In June of 2017 we visited the Mount of Olives opposite Jerusalem. While looking over the valley between the hill and the city, I saw this donkey tied up along the road.
It reminded me of the day Jesus entered the Holy City on the back of a young donkey, probably very much like this one. We were very near the route Jesus likely took into Jerusalem, and less than a 1/2 mile from the village where Jesus told his disciples to look for the donkey.
I have always been intrigued by Jesus’ instructions to the disciples: “Go into that village over there,” he told them. “As soon as you enter it, you will see a young donkey tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks, ‘What are you doing?’ just say, ‘The Lord needs it and will return it soon.’”
And even more intrigued by the response of the owners of the donkey to the disciples: “As they were untying it, some bystanders demanded, ‘What are you doing, untying that colt?’ They said what Jesus had told them to say, and they were permitted to take it.”
Had Jesus prearranged this transaction? Were the owners already acquainted with Jesus and his disciples?
Or, and I think this is more likely, did they live in a society where the name of the Lord was held in such high regard, that those who asked for something in the Lord’s name were trusted to use it as asked, and trusted to return it as promised. No collateral, just the promise and then the trust that the Lord needed the donkey.
When we promise in the name of the Lord, can we be trusted? When asked for something in the name of the Lord, can we trust?
What do I have that the Lord needs? How will I respond to what the Lord needs? Will I be part of the Lord’s plans, or will Jesus find someone else’s donkey to ride to the shouts of “Hosanna”, “God save us”?
“Rejoice, O people of Zion!
Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you.
He is righteous and victorious,
yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—
riding on a donkey’s colt.” (Zechariah 9:9)
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