The Donkey
Here's a thought. Jesus spent
the years of his ministry walking around the countryside, together with his
band of disciples, "proclaiming," as Mark puts it (1:14), "the
good news of God." Yes, I think most have the idea that he walked. Then he
arrives at the Mount of Olives, at the doorstep of his destination, Jerusalem,
a mere half a kilometre to go, and what does he do?
He
decides to ride on a donkey that last little stretch. And it's a pretty steep
pinch down into the Kidron Valley from the top of the range. It would have been
much easier walking down the path than balancing on a small donkey while it
picked its way between the rocks and ruts.
This local and his saddled ass, here on the Mount of Olives, does not let us forget that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey.
Why then did he decide to ride
down that last little distance on a donkey? It wasn't a last minute decision.
It is clear that he had planned well ahead of time to do this. This is how Mark
tells it (11:1-3): "As they
approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two of his disciples saying to them, "Go to the village ahead
of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one
had ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you,' Why are you
doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' "
Reading this, one has no doubt
that Jesus had made prior arrangements. Then the account reads almost as a
thriller when the locals demand a password from the two disciples whom Jesus
had sent to fetch the animal. "What are you doing untying that colt?' they
put to them. Then they recited Jesus' password and were allowed to take the
donkey away with them.
Yes, Jesus had definitely
planned to ride a donkey into Jerusalem on this occasion. And why? Mark gives
no specific reason, but Matthew says it was
"to fulfil what was spoken through the prophet: 'Say to the daughter of
Zion, See your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the
foal of a donkey' " (Matthew 21: 4-5).
(It is amusing to note how
Matthew then becomes a little over enthusiastic in his literal reading of Zechariah's
poetry and has Jesus riding on two animals, the mother and her colt - some sort
of circus act!)
This whole episode is a symbolic
act on the part of Jesus showing what sort of Messiah he really is. Zechariah
continues, "I will take away the
chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow
will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations."
This king, The Shepherd King of Zechariah,
will expel war and unrest from the lands - the chariots, war-horses and bows
and arrows will go - and he will rule as a King of Peace. This humility was
symbolised by the donkey, an animal often ridiculed, but in this instance
chosen by Jesus to help proclaim his message. How better to emphasise it than
to act it out.
G.K.Chesterton was an English
author and poet during the first half of the twentieth century. (Have you
watched Father Brown on TV?) Here is a short poem of his entitled, yes, The Donkey.
When fishes flew and forests walked
and
figs grew upon thorn,
Some
moment when the moon was blood
Then
surely I was born.
With
monstrous head and sickening cry
and
ears like errant wings,
The
devil's walking parody
on
all four-footed things.
The
tatter'd outlaw of the earth
Of
ancient crooked will
Starve,
scourge, deride me, I am dumb
I
keep my secret still.
Fools!
For I also had my hour;
One
far, fierce hour and sweet:
There
was a shout about my ears,
And
palms before my feet.
"Monstrous head and ears like errant wings" - Would even his mother love him?
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