and neighbor that is inside
of us. It is in our nature to praise God, as it is in all things; even the very
rocks of the earth could proclaim the glory and power of God (Luke 19:40).
Palm Sunday is the day when we, like Jesus’ animal companion, are
untied and set loose to be used for the work of God. Palm Sunday frees us
to experience Holy Week in a way that does not hold us from truly singing
loud “Hosannas” and “Alleluias” on Easter morning. Let us be untied to
share in the Palm Sunday event so that we may unite with the One who was
tied on a cross to be our savior.
NOTE
The donkey is just one of the unlikely instruments of divine praise in this story, though
(as I have said) it is the most neglected one. John 12:13 mentions the palm branches waved
by the crowd, which gives Palm Sunday its name in the Church calendar. Luke describes
the people laying their coats down on the road for Jesus (Luke 19:36), and Mark and
Matthew has them spreading their coats and leafy branches on the pathway (Mark 11:8;
Matthew 21:8). When some Pharisees complain about the people’s exuberance, Jesus
explains “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (Luke 19:40). John
Wesley got it exactly right in his commentary on this verse: “That is, God would raise up
some still more unlikely instruments to declare his praise.” (John Wesley’s Notes on the
Bible, Luke 19:40)
Alan R. Rudnick
is Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa, New York.