The Talking Donkey

On Palm Sunday, my church was full of people shouting:

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’
Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰ And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

⁵ “Tell the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your King is coming to you,
Lowly, and sitting on a donkey,
A colt, the foal of a donkey.’”

The key point here is…who is this? Who is He? Who is the Lord? Who is the King? Is he a King like Solomon or Alexander?

The King in Matthew rides in as the Master Teacher of Israel…bringing victory to the people! WAIT this Master and this victory rides on a donkey and a donkey’s colt.

Every Palm Sunday the Minister in charge of the parade tells the crowd, Jesus is not like the legendary King Alexander who personifies the Greek God Apollo and rides into conquered cities on a great stallion. This King rides into Jerusalem on a donkey to show his humility, his desire for justice and peace.

People shouting Hosanna, hosanna in the highest should know who the Don is who comes with the Dona in support of the Master Teacher of Israel? They should clue in simply by asking Don qui or Don qi? Some do. But many people do not. Verbal coincidences are for little children.

Today, over two thousand years later, many people protesting over the occupation and settlement of Jerusalem and the politics of the Middle East are a conquered people living in a land occupied by people of other faiths and traditions who have also been conquered. They have forgotten who Moses, Joshua and Hanna are. Many do not even care.  Furthermore, many have forgotten that the Hebrew word for LORD is Adonai, the plural of adon, lord. Many more have forgotten how Son in Patriarchal cultures is the plural of sons, children.

Some people may know or remember Baal is another Hebrew word for lord and some may remember the folk story of Balaam and the Talking Donkey. This story appears in Numbers, the fourth book of the Bible, in chapter 25:22-35. The fourth book of the Bible is part of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions.

In this story, God opens the Donkey’s mouth, and she argues with Balaam. As Jesus did in the Nicodemus story, the Donkey tells Balaam that he needs to rethink his Master position. Just because Balaam laid down and she laid down under him, he need not think she has abused him. She has never struck him with a stick!  Nonetheless, Balaam feels she has betrayed and humiliated him. So, he plans to curse her and sever his relationship with the Donkey in fable fashion. He takes out his sword intending to kill the Donkey—end their relationship. The Donkey should be pleased to be rid of such a hard Master, except like all servants whose services are terminated, the Donkey’s reputation would be ruined and she and her people would be cursed.

This causes the Angel of the Lord to speak up. He declares himself Balaam’s adversary, his foe. He is not happy with how Balaam has struck the Donkey three times with his staff. Nor is he willing to get behind Balaam’s plans to sever his relationship with this faithful little female donkey.

What a story! In Matthew’s Gospel chapter 16:23, Peter shows himself as a worthy adversary. He’s not happy with the Lord’s crucifixion plans. Jesus like the little colt stubbornly clings to the prophecy of Zechariah and says to Peter. “Get behind me Satan.”

As people, all over the world now know, the crucifixion story unfolds on Good Friday. People wonder why it is Good Friday? Mel Gibson and other cinematographers depict the crucifixion as real and as horrific as possible. By doing so Gibson and others overwhelm their audiences with the violence of a cruel ruling class.  Gibson holds up a mirror to western society. Has anything changed?  Modern audiences like people down through the ages who are outside the story imagine and think the worst of those trying to nail Jesus down and get Jesus to tell people once and for all who He coming in the name of the Lord is?

The crux of the matter is a matter of faith. If the multitude has to ask. Who is this? The chief priests and teachers have a major problem. They need to remind their congregations of this story. People need to have faith in the Donkey and the Colt, the Little Donkey. Many may think it preposterous and blasphemous to believe she can talk, let alone that she laid down under the Master Teacher of Israel under the cover of darkness.

If more people believe the Little Donkey’s relationship with the Master and the Donkey is a blessing that will bring peace to Jerusalem, peace will come.

For many, the Talking Little Donkey is just a fable. It has lost its relevance in a modern world. Many would rather cheer and believe in a vision of a political leader, leading a non-violent protest march—riding into Jerusalem in a borrowed or stolen Volkswagen bus, with a Volkswagen bug bringing up the rear.

Watch the story unfold on Good Friday. Don’t get overwhelmed by the details of the story. Feel the passion. See Jesus, the Nazarene and the King of Israel. See how they wrestle with the question. Who is this? Who is He who comes in the name of the Lord? Feel their pain as they struggle to believe that their relationship is the fulfillment of prophecy—a great blessing—not a curse.

See how Pilate offers the crowd a choice: Jesus Barabbas (the son of the Father) or Jesus the one also called called Christ (Matthew 27:17)? As the story goes in Matthew the crowd chose to release Jesus Barabbas, an insurrectionist who was trained to kill. Pilate then instructs the soldiers to flog and cloak Jesus the one also called Christ, in scarlet. Then as they lead this Jesus called Christ out to the place of the skull to die with the cursed, they meet a man from Cyrene, named Simon, coming in from the countryside. They force him to carry the Cross (Matthew 27:32). Mark’s Gospel tells the story slightly differently. It says Simon the Cyrene, the Father of Alexander and the one called Red was forced to carry the Cross (Mark 15:21).

Who is this Father who comes up from the wilderness? If you don’t know, watch for next week’s blog.