“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! 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.” Zechariah 9:9
I challenge myself to discover something new that I have not
thought about before when I read a passage that is very familiar to me. When I
read this passage in Zechariah and then seeing the fulfillment in Luke’s Gospel,
my “something new” seemed to jump out at me instantly…in the form of a donkey.
I find it fascinating that God took the time to make sure
that the donkey was included in the prophecy for Jesus’ death. Why? Why a
donkey? Why did Jesus have to ride on a donkey during His procession to Jerusalem? What is the
significance of a donkey?
This is my “something new” that I wanted to meditate on for
today on Palm Sunday.
A donkey, historically, is a beast of burden. It is an animal
that carries a load which might be too much for a human to carry for long
distances. A donkey is also a lowly animal, not placed in the category with the
magnificent, majestic horse. The donkey is ordinary, humble, poor and simple in
looks and in livelihood.
When I thought that through, I realized that the donkey is a
crude picture of the Man Who sat on him.
A donkey is a beast of burden, while Jesus Christ took on
the burden of the world. Christ died for our sins…that is the biggest burden of
all times. Jesus sat on a donkey to give us a picture of the burden that He was
carrying, namely, all sins committed and yet to be committed. That is quite the
burden!
But that is not all this gentle donkey can tell us about
Jesus. Christ went riding into Jerusalem
as King. He IS King. But Jesus had to humble Himself to become a human. He
lowered Himself and became a poor, humble, simple Man to walk among us for 33
years. My whole being shudders to think of what might be our plight if Jesus
had not been willing to become lowly for our sakes.
I never thought much about the donkey that Jesus rode on
that famous Palm Sunday. But now my heart has been opened and encouraged by the
little animal who struggled under the weight of our Lord. He was a humble beast
of burden, carrying our humble Savior Who would soon take away the sins of the
world.
One more thought that I must add…
In light of what we just considered, do you find it precious to
think about Mary riding into Bethlehem
on a donkey? I consider Jesus’ birth to be a triumphant entry into our world.
Palm Sunday could be considered the beginning of Jesus’ triumphant entry back
into Heaven. And the fact that a humble donkey took Him to both places truly
demonstrates God’s ultimate plan: that Christ take the burden of our sins, that
He was humbly buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with
the Scriptures, and now is gloriously and majestically seated at the right hand
of God Almighty, awaiting our own triumphant entry into Heaven. The only reason
we can be triumphant is because Christ was first triumphant. And God chose to
take our Lord to those places on a lowly donkey.
I am simply in awe.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! 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.” Zechariah 9:9
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