Donkey King
Chad Richard Bresson
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Donkeys
Donkeys
Donkeys. Just the word brings laughter. Do you have a favorite donkey? If you’ve lived on a farm, maybe you had one or two or five. The beast of burden. These days the only time we see a donkey is at Christmas or Easter. Just down the road from where Emily and I first lived, way back when in Ohio, there was a farm that raised donkeys. I think they supplied all of the donkeys to all the churches in the Dayton area for Christmas and Palm Sunday. There’s something about donkeys… I would always slow down just to get a look at what has always seemed to be a bit of a novelty. My favorite donkey, though, is this guy. (picture of Donkey from green guy movie)
The donkey that talks too much. There is a talking donkey in the Bible. It’s one of those odd miracle stories. The guy riding the donkey wasn’t headed where he was supposed to be going. One of those false prophets. God opens the mouth of the donkey to put the guy in his place. God always has a bit of irony. A dude who thought he was pretty important, upstaged by a talking donkey.
Donkeys are important to a lot of other cultures. But here in the United States… they are a bit of a gimmick. We consider them ridiculous, which is why Donkey from Shrek entertains us with a running mouth all of the time. They don’t name sports teams after donkeys. At least in the pro sports. It’s not likely you’re going to hear about the Dallas Donkeys. The San Antonio Donkeys. Donkeys don’t strike fear in the hearts of men or women.
Jesus and a donkey
Jesus and a donkey
But there is a donkey in a Bible story that is not fiction or legend. This donkey is the stuff of legend. So much so, the glory witnessed by this donkey is unlike anything the world has ever seen. The donkey is in the middle of our story this morning. And this donkey is going to war. This donkey is going to the biggest battle in the history of the world. This donkey is the reason we see donkeys during our Holy Week Passion plays. John 12 contains one of the most surreal scenes in all of scripture. Outside of Christ’s birth, and his death and resurrection, no event in Christ’s life has more intrigue and more rich storyline than this one.
Jesus, a donkey, palm branches, a crowd. That alone is made for TV. But the stuff happening behind the scenes and within the picture frame… this is the stuff of Hollywood. Jesus rides a donkey, but he might as well be riding into Jerusalem that day on a powder keg. There is nothing subtle about what Jesus is doing.
John 12:9 “Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.”
John, who is writing this down for us, frames the entire episode with the story of Lazarus. The latest turn of events began just a few weeks earlier, when Jesus shows up to the funeral one of his best friends and raises him from the dead. Jesus shows up outside of the tomb of Lazarus and the next thing you know, Lazarus is back among the living. And all heaven breaks loose. Most likely, Lazarus was a well-known figure, because his raising, unlike two of the other incidents in which Jesus raises a young girl and the son of a widow from the dead, the raising of Lazarus sends shockwaves all over Israel and jolts the core of Judaism’s religious establishment.
The high court of the Jewish religion consisted of anyone who is anyone in the Jewish religion. They wasted no time convening in Jerusalem and putting into motion a plot to kill Jesus. And for a brief time, Jesus goes into hiding. That doesn’t last long though… the Passover is around the corner and Jesus makes his way back toward Jerusalem. Jesus knows exactly how all of this is about to go down… as if to announce he is back, he goes back to the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus for a home cooked meal.
Sure enough, word gets out that Jesus is back with Lazarus, and the high court convenes again, and this time they begin plotting the demise of Lazarus, which is amazing considering Lazarus doesn’t stay dead, apparently. Now there are two plots to kill both players in the raising of Lazarus: the guy who raised him, and the guy who was raised. Jesus and Lazarus are wanted men. Large crowds from Jerusalem have walked the 2 miles to Bethany, and they have gathered outside of Lazarus’ home just to get a glimpse of the two they have heard about. On the meter of heightened tensions, the scale runs into the red here. Because Jesus has his sights set on Jerusalem and an eventual showdown.
Jesus is anything but subtle in what he does the next day. With tension in the air and the large crowds around him, he sets out for Jerusalem. And he is riding on a donkey.
The donkey is at the center of the story.
John 12:14 “Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it.”
Jesus found. This isn’t an accident. As if to mock those who are looking to end his life and the life of his best friend, Jesus found the lowliest animal to ride. It’s not a majestic horse, the ride of the Romans. It’s not a white horse, the horse of a champion. A donkey. A beast of burden. A beast of the common man. But… if anyone has been reading their Old Testament carefully, and that’s what the Jewish people read in those days… it’s also the ride of Israel’s kings.
