Jesus And The Donkey

The other day a young lady asked me a couple of really great questions that I answered but later thought I ought to do some more research on and give her a better answer. As it turns out my initial answer wasn’t quite correct. Here ‘s the text that she was referring to:

Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”

All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:

“Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ”

So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Mt 21:1–11)

Her questions were: “What’s with Jesus telling his disciples to steal a donkey?” And “Why would everyone think he was a great king when he was riding on a baby donkey? I can just imagine a big guy sitting on a baby donkey with his feet dragging on the ground, looking more like a freaky caricature than a regal king.”

To which I said, he didn’t steal the donkey. He told his disciples to go get the donkey and if anyone asked them about it to tell them that the Lord wanted to borrow it. To which the owners, who were part of those who believed on him, thought and said, “I believe that Jesus is the Lord and so, of course, he can use the donkey. He created it in the first place anyway.” I added that the palm fronds on the road made the road soft and cushy for the donkey and was like a natural carpet. In addition, riding on the donkey was the kind of animal that kings in the OT rode on when they came into the city after a war. So, when Jesus came into the city on the donkey with the acclaim of the crowd, the leaders recognized that they were in trouble and that’s one of the reasons they killed him.

Then, I was listening to the Bible in my car while coming home from work yesterday and noticed that Jesus didn’t ride on the adult donkey, but on the donkey colt. And the OT passage that explained what he was doing made a specific point of the fact that what he was doing wasn’t flaunting his power and authority but was rather pointing to his humility and lowliness. So, here we are.

I still think borrowing the donkey and the owners’ response was accurate. I think the owners were probably excited to be able to be part of the proceedings. They were probably part of the crowd that later, cried out that Jesus was the son of David, the Messiah (Mt 21:13).

And it is true that kings rode on donkeys. We see this in:

“Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road. (Judges 5:10)

The king also said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord, and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and take him down to Gihon. (1 Kings 1:33)

And donkeys are listed as being important to the wealthy folks. We see this in Gen 12:16; 32:16; Job 1:3, 14; 42:12; 1 Chron 27:30.

So, in principle I wasn’t wrong. But…Mathew specifically says that riding on the colt of a donkey fulfills:

Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ” (Is 62:11)

And:

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9)

This specifically says that Jesus’ riding on a donkey pointed to the fact that he was lowly and humble. So I got that a bit wrong.

Second, when the Jewish leaders heard the commotion and asked about what was going on, they weren’t concerned with Jesus’ power because he came as a conquering king. They were concerned because he came as the Messiah of Israel. The people thought he was a prophet (Mt 21:11), but the Jewish leaders knew that this event was fulfilling Zechariah 9:9, “Your King is coming!” This was why they were so upset. Jesus was throwing their leadership under the bus and they were in serious trouble unless they could get rid of him.

It is interesting that John tells us that the disciples didn’t understand what was going on until later (Jn 12:16), but the Jewish leaders, though sinful to the bone, understood and hated Jesus.

Ah, the power of sin. You have the Son of God in your midst, you know that he is bringing judgment and salvation and because of your vanity and pride, you still want what you want and do whatever you can to get it—including killing the Lord of Glory himself.

So, Jesus didn’t steal the donkey, he owned it above the human owners, and he only borrowed it from them to use for this wonderful event in the life and history of the Kingdom of God. The palm leaves and other branches were part of the royal procession. The fact that he rode on a donkey was a sign of humility and of the kind of King he was. The Jewish leaders weren’t impressed with his hugeness (since that wasn’t what it looked like), but with the fact that Jesus was the Messiah and therefore the rightful leader of Israel; indeed, the whole world through all history. Their envy and hatred was what induced them to sin by killing the Savior of the World.

The good news, of course, is that killing Jesus was God’s plan all along. Jesus didn’t just die, he died taking our punishment and shame with him. And then he didn’t stay dead. God raised him from the dead as a sign that his sacrificial death had been accepted by the Father. So, when we believe this in our bones, he forgives our sin and brings us into his Kingdom where we live and love and rejoice and serve.