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Palm Sunday: Poor Donkey

Even though the Christian holiday of Palm Sunday passed by at the very end of the month of March this year, the image still lingers: Jesus, mounted not on a stallion but on a humble beast of burden, entering the Holy City of Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Zechariah inscribed these lines: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee—-lowly and riding upon an ass—-. ” (Zech. 9:9 KJV) And, centuries after the prophecy, along came Jesus, mounted upon a mere donkey.
A.G.K. Chesterton happened to write a poem about a poor donkey who is reminiscing:

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
Of all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

A.G.K. Chesterton

Of course the irony is that this ovation wasn’t for him but for the One he was carrying. So many times in my own life, I’ve been a lot like that poor donkey. I have done things for my own glory instead of His. Then, who is the poor donkey? Who is the “jackass”?

Our chief joy as a Christian should never focus on ourself, but on the One we are carrying. Our greatest privilege is to carry Christ into the life of someone else. One of my favorite poems says something like this: “For me, t’was not the truth you taught–
To you, so clear; to me, so dim–
But when you came to me you brought
A sense of Him.

And through your eyes He beckons me, And from your heart His love is shed--- Till I lose sight of you And see the Christ instead.

Adapted from "Portrait Lyrics" by Phil Keaggy

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Shine Like the Stars

Available for Pre-Order.  Each of us has been given a gift: our life. Someday we must return it to its rightful owner. We are free to use this gift in any way we choose: to glorify God or to glorify ourself. St. Paul used his to glorify God and, in so doing, found the secret of joy. decided to write a devotional commentary on his letter to the fledgling Christian community in Philippi. They too were discovering the secret of genuine joy. I am hoping that the same faith which dazzled them will do the same for you, and that the same joy which filled their hearts will fill yours. Get ready to shine like stars.

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