Thousands of years ago a donkey and her colt were tied in a village near Jerusalem. The owner had left them there as he went about his business.
Two men came to the village looking for this particular pair. They were on a mission. A mission that would be memorable and quite possibly the most frightening thing this young colt would ever do.
Matthew 21 tells the story of Jesus instructing his disciples on where to find a donkey that He would ride into town.
The Pharisees and temple leaders were seeking to kill Jesus. The common folk who heard that he was coming went to out to find him. Strangers who didn’t know about Jesus were caught up in the excitement and joined in.
Jesus wasn’t going to hide from those who wanted to destroyed him. He came out in public to be recognized by all those who wanted to honor him and praise Him as God’s Son!
“The disciples left and did what Jesus had told them to do. 7 They brought the donkey and its colt and laid some clothes on their backs. Then Jesus got on. 8 Many people spread clothes in the road, while others put down branches which they had cut from trees. 9 Some people walked ahead of Jesus and others followed behind. They were all shouting,
“Hooray for the Son of David! God bless the one who comes
in the name of the Lord. Hooray for God in heaven above!”
10 When Jesus came to Jerusalem, everyone in the city was excited and asked, “Who can this be?” 11 The crowd answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” Matthew 21:6-11 ERV
In all of the excitement, Jesus was the only one who really knew what was going to happen in the next few days. It was almost time for the Jewish feast of Passover, the commemoration of their deliverance from Egypt. Passover was a time when all the families in Israel offered a sacrifice of a spotless lamb as the substitute for the forgiveness of their sins.
And now here was Jesus. He would be offered as the sinless sacrifice, the Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the world. Jesus was and is the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb!
The Jews were looking for the Messiah and felt that he would come and save them from the political tyranny that was holding them down. The crowd came to the streets waving palm branches, shouting, throwing their coats to the ground in front of the donkey.
They were wanting someone to liberate them from Caesar and his rule but Jesus came for a much greater purpose – He came to set all men free from a life of separation from God the Father.
“The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. 3 The Law of Moses cannot do this, because our selfish desires make the Law weak. But God set you free when he sent his own Son to be like us sinners and to be a sacrifice for our sin. God used Christ’s body to condemn sin. 4 He did this, so that we would do what the Law commands by obeying the Spirit instead of our own desires.” Romans 8:2-4
Many overlook the natural circumstances of this event and focus on the spiritual. The young donkey would have been terribly frightened by all the noise and the coats and the palm branches. He would have been hesitant to go forward but Jesus urged him on with calm assurance. Jesus brought peace to a turbulent situation.
Have you been in a situation that made you want to turn around and run? You just didn’t want to go forward; the fight or flight instinct was weighing in heavily on the “flight”. Then take courage as our little donkey did. Trust the One who is leading you forward.
I don’t know if you see yourself as one of the disciples who went to retrieve the colt, a member of the crowd who was there to praise the Lord or the colt who was used to carry the Savior. All had their part in the celebration.
Palm Sunday is just a few days away. Join in. Cut down some palm branches, throw your coat before the King and lift up your hands and praise Him!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!!