Palm Sunday: The Lesson of the Donkey
Donkeys have a dark, raised marking down their backs, and another line across their shoulders. Legend has it that they bear this mark of a cross ever since their ancestor carried Jesus into Jerusalem on the day that we now celebrate as Palm Sunday.
In the Old Testament, donkeys are a symbol of humility. A ruler who rides a horse displays his military prowess and strength, but Zechariah describes the Messiah this way: “Behold, your king is coming to you; / righteous and having salvation is he, / humble and mounted on a donkey, / on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (9:9 ESV). The donkey, presumably, does not mind being a symbol of humility. He is a willing servant.
On Palm Sunday, we remember the crowd. We imagine the shouting and cheers of “Hosannah!” We picture the palms waving, maybe under a clear blue sky dotted with perfect little white clouds, and the colorful tunics laid over the dirt path, soft under the hooves of Jesus’ mount. We picture Jesus, serene, bumping along through the crowd as it parts before Him. And of course we do remember the donkey. But we relate ourselves to the cheering people. We rejoice, we welcome Christ into the holy city, we recognize Him as King, and we sing “Hosannah in the highest!”
But we must also remember how quickly the crowd turned. How only a few days later they shouted “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” And how we are too proud if we think we would not have done the same.
Perhaps we can learn from the example of the donkey. Joy and celebration have their place in worship (remember how King David danced), but we need also to be grounded in humility; otherwise we can be swept away by the spirit of a crowd. Ecstatic feelings mean very little for our faith if we let them carry us anywhere. Our excitement about Christ’s triumphal entry into our lives, our joy in recognizing Him as King--these feelings are wonderful, but they will not last forever. Sometimes we will be tested. Sometimes it will seem like following Christ means death. It does. We die to sin, we die to the world, and we may be called to martyrdom--none of us know our end. The heights we feel as we rejoice cannot be the whole of our faith. We should be grounded in humility, which regards neither praise nor rejection, but is always content to serve our Lord.