The Unsung Hero of Palm Sunday
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Mark Basily
During this time, the love of humanity is shining. Everyone looking out for their neighbours. Do you need anything? How can I help? Among all this, have we asked God if He needs anything?
Theologically, can God even be in need? God is the Provider, what could He ever need from me?
In the gospels of Palm Sunday, Jesus expresses His need for a donkey. The donkey holds a prominent position in all four of the gospels. While the palms of Palm Sunday are only mentioned in one of the four gospels, the donkey gets mentioned in all four. And there are specific requirements that Jesus had for the donkey.
If we focus on the gospel of Luke – the donkey had to be tied up. This is essential and is mentioned five times. He tell the disciples that they will find a colt that was tied. Not any colt, but this particular one had to be tied. He tells them to loose the colt and bring it to Him. If anyone was to ask why they were taking the donkey, it was because the Master was in need of it;
“Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ thus you shall say to him, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” 32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, “Why are you loosing the colt?”34 And they said, “The Lord has need of him.” – Luke 19:30-34.
The emphasis throughout the account is on the tied-up donkey that needed to be loosed before it was brought to Jesus.
Why were these requirements emphasised so strongly in the Gospel accounts? What was the purpose of the donkey? At the time of the Passover, thousands of Jews would travel into Jerusalem for the feast. They would all walk into Jerusalem from all the surrounding towns and villages.
But Christ doesn’t walk into the city, he takes the donkey that he insisted upon. This reflects Zechariah’s prophecy that is mentioned in Matthew’s account of the gospel;
Behold, your King is coming to you;
He is just and having salvation,
Lowly and riding on a donkey – Zechariah 9:9
When the people saw the scene of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, the One who had just raised Lazarus from the dead, they could see the fulfilment of the prophecy. They began chanting the royal psalm as Christ entered;
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord,
Through which the righteous shall enter.– Psalm 118:20
It continues,
[Hosanna!] We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
27 God is the Lord,
And He has given us light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.– Psalm 118:26-27
Christ was coming to bind the sacrifice to the altar. He doesn’t do it in the way we expect. He binds the sacrifice to the altar of the Cross. The donkey was not the sacrifice. The donkey was already bound, but then loosed out of necessity.
When we ask the question, does God have a need for anything, we see the need He had on that day and the one that He still needs from us today. He needed a donkey to fulfil a prophecy that He had come in peace and humility. This was a sign to the Jews that their Messiah had come.
Today, Christ still needs a donkey. We are the donkeys, but not just any donkeys, the donkey that Christ needs before He can enter into Jerusalem. We are the ones tied up. Tied to problems, tied to sin, tied to this earth, tied to worries and anxieties. There are so many things that tie us down.
But God has need of us, He has a need for us to be untied for His use. Donkeys are the most stubborn animals and like to remain in their place, without changing, but under the right guidance they can travel through the harshest of conditions. Christ orders the disciples and the church to loose the donkey and bring it to Him, for He had need of him.
We are called to be set free, and to take Christ on our shoulders and walk into Jerusalem. When the Lord entered Jerusalem, He began the week with a need. A need of a donkey. A donkey that was tied. He has the same need today. He wants us to be untied and set free. He wants to take us on the journey with Him through Holy Week. He wants to untie us so He can tie Himself to the Cross for our sake. As we begin this week of Holy Week, let us contemplate on the one thing that ties us to the world. What is tying us down that we need Christ to untie us of so that we may enter into Jerusalem joyful under the guidance of our Master?
? Full Sermon ?