SERMON : The donkey is the key
This morning’s Gospel reading describes Jesus’ Triumphal entry into Jerusalem - which happened at the beginning of one of the most momentous weeks in Antiquity – in AD 29.
Resume.
Jesus decided to go into Jerusalem, even though it was a dangerous place for him.
Saint Matthew wrote that Jesus came to Jerusalem to fulfil Zechariah's prophecy –written about four centuries earlier that one day the true King would come, not on a magnificent war stallion, but on a young donkey.
9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
It might seem a small detail but this event – but I don’t believe that the Triumphal Entry simply HAPPENED.
I think it was well planned.
Why?
Well it is a small detail
You will recall from our reading that Jesus told his disciples to go into the next village, Bethphage and find a small donkey that was tied up – and that they brought it back to Jesus.
We read in Lk 19:33
33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
And as the donkey had owners (plural), they had to be poor.
And given that they were poor, the donkey would have had to be a sizeable investment for each owner.
So have you ever wondered WHY the owners would have parted with the donkey to complete strangers - the disciples.
The disciples would have had to be strangers to the donkey’s owners – otherwise Jesus would have simply told them to go and get the donkey from “Judah ben Jacob” and his partner.
There has to be a clue in what the disciples are told to say to get the donkey: “The Lord needs it."
Not Jesus needs it but “the Lord needs it.”
They could easily have answered – who is “the Lord” but there is no record of them doing so.
It seems to me that the most likely explanation has to be that it was a pre-arranged code word.
If this is so, Jesus has put a lot of meticulous planning into this event.
Why did he do so. Well I think he knew Judas would betray him and so that Judas would not know what was going on – and report it to the chief priests who could have stopped it – he sets up this clandestine op.
So if Jesus has planned the event, what is the point that He is making by riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.
I think Jesus is challenging the folk religion of his day.
Popular religion of Jesus’ day was looking forward to a Messiah who was going to be an all conquering hero throwing the Romans out and re-establishing Jewish sovereignty.
Indeed that was probably one of the reasons that the crowds turned out
Indeed this might well have been part of Judas Iscariot’s motivation when he betrayed Jesus.
He might well have been trying to force Jesus’ hand – and make Jesus the leader of a Maccabean style revolt.
After all, we know that Judas Iscariot was probably a Zealot – the member of a terrorist organisation of its day dedicated to terror and murder.
There was even a group of Zealots, the Sicarii known as the dagger men, who wouldn’t think twice about walking down a road and stabbing a passing Roman soldier in the back with a dagger.
The aim of the Zealots was to drive the occupying forces out – a bit like HAMAS in the Holy Land today.
But Jesus did not fulfil the wishes of Judas or the crowds in Jerusalem.
Instead of leading an armed revolt against the Romans, he turned on the Temple and overthrew the moneychangers.
For Jesus, the motif of Messiahship was to be found in Isaiah 53, the suffering servant rather than a triumphant king:
Isaiah says this about the Messiah:
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace
was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Indeed the prophecy from Isaiah mirrors exactly what happened to Jesus starting with his arrest on Maundy Thursday and going on to his death on Good Friday
There is something amazing in that – and it shows just how the OT and NT are linked.
It strengthens the case for the legitimacy and importance of our whole Bible.
A Jew in those days would know his Torah/Pentateuch inside out and Jesus would have known it too
But Jesus gave them and us a very much greater insight!
The scandal of Holy Week for many is this.
Jesus - God in human form - didn’t come as a King in the way we would expect a king to come.
He came as a servant – a suffering servant. He came to take away the sin of his people.
His death on the Cross was – in the words of the Book of Common Prayer – a “propitiation for our sin”. (that is to make atonement for our sins).
And the simplicity of the Gospel is this.
That we don’t have to jump through hoops to please God.
Ours is not a faith of works, as St Paul said in Eph 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph 2:8-10)
St. John puts the simplicity of the Gospel like this:
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
Conclusion:
On Palm Sunday, Jesus comes into Jerusalem – not on a charger, not in pomp and ceremony – but on a donkey.
He chose a donkey – because he was making a statement.
That to follow Christ means following the path of humility.
Can I leave you with a story from the Donkey’s perspective on the events around Palm Sunday
The Donkey
The donkey awakened, his mind still savouring the afterglow of the most exciting day of his life. Never before had he felt such a rush of pleasure and pride.
He walked into town and found a group of people by the well. "I’ll show myself to them," he thought.
But they didn’t notice him. They went on drawing their water and paid him no mind.
"Throw your garments down," he said crossly. "Don’t you know who I am?"
They just looked at him in amazement. Someone slapped him across the tail and ordered him to move.
"Miserable heathens!" he muttered to himself. "I’ll just go to the market where the good people are. They will remember me."
But the same thing happened. No one paid any attention to the donkey as he strutted down the main street in front of the market place.
"The palm branches! Where are the palm branches!" he shouted. "Yesterday, you threw palm branches!"
Hurt and confused, the donkey returned home to his mother.
"Foolish child," she said gently. "Don’t you realize that without Him, you are just an ordinary donkey?"
SOURCE: Edited from Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks by Wayne Rice. Copyright 1994 by Youth Specialties, Inc.
Just like the donkey who carried Jesus in Jerusalem, we are most fulfilled when we are in the service of Jesus Christ.
Without him, all our best efforts are like "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) and amount to nothing.
When we lift up Christ, however, we are no longer ordinary people, but key players in God’s plan to redeem the world.
When we go out at the end of the service, I or Barbara will say: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” and you will reply by saying: In the name of Christ, Amen.”
Will you then go forth to be all that you can be when you walk with Christ and he walks with you.
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Let us pray:
Father, during this time of Lent and Passiontide, may you give us ears that are willing to listen to what you want to say to us.
May we keep the Cross of Christ before us – realising that we need to crucify our own carnal nature and take on the nature of Christ
May we be willing to embrace the changes you wish to bring to our lives
