Consider the Donkey: Palm Sunday (April 2, 2023)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

I love that the lectionary and liturgical kalendar has us read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the same readings and events year after year. Not only does this stem from an intentional rhythm around which we orient our lives, but also it is a reminder that the biblical text possesses many senses, layers of meanings, through which the Holy Spirit speaks to us. And that means each time we read them, we may see something new. Palm Sunday is a good example: I assumed before reading the story of the procession from Matthew that I had seen it all. But you know what they say about people who assume...And that brings me to the focus of today’s sermon: the donkey and her colt and what they can teach us.

The first thing we might ask is why Jesus chooses to ride a colt on his way into Jerusalem? The people greet him with great enthusiasm, even to the point that they’re willing to make him king. So you’d think Jesus would want to have a nicer ride to this occasion. But what we know is that Jesus’ life and ministry was characterized by humility. This is what our Collect for the Day gets at: “Almighty and everlasting God, who, of thy tender love towards mankind, hast sent thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to take upon him our flesh, and to suffer death upon the cross, that all mankind should follow the example of his great humility.” Jesus certainly could have gotten an impressive war horse or something; but this is the same person who “being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” And so he comes not atop a great horse but riding a beast of burden. Further, from Matthew’s account of the story, we know that there was a cold with him. Some of the Church Fathers point out that this cold proves Jesus’ divinity because it was a miracle that it was able to endure the crowds without freaking out. But still, the point is that the humility Jesus shows here culminates in the events of the Passion story we heard from Matthew 27. That Jesus endures such shame, humiliation, and abuse on our behalf illustrates the great depth of his love for us.

So we can certainly learn from the donkey and colt about Jesus’ humility but they can also teach us about salvation history. St. Augustine points out that the fact that Jesus brings both animals, reminds us of the Old and New Testaments. The donkey is older because she is probably the mother who birthed the younger. Also, she represents the burdens that were placed on the people by the Law. The colt is younger and birthed from the mother donkey but he stands for the New Covenant. In other words, the New Covenant originates from the Old Covenant in an intimate way but they are different. We play this out liturgically at the lighting of the candles. We call the right side of the altar the Epistle side and the left side the Gospel side. However, some refer to these as the Old Testament candle (on the right side) and the New Testament Candle on the left. When we light the candles, we light from right to left: Old first and New second. When we extinguish, we do it from left to right: New first and old second. At no point does the New Testament candle burn by itself because it depends on the Old Testament. The significance, in terms of the donkeys is that both are present at the inauguration of Holy Week as a way of reminding us that all Scripture ultimately revolves around Jesus and the events of this week. The Old Testament always points us forward to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith while the New Testament details the results and ongoing reality ushered in by Christ and his work.

One of those ongoing realities is the mission of the Church, something that the donkey shows us as well. St. Bernard of Clairvaux remarks that on the original Palm Sunday, Jesus received honor three different ways. First, he received honor from those present who cut down the palm branches. The second way Jesus received honor was from those who took off their own clothes and laid them in the road. The final way Jesus received honor was from the donkey. The branches are a good sign but they don’t cost anything for the people who cut them down. The garments were good too but they are gifts from abundance. The colt, however, gave all of himself to the service of Jesus. In this, Bernard sees our calling: “Are you not the beast on which Christ sits?” St. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” Our job as individual Christians and as a corporate entity is to bring the Gospel, that is to communicate and perpetuate the events we observe this coming week—his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. We saw that this morning at the baptism of Jonas Sampson and we’ll see it again next week as we have more baptisms. The point is that the donkey and her colt tell us not just about who Jesus is or what he’s done but what we are to do: carry Jesus into the world.

The many services we do during Holy Week are important as we walk with Jesus, commemorating each precious step that brought about our redemption. The point isn’t to enshrine these events as mere liturgical exercises; rather, we engage in these commemorations as a way of shaping and sanctifying our imaginations. The way Jesus arrived in Jerusalem was meant to teach us about his humility, the mode of our salvation, and our mission. So use this week and its beautiful traditions as a way of becoming a donkey fit to bear our Lord into the world, not only in word, but in deed.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.