Palm Sunday

Zechariah 9:9-12

 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
 Behold, 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.

The Donkey

by G. K. Chesterton
  

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.

 

 

 

    God seems to have a special affinity for the "tattered outlaw of the earth."   Everytime  I read about a donkey in Scripture I think of Pauls words: "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Cor 1:27).  The perfect example of this is the story of Balaam, one that we don't read very much but its one of my favorites (look for it in Numbers 22-24).  Balaam, the prophet whose "eye is opened" (Num 24:15) is saved from destruction by his donkey who sees the sword wielding angel in the road to which Balaam is blind. 

    But today must be the great day in all the history of the donkey, the fulfillment of the great donkey prophesy.  The King of Kings and Lord of Lords comes riding into the city not mounted on some great steed or in some ornate chariot, but astride the foal of a donkey.  What a strange picture this must have been to a people used to the victory parades of conquering Romans! 

    The beast whose very name is a by-word, an insult, is the one afforded this great honor, the one who brings the Lord into his city.  This should tell us something about who the Lord is, and about what his reign as King is like.   It should also tell us something about whom the Lord uses, and what great things he can do with those that the world writes off. 

     He has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise.  Today we remember how he did that with a donkey.   Later this week we will recall the most spectacular example of this principle, the cross.