Matthew 21:2 ” He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will at once find a donkey and her colt. Untie the two donkeys and bring them to me.”
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
Matthew 21:2 ” He told them, “Go into the next village, where you will at once find a donkey and her colt. Untie the two donkeys and bring them to me.”
thedailylily.com 
DONKEY
My God consecrated me a long time ago when HE used me to prophesy to the wayward ;prophet and so doing made me a true servant of God
Then he honored me by allowing me to carry the baby Jesus and his mother into Egypt to remove them from harms’s way.
And the most thrilling of honors came when He, the King of kings chose me for His triumphal ride into Jerusalem the week before His crucifixion.
People laugh and make fun of me. They call me an “ass” in derogatory exclamations! They say I am stubborn and rebellious. They call me ignorant and ignoble. But I know something thy have already forgotten. My Lord and God Jehovah created me. He determined before the beginning of time what purpose He has for me on this earth. And you know what? I have fulfilled every call of servitude that He has requested of me. You can read it all in the Bible. So, maybe a little stubborn, yes! Maybe a little rebellious, yes! That’s my personality, at worst. But Oh…how I thrill to think of the ways that He has used me and will continue to use me because,But He has created me to serve Him. Will you share with me how He has used you to serve?
Why did He chose to ride on me, a young colt, rather than my mother who was seasoned and experienced in bearing loads and burdens? Why, no one had even put a halter on me to lead me. I had only been led by my mother. And why did those lambs just lie there and stare at me as they led me out at Jesus’ directives? They seemed to keep their distance. Were they afraid of something?
The other day I heard men reciting from the scriptures and it caught my attention as they read, “All that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.” (Exodus 34: 19, 20) Break his neck! I got scared.
Then I remembered that awhile back I wasn’t far from the river when John baptized this man, Jesus. He powerfully proclaimed to all who would hear as Jesus approached him, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
Could it be that Jesus really is the Lamb of God? I never felt anything like it before as he climbed onto my back. Such love, gentleness, compassion, power and authority! Perhaps He chose me, my mother’s firstborn, to ride upon to show and fulfill the reading…that He is the Lamb of God. If so, those lambs that kept their distance will not have to be sacrificed to redeem me or anyone! My neck will not be broken! I wonder how He will Redeem us?
Gills’ Exposition writes; “The ancient allegorical sense of the ass and colt is not to be despised: that the ass may signify the Jews, who had been used to bear the burdensome rites and ceremonies of the law; and the colt, the wild and untamed Gentiles, and the coming of Christ, first to the one, and then to the other:..”
I am a donkey steady at my duties with ears that show the size of my hearing. When Christ says go, I hear, I obey and I go. I am able even to speak when called upon.
” Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey
rebuked him with a human voice.” 2 Peter 2:16 And, Numbers 22:28 “Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?”
I have ears to hear! I have a voice to speak! I have a heart to obey! I have a vast part in bringing the Messianic Vision to the world. I am a donkey!
As Abraham’s donkey, I carried him to the land of Moriah. He left me waiting there as he as he laid the wood for the burnt offering on the back of his beloved son, Isaac and headed of to worship he said. I watched with horror as he bound Isaac and laid him on the wood on the altar then took a knife out and raised his hand to slay him! Just at that moment I saw the Angel of the Lord. He called to him and said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen 22:12)
I sighed in relief at such an act of obedience as I watched Abraham catch a lamb caught in the thicket and sacrifice it instead.
It seems that people have often spoke of the donkey in a negative sense: (i.e.: an ass, stubborn, rebellious). Even Wikipedia describes the donkey, Eeyore in the Winnie-the-pooh books by A.A. Milne, “as a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey who is a friend of the title character, Winnie-the-Pooh.” But when you read the above scriptures and the video of how the donkey went right to the colt, as if to protect it?? One realizes that people surely have the wrong idea of the donkey!
T. H. I agree with you. God’s thought are higher …way higher than man’s thoughts and His perspective so much more refined than man’s. The little donkey is the carrier and burden bearer of the KING of kings and Lord of lords From the flight into Egypt to the triumphal procession into Jerusalem the little donkey did his job for which he was created. Oh that we could all say that about ourselves. That we have fulfilled the purpose and plan for which we were created by the great and masterful ENGINEER in HEAVEN instead of (some) acting like jackasses. [Pun intended.]
“Mules were normally bred from a mare and a male donkey. Mules are less temperamental than horses and easier to train for that type of work. Mule’s skin is harder and tougher. It can withstand extreme temperatures better than a horse and can go longer without water. It has harder hooves and is more sure footed on rocky terrain. A mule needs only 4-5 hours of sleep a day. A mule goes just over 3 mph or about 50 miles in a day. Oxen might cover 5-6 miles in a day.” [about.com ancient history]
II sounds like slow and steady wins the race and the little donkey/mule seems well-dispositioned for her work no matter what adversities confronted her. God bless the beasts and the children.