Jesus specifically picked a donkey, because donkeys are the chosen rides of Israel’s kings, going all the way back to David and Solomon. The Bible tells us that when the throngs gathered on Solomon’s coronation day, he rides in as the new king on a donkey. And it’s all bedlam. One of the greatest moments in Israel’s royalty history. Now, here comes Jesus, on a donkey, and the crowd goes wild… this is the King of Israel, riding on a donkey, headed for the city of Jerusalem.
The moment is not lost on the crowd. It’s bedlam on the road… palm branches being waved along the route, and people shouting one of their all-time favorite Psalms, Psalm 118:
Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel.
They are singing the song of the king. They are waving palm branches, palm branches that long had been the symbol of freedom and liberation for Israel. The Romans watching surely thought “where’s the horse, what’s with the donkey?” But the Jews know the Solomon moment when they see it.
They also knew the prophecies. Hundreds of years before, to a land without hope, the prophet Zechariah anticipated the day when Israel’s Great King, the one that had been promised since the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, would come riding on a donkey. That moment is now.
John 12:15 “Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
It’s a TMZ moment. Israel’s most wanted man. Fresh off a resurrection that made headlines. Riding the ride of kings and princes… the ride of Warrior-champions. Crowds singing and waving their freedom palms. Enemies lurking among the crowd, angry at the Lazarus and Jesus spectacle. And the Romans watching this are nervous. People are shouting king, but in their worldview, there is no king but Caesar.
Powder keg indeed. But if a Warrior-king is all we see on the donkey, we’ve made the same mistake as the crowd that day. The crowds wave palm branches and shout Psalm 118, because they believe Jesus, the king, is headed to Jerusalem to overthrow Rome. We know that’s what they’re thinking because it becomes a big part of the accusations leveled against Jesus in the coming days.
But if we look closer, and we listen to John’s words here, we will see something else on the donkey. This is no ordinary king. John began this story of Jesus way back in John chapter 1. Jesus makes his debut to Israel on the banks of the Jordan and John the Baptist announces: Look… this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John gives us story after story about Jesus being the One who was promised in the Old Testament… the Lamb who has come to take away the sin of the world. You see, riding on that donkey to the noise of the crowd isn’t just a king. On that donkey is a Lamb, riding into Jerusalem to take away the sin of the world.
John points to this… the second of the Old Testament quotes here begins with “don’t be afraid.”
Here’s what else that prophecy from Zephaniah 3 is saying,
Zephaniah 3:16-19 “On that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. At that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts;
That time, that day, John says is being witnessed by throngs, as Jesus rides on the donkey. The one on the donkey is a king, a king who will vanquish enemies. But not the enemies you think. No… this king comes riding to save Israel from the oppression of sin and death. John is saying “You have no need to fear. No need to fear the Romans, no need to fear your religious leaders, no need to fear sin and Satan and death… because your King is among you. Your King is among you. That king is a lamb, riding to Jerusalem to take away the sins of the world.”
The lame. The outcast. The disgraced. That’s us. Too often we want that Power King.. looking to rid us of those who make life difficult for us. Looking for a leg up in the world. We want Jesus the Warrior King to right all of the wrongs we see in politics and earthly kingdoms. We want Jesus to get rid of the coronavirus. We want Jesus, the Warrior King, to wage war on anything that gets in the way of our way, our narcissism.
We are sinners. What we need. What the lame need, what the disgraced need is a lamb riding on that donkey. The lamb who will be slain on a cross, dying underneath of a sign, This is the King of the Jews. Our biggest need in this moment or any moment is forgiveness. We need life. We need the gospel to shape our thoughts and desires even as we deal with this threat. So we need to look at that lamb on a donkey. We need a lamb who forgives us. Who saves us. Who removes our punishment. We need a lamb who is among us, rejoicing over us, singing over us.
Jesus meets us in our fear. The Lamb on the donkey is the King among us. Not just you, not just me, all of us. John says he wrote what he wrote about Palm Sunday so that we would believe that that Lamb on a donkey is the Messiah, the Promised One of the Old Testament, the son of the living God, and by believing, have life in his name. Your Lamb rides on the donkey toward his death so that he can give you life… His life. When life is hard… put your trust, there. Place your life, your fears, your hopes in his hands. He has you. He promised.
Let’s Pray.
The donkey king rides for you and me to his death. And that death he provides for you and for me right here and right now in this table. Jesus chose a donkey because he identifies with us. He identifies with the lame and the outcasts, so that he can give the lame and the outcasts life and forgiveness. Right here. Right now.
