Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.
Every year, when I read the part about
Jesus riding on the young donkey, my mind wanders off the topic of
the triumphal entry and I think more about the donkey.
I know that's odd. Everyone else thinks
of people shouting, “Hosanna!” or throwing coats and palm
branches, or the people who tried to quiet the crowd. I'm thinking of
the donkey.
I guess it's the situation that was
forced on the poor thing. Everything about that day is bad for a colt
donkey. One day he's chillin' with his mom at his home, the next
minute someone he doesn't know is untying him and taking him away.
Then, even though no one has ever sat on him before, someone throws a
blanket on him then they proceed to mount a full grown man on his
back. Then he is led down a road lined with crazy screaming people
waving clothing and plants in his face.
And he's expected to be calm and obey.
I don't think that is part of the donkey personality.
I worked at a church that did a
humongous Easter pageant. We had a local guy who brought his donkey
each year for the Palm Sunday scene in the play. We had to assign a
cowboy who would, if necessary, take his fingers and stick them up
the donkey's nose and pull him down the isle. Most of the time it
worked.
I know the donkey is part of prophesy,
so the writer includes it in the narrative. But there is something
more that I think of each year.
God calls us all to leave our familiar
surroundings to do a job that he has planned for us to do. That job
could put us doing things we've never done before. It will make us
uncomfortable at times. It will be scary at times. But His
expectation is that we remain calm and obey. I really don't want
someone to have to stick their fingers up my nose to make me walk
straight.
Now you can join me next year. When the
preacher is delivering his annual Palm Sunday sermon, you'll be
thinking about the donkey.
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