Consider the Donkey

Text: Mark 11:1-10

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          It’s not often that we consider the donkey. And for good reason, I guess. The key actor in the triumphal entry to Jerusalem is the one riding on the donkey. All eyes are on Jesus. He’s the reason the people are shouting Hosanna! He’s the Son of David. He’s the King of Kings. But there is something to be said for the fact that God had everything planned and everything was in its proper place for Christ’s necessary work from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. So, we

CONSIDER THE DONKEY.

          G.K Chesterton wrote in a poem titled “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 tattered 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.

And, indeed, the donkey did have his hour. It was “one far fierce hour and sweet.” And who but our God would choose such a lowly way to enter His City as the long-awaited, long-promised King? Who but our God would choose to ride a donkey, a beast with a monstrous head and ears like errant wings? Who but our God would deliberately choose to ride a donkey on His way to save the world by being the sacrifice for the sins of all?

But it makes sense, doesn’t it? Because Jesus, our God in the Flesh, also came to be a beast of burden. He came to bear the burdens of our entire race. So, it makes perfect sense for Him to ride a donkey.

Such is the way of our God who was born in a cattle stall to refugee parents in an occupied land. Such is the way of our God who would bring life to the world by taking the world’s death into His own body. Such is the way of our God. He takes the humble, lowly way. That’s His way of conquering.

And our God didn’t give up this humble and lowly way after He earned our salvation on the cross. His glory was shown in His suffering. In His willingness to hang on the cross. He won’t show us glory and power as the world thinks of it until the Last Day. That’s when He’ll come to judge the living and the dead. On that day, He won’t come riding on a donkey, but on the clouds of heaven. But until that day, He conquers in a humble way.

By considering the donkey of Palm Sunday, we consider the humble and lowly ways Christ continues to come to us today. Through water, bread, wine, and words from a man’s mouth God still chooses to come to us, to be our servant King. Like a donkey, these means look so ordinary and unimpressive. The world scoffs at these humble means just as it scoffs at a King riding on a donkey to win a kingdom. The Romans must have looked at Jesus and shook their heads. But for Christ’s chosen, the lowly way of the donkey is the way of eternal life.

2,000 years ago, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to save us. Today, He still comes to us in much the same way. That’s why we still cry out in our liturgy: “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

So then, what does this way look like today? We see it when a pastor pours water over the head of an oblivious infant. We see it even more clearly when we preach that baptism is the difference between eternal life and eternal death, between heaven and hell. It seems absurd, yet the Apostle Peter proclaims the truth when he says that “baptism saves you.”

This way is also proclaimed when the pastor speaks our Lord’s words over bread and wine, which we then receive into our mouths. It seems absurd, yet Jesus Himself proclaims this way. He says that if one eats this food in faith, he will not die, but will live forevermore.

How else can we see this way? People gather to hear the Word, week in and week out, listening to the eternal truth preached from a book whose last words were written 2,000 years ago. It seems absurd, but again Jesus Himself proclaims this way. He says such preaching brings someone not only into repentance, but even into the forgiveness of sins. And where there is the forgiveness if sins, there is also life and salvation.

This is the way God decided He was going to conquer, and from which the Church to this day lives, moves, and has her being. The world mocks us that we, the Church, can even exist from such a seemingly humble way. And more than one voice, even from within the Church, has called the Church to give up such a humble way. They say the Church needs something more impressive. Peppier music. More exciting programs. Something that looks a lot more like the world outside these walls. But we inside the Church, we know Jesus’ way. We know the way of the donkey.

Because we know who the donkey was carrying into Jerusalem that fateful day. We also know what He was coming to do. Jesus didn’t come to battle and crush our earthly foes. He came to battle and triumph over sin, death, and hell. He was riding to be the sacrifice for all times and for all people who would trust what He came there to do.

He came to deliver on the promise made to the serpent when God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” At the cross, God kept this promise through the humble work of His son. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Even if He had wanted to choose a more noble steed, Jesus was beholden to the promises made long before He walked the earth. The promise made to God’s people through the prophet Zechariah that, “your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

And so, we delight in the donkey that Christ used on Palm Sunday, and we continue to delight in the humble means He continues to use today. Christ’s Word comes riding into our lives, attached to living water, claiming us as His own. That such a Word and Water give us the promise of eternal life, that’s God’s way of conquering.

Bread and wine become Jesus’ body and blood. He gives them to us to eat and drink, so our sins are forgiven and so that we’re united to Him and His endless life.

But that doesn’t fully describe this humble business of Christ. For Jesus even wants to use humble servants like you to bring Him and His Gospel to others. He would even have you invite others. Because He wants everyone to join in the never-ending procession that surrounds the One who comes riding to us in such humble ways.

Yet, we in our sinfulness can easily forget our Lord’s way. When that happens, we easily become seduced and disappointed. For Jesus won’t change His ways to satisfy our sinful wants. He refuses to unleash His power and might to overthrow our enemies. That’s only going to happen on the Last Day, when He will come in glory, in all His splendor and majesty.

But when we forget that, we can feel let down when our Lord doesn’t smash our every sinful urge, quiet our every fear, or heal us from every disease. We pray, wanting a powerful warrior on an impressive warhorse. Instead, we get a rabbi on a donkey. We want God to destroy whatever troubles us. Instead, the fallen world still haunts and mocks us. We want immediate deliverance. Instead, we still must battle our ever-present sins. We want the way of glory, not the way of the cross. But Jesus will come to us in no other way. He comes in His humble way.

“Behold, your king comes to you.” He comes to you in ways the world will see as powerless and unimpressive. The donkey was not the ride of a king. It was the ride of a servant. Jesus entered Jerusalem in humility for the same reason He was born in all humility. He came to serve, not to be served. He came to give His life as a ransom for many.

Yes, Jesus still comes to you in the way of the donkey, in lowliness and humility.  He still comes to you to take from you your sin, your death, your hell, and to give to you His own righteousness. That’s why, even to this day, the Church has never stopped crying out to Him: “Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!”

So, “Behold your King…humble and mounted on a donkey!” You may want an impressive God who dazzles you in earthly ways. But Jesus has other ideas. This is how He has chosen to come to you. And by faith we delight in His way. His way which provides for us and continues to form us. For He doesn’t only want us to recognize Him is His humility. He also wants us to grow in the faith. He also wants us to take up our crosses and follow Him.

It’s time for us to be His servants, letting Him direct and move us. It’s why we prayed in today’s collect: “Mercifully grant that we may follow the example of His great humility and patience and be made partakers of His resurrection.”

It might not be the way we would choose to go, but it is His way. The way of the donkey. And the way of the cross. May God grant us the strength to follow His way this Holy week, and all throughout our lives. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.