Wonder why Jesus needed the donkey and her colt? Why did he not just send for a donkey with no colt?
If the donkey represents the Gentiles and the colt her children, the reason for Jesus needing both is to redeem them. The following verse came to mind when thinking as to the reason Jesus did not just send for them (the donkey and colt) , Exodus 32:9 –
And Jehovah said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people. Wesley’s Notes reads:
32:9 It is a stiff – necked people – Unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse to all good, and prone to evil, obstinate to the methods of cure.
Therefor Jesus due to the people character could not send for them. They would not come. He needed them – to die for them. No other way could He extend His hand to them. He humbled himself, stood over them, died on the cross standing high above them (stiffneck as they were/are) would live for eternity.
Response
As I looked in the mirror I saw an amazing site. I just could not believe it. It was
Impossible to my senses. In fact my senses must be totally screwed up or was I having a no good, very bad dream. I looked a little closer. Oh no! I yelled at the
reflection that peered through the mirror at me! It yelled right back at me. I jeered and it jeered at me! I yelled for it to leave, but it would not leave. I turned away thinking I must not be in this dimension. When I looked again the same jackass was looking at me. Oh how I wish it were the true me looking at myself. “Please, oh God,
I begged, return me to the person you made be to be,” I begged again and again. God heard. God said, “I am not the one who super glued the donkey mask upon you. You yourself did that when you turned from me. The thoughts in your mind drove you to the winds of the world and like a tornado took to spinning out of control. The horrors of the moment will fall away upon knocking at the right door. In order to find the door you must accept my Son as the one who gave his life’s blood so that you would have eternal life. He’s standing their now waiting for you. Come on, knock, He’s waiting, step through the door of HIS glory. Step through accepting that He died for you setting you free from the worldly terrors and distorted mask of sin. Set free to fly free. Then fly by focusing on Him and giving Him every aspect of your life. You will see a NEW
YOU, I promise.
Hey Rena, did you just call yourself a jackass? Wonder how many times a day our mouth introduces us to others by our pseudo name?
With regard to Sara’s question, “Wonder why Jesus needed the donkey and her colt? Why did he not just send for a donkey with no colt?”
Perhaps he wanted to fulfill the old testament prophecy of the Messiah from Zechariah 9:9:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey.”
I read that donkeys are very sure-footed (Not liable to stumble or fall). Perhaps one reason Jesus chose a donkey to ride on into Jerusalem was he knew that as the crowds cried Hosanna they would also spread cloaks and palm branches on the road. A horse may have stumbled on such a pavement, but the donkey could pick his way carefully, carrying Jesus into Jerusalem safely to his destiny.
Wikipedia writes; In Christianity “Hosanna” (Greek transcription) is the cry of praise or adoration shouted in recognition of the Messiahship of Jesus on his entry into Jerusalem, Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord![7] It is used in the same way in Christian praise.
Overall, it seems that “Hosanna” is a cry for salvation; while at the same time is a declaration of praise. Therefore, it may be derived that this plea for help is out of an agreeably positive connotation.”
What comes to my mind on Hosanna/donkeys is; Jesus, the Son of Man riding a donkey with a side kick don, is how amazing and spiritually enlightened the people of Jerusalem were.
Would I know Him today?
Next Sunday will be the anniversary of the most triumphant and honored moment in the history of my species. They say there is a book that says that God takes the foolish things of the earth to confound the wise. I suppose that is what the universal “THEY” could say about me and my ancestors. We are ridiculed, derided, laughed at and used as the butt of cruel jokes. But none of that can detract from the truth that among all the animal species on the earth… among all that disembarked from the Ark of Noah…. on that fateful day whose commemoration we celebrate on Palm Sunday, we the lowly and the persecuted, the hybrid and common….we were chosen to carry the KING of kings and the Lord of lords in the kingly procession into Jerusalem that would culminate in greatest act of love ever performed in the universe of universes. I, the donkey, the jackass, the mulish, carried that magnificent God to His destination because God Almighty chose it from the beginning of time to be so. Hosanna in the highest!!
As Palm Sunday approaches, the scenes from this video serve as a reminder of Jesus Triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.
The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet him. They shouted, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the LORD! Hail to the King of Israel!”Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it, fulfilling the prophecy that said: “Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt.”
May He gain a triumphal entry into many hearts this Palm Sunday and may many praise and hail Him as their King.
Amen and amen. May He indeed find His way into many NEW hearts this Palm Sunday….and even back into the old hearts that may have grown tepid